SVRI Forum’s Young Professionals Programme is dedicated to nurturing the next generation of researchers and practitioners from LMICs. The programme pairs new and emerging young professionals with experienced mentors to expand their knowledge and skills-base and provide expert feedback on their presentation ahead of the Forum, as well as the opportunity to network and engage with global experts. The young professionals will all be giving their presentations on Thursday 24 October, not to be missed!
Meet our cohort for 2024:
CHRISTINE WINNY CLEMENT
Winny spearheads the Young Women Christian Association (YWCA), South Sudan’s Peace Building and Conflict Mitigation Programme. She is a co-founder of the Let Girls Talk initiative, providing safe spaces for young women survivors/victims of GBV. Winny was nominated to speak at the opening of the 63rd UN Commission on the Status of Women and World YWCA’s Geneva Peace Week. She was also a member of South Sudan Women Coalition advocating for more inclusion of young women/girls in the South Sudan Peace Negotiations. Winnie is a member of the Network for Women Peace Actors in South Sudan, South Sudan Youth Organization Coalition, General Women Union of South Sudan, and South Sudan National Youth Union. She has a Diploma in Social Work and Social Administration majoring in counselling.
Winny’s presentation is Piloting reparative justice and redress for survivors of Safeguarding (SEAH) in the complex humanitarian context of South Sudan.
Mentor: Lori Michau, activist committed to preventing VAW and co-founder of Raising Voices.
TULASHA KHADKA
Tulasha is a researcher and a trainer on child protection at ChildSafeNet, Nepal. Born and raised in northeastern India, she returned to Nepal to pursue her university education, driven by her strong passion for safeguarding the rights of children and young people. Tulasha focuses on gathering evidence on key issues such as child sexual exploitation and abuse, gender-based violence, rigid gender norms, and the vulnerabilities faced by marginalised communities, including risks of trafficking and unsafe migration. She has recently co-led critical studies on online intimate partner violence and the role of parents in promoting child safety in online spaces. She holds a master’s in development studies.
Tulasha’s presentation is Online intimate partner violence against teens and young people in Nepal
Mentor: James Lang, Senior Specialist on GBV, Asian Development Bank
SULTAN MAHMUD
Sultan is an assistant scientist at icddr,b in Dhaka, Bangladesh, committed to addressing VAW and VAC through advanced statistical methods and machine learning. Sultan examines the intersection of social norms and violence, particularly focusing on children and adolescents, including those with disabilities