OUR PEOPLE

Naomi Tulay-Solanke is a Feminist, a human rights activist, a humanitarian, and the Founder and Executive Director of Community Healthcare Initiative (CHI), a local non-governmental organization providing healthcare and social services to women and children in underserved and hard-to-reach communities in Liberia since 2014.
Naomi has nurtured a career in female advocacy with a humble interest in working with underprivileged youths and slum dwellers through advocacy, empowerment, awareness, and essential health and social services, especially to women and girls. She is passionate about amplifying the voices and roles of local actors in development processes at all levels.

She holds a Master’s Degree in Public Health with an emphasis on Community Health. As a Social Entrepreneur, Naomi launches the PAD4GIRLS project, a local solution to menstrual health management, by training women and girls how to locally produce reusable sanitary pads, making them more available and accessible to girls of school going age, which promote girl’s retention in school during their period and help them live, learn and lead. Ensuring women and girls have control over their bodies, Naomi and her team opened the first SRHR clinic on wheels in Liberia, promoting access to family planning contraceptives, condoms, and access to safe and legal abortion. Naomi is a Dr. Fritz Raleigh Humanitarian Award Recipient from Harvard University 2017. She is also an ASPEN New Voice Fellow, and as a Change Maker, Naomi is also an ASHOKA Fellow. Naomi is a present board member of the Sanitation Hygiene Fund.

Sally is a dynamic and creative feminist development practitioner with 18 years of advancing women’s rights, gender and social inclusion; women’s leadership development, coordinating advocacy movement building and collective actions through working with non-governmental organisations, government institutions, private companies, think tanks, community leaders and groups, faith based networks, youth and women’s movements in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Kenya, South Sudan, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Swaziland, Namibia, Botswana, Sudan and Cameroon.
To strengthen, nurture and support women’s leadership development in public and private spaces, Sally is the founder of Sally Women’s Institute established in 2013 and to date offers training, coaching , advocacy and solidarity support for over 1 7820 women leaders from civil society, political parties, faith based networks, trade unions, media and social movements. Sally is also passionate about women’s political leadership development and gender responsive policy making and she volunteers her expertise as a member of Women’s Democracy Network, founder and Executive Director of Women’s Democracy Network Zimbabwe and one of the co-founders of Women’s Democracy Network Africa.

She also contributes to movement building and collective advocacy strategy and interventions for the Zimbabwe women’s movement as National Coordinator for Women’ Coalition of Zimbabwe, a national membership based network of women’s rights organisations and activists in Zimbabwe promoting women’s rights, empowerment and participation in development processes at community, national n, regional and international level.

Sally provides multi stakeholder coordination and liaison for policy formulation, implementation, review and oversight strategy development, research, advocacy campaigns and emergency response design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation; resource mobilization and grant administration leadership. She also facilitates social inclusion for women and youth from marginalized communities including persons with disabilities, LGBT+ community, minority ethnical groups, persons living in informal settlements amongst others. She trains and provides technical support for civil society corporate governance covering institutional governance systems development, implementation, oversight , leadership development and coaching,
advocacy, movement building, resource mobilisation and gender responsive policy making and on-going technical support for community based organisations working with marginalised communities and projects implementing partners at community, national, regional and international level.

Sally is a former Board Chairperson for Youth Forum Zimbabwe, Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, Savannah Trust, Venders Initiative for Social and Economic Transformation and former Board member for National Association of NGOs and Zimbabwe Election Support Network. She is also a member of National Steering Committee on Sustainable Development Goals, SADC Protocol on Gender and Development Alliance, Africa Feminist Forum and Gender is My Agenda Campaign.

She holds Master of Science in Development Studies( Women’s University in Africa), Bachelor of Arts (Hons) History and Development Studies (Midlands State University), Diploma in Women’s Campaign School(Yale University), Diploma in Public Relations (Zimbabwe Institute of Public Relations) and Diploma in Project Planning and Management(Christian College of Southern Africa).

Sally is a recipient of Distinguished Service Award, Women in Politics Support Unit, In recognition For Generous Commitment of Time, Support and Inspiration, 5 August 2011, Honored ‘Top Global Women’ by Diplomatic Courier, Global Affairs Magazine: Special Annual Edition on International Women’s Day, In recognition of Commitment to Women’s rights, 2013 ,Certificate of Commendation in Recognition of Service to National Association of Non- Governmental Organizations and Runner up award for the 2021 Director of the Year: NGOs and Civil Society Organisations category for Institute of Directors Zimbabwe., Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce Women in Enterprise Award Recipient: Civil Society Organizations Category 2021 and National association of NGOs 2021-2022 Director of Year award and
Distinguished Women Empowerment Leader Award from Zimbabwe Community News Awards 2022.