Comfort P. Ikpi (Nigeria)
Comfort works as a Facilitator/Asst. Head Outreach at Girls’ Power Initiative. Her work as a facilitator is to plan and facilitate the weekly lessons with adolescent girls aged 10 -18 years who come to the Centre for the educational discussions on issues of Sexual reproductive health and rights as well as life management skills which enable them live healthy/meaningful lives and grow into healthy women. As the Assistant Head of Department, Outreach, she also assists in planning and executing activities targeted at both in-and –out of school adolescents in the state who may not have the opportunity to come to GPI Centre for the weekly educational discussions. She has a B.Sc. in Physiology.

Chinwe Ojononu (Nigeria)
Chinwe is a Programme Officer at the International Centre for Sexual Reproductive Rights (INCRESE). She facilitates access to SRHR services for women and girls. Women are referred to health facilities where they can receive SRHR services without discrimination. She also works with women who are undergoing/ undergone domestic violence and human rights violation cases. Some of these cases are taken to court and legal services are provided for them. Currently she handles her organization's current project which addresses the rights of Sexual minorities especially on how the media reports issues concerning sexual minorities. She has also worked on an assessment of government response to the SRHR needs of women and girls. She has a HND in Science Laboratory Technology.

Yusuf Abdulazeez (Nigeria)
Yusuf is a Lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Usman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto. He is a university teacher, researcher, community service provider with keen interest in human development at micro and macro levels of the society. In advancing these interests, he usually focuses on the individual and institutional responses to social issues, like poverty, health, gender, ethnic, migration, right abuses, including the possibilities of reaching and sustaining compromises and common grounds for human progress. Against the backdrop of these realities, he has presented lectures/talks in local and international conferences on gender, HIV/AIDS, human rights, indeed sustainable human development concerns. Since, he joined the service of Usman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto as a staff in 2005, he has taught courses, like Social Problems, Social Work, Social Policy, Planning and Administration. In addition, has published papers/articles on some of the issues to be discussed during the course. While currently pursuing a PhD degree programme in Malaysia, he is also attached to the AIDS Action & Research Group (AARG), a research intensive and policy-driven NGO located in the main campus of USM, Penang.

Aisha Ahmed (Nigeria)
Aisha is a Program Officer at Adolescent Health & Information Projects (AHIP). Her interest stems from her years of teaching and facilitating and a life time of self-improvement, leadership, and team building practice, training and as well as more recently study in community mobilization and engagement. She has worked on issues concerning gender, sexuality, sexual health and rights as it is the primary objective of AHIP.  They have trained more than 700 women and youths on reproductive health in the past year and hope to do more soon especially with the New ideas from this training.  She has a BSc. in Economics. By taking this course, she hopes to have a better understanding of sexual rights, gender, violence against women and diversity. She is very interested to learn how to better inform women in Northern Nigeria about their rights and also give them a voice. She would like to develop the ability to facilitate the issues easily and comfortable as most young people and women in the north shy away from these issues.

Osasu Aigbogun (Nigeria)
Osasu is a Programme Officer at Women’s Health and Action Research Cente (WHARC). She is particularly interested in the sexual health and well-being of communities and has been actively involved in developing and implementing programs geared at improving the sexual well-being of communities through research, behaviour change activities, awareness campaigns and advocacy. She has a BSc. in Microbiology .

Mercy Erhi Makpor (Nigeria)
Mercy is a Programme/Research Assistant at the Centre for Population and Environmental Devolopment (CPED). Her skills and interests as a Research/Programme Assistant lie in rendering humanitarian services. She takes great interest in counselling, facilitation, and research and her core competencies rest on analysis of qualitative data, questionnaire design, project design and implementation, as well as in monitoring and evaluation of programmes. She has facilitated in training programmes building capacities on organizational management, reproductive health, advocacy and sexuality communication.  She has a BSC in Accounting and currently enrolled for an MSc in Global Business Management.

George Maina (Kenya)
George is a Programs Coordinator with Youth Coalition for Minority Support. He is currently working with young persons living with HIV from age 14-28years within Nakuru County through the support of National Organization of Peer Educators-NOPE NGO.  He is part of the team that is striving to identifying strategies to challenge and counter social stigmas associated with HIV/AIDS and that prevent youth friendly services from meeting the needs of youth. He has also been working in a ‘girls glow project’ addressing the Sexual Vulnerability of most at risk Young Women in Narok district (young female sex workers). Currently, through USAID Project (APHIA II RIFT) he heads a youth programme under a Community Based Organization Youth Coalition  for Minority Support as a Programs Coordinator that majors in performing arts to implement prevention activities among the out of school youths in Nakuru County. He has a Bachelor of Arts -Social Studies (Sociology-Major).

Ramadhani Khamisi Ndiga (Kenya)
Ramadhani is Welfare Staff at World Starts With Me Alumni Youth Advocacy Network (WAYAN). He has explicitly worked on issues of sexuality, gender, sexual health and rights of young people. His big interests lie in seeing the realization of the Sexual & Reproductive Health & Rights of young people in various nations especially, Kenya by having governments support and fully implement / facilitate the implementation of youth policies as well as provision of youth friendly centers evenly distributed within countries of Africa. Having experienced series of challenges during various advocacies to the government and creation of awareness to young people in the villages/poor families in slams on their sexual and health rights, he hopes to be better equipped through this training in order to overcome these challenges.

Aurelia Muthoni Munene (Kenya)
Aurelia is a Home Base Care Advisor at Voluntary Services Overseas. She has a Bachelor of Arts Sociology and Psychology (First Class) from the University of Nairobi and a Registered Nursing degree in Midwifery, Community Health and General Nursing from the Kenya Medical Training College. She has been involved in provision of Comprehensive Maternal Health services to HIV infected pregnant women, family planning methods and advocacy. She has also provided medical, social and psychological services to survivors of gender based violence including rape to adults and children in the slum areas of Kenya as well as provided sexual education to HIV positive Adolescents through games, drama, music and discussions. Presently, she is involved in initiating and conducting an evaluation of the services (qualitative and quantitative studies) to profile gaps, unmet needs and priorities for future planning as well as document outcomes and impact in Nigeria. She also builds capacity of Community Health Extension Workers who offer SRH education and referral of women in the communities to primary health care centers.

Franklin G. Murangira (Rwanda)
Franklin is a Project Manager at CARE International. He works on issues of gender based violence and sexual health and rights but believes he still needs more skills to streamline the approach especially on sexual health and rights. His professional interest range from governance, women empowerment, Gender-based Violence, Family planning approach, advocacy to sexual health and rights and increasing my skills in other areas related to them. He has a Master’s degree in Project and Management.

Doris Maholo-Saydee (Liberia)
Doris is a Victim Advocate in the Sexual Gender Based Violence Crimes Unit, Ministry of Justice. She has a passion for promoting the rights of women and girls and helping to minimize violence against them. She is presently working as Victim Advocate for the Sexual Gender Based Violence Crimes Unit, under the Ministry of Justice that prosecutes sexual violence cases. For the past six years she has been actively involved in activities that promotes the well-being of women and children such as providing response services for survivors of sexual violence, conducting trainings for partners such as security, legal & medical on effective response services for survivor, creating awareness on reproductive health and Gender based violence issues and advocating for the rights of survivors. She has BA in Sociology.

Lily Haritu Foglabenchi (Cameroon)
Lily is the Women’s Health Program Coordinator, Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Board (CBCHB-WHP). Her goal is to combine her passion for sexual leadership and development, scientific and clinical research to study various approaches in improving the sexual and reproductive health of underprivileged populations. Alongside her duties in the CBCHB-WHP, she has been involved in trainings and advocating for the sexual and reproductive health of rural women and girls. She has a Bachelor of Nursing Science Degree (Hons.)

Khonzanani Mbatha (South Africa)
Khonzanani is a Research Intern at University of South Africa Centre for Applied Psychology.
He is beginning professionally in the areas of sexuality and gender, though he has done a considerable amount of reading in the area and have been exposed to a variety of projects and organizations (such as University of South Africa Centre for Applied Psychology sexuality-related projects and HIV/ AIDS counseling projects at Madadeni Hospital in Kwa Zulu Natal). He has participated in various large research projects that relate to the field of sexuality. These include documenting a best practice model for victim empowerment in rural areas, monitoring hate crimes in South Africa and LGBTI issues in the North West province. He is interested in African women’s mental and reproductive health. He is a BA (Health Sciences and Social Services) specializing in Psychological Counseling from University of South Africa and presently an MA research intern at the University of South Africa Centre for Applied Psychology

Judah Jay Matlou (South Africa)
Judah is the Training and Development Project Coordinator at OUT LGBTI Well-Being Organization. He has been working in the field of the sexual minority sector for 6 years. Currently he does training and development work by conducting sensitization trainings to service providers such as  Psychologists, Counsellors, Nurses, Social Workers, South African Police Stations, organisations in the Victim Empowerment Programme, Dept of Correctional Services, NGO’s.He believes that even with South Africa’s all inclusive democracy and Constitution, homophobia is still thrive and the heterosexist society has a huge impact on the health and wellbeing of sexual diversities: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual , Transgender, (MSM) Men having sex with men but don’t identify as being gay or bisexual.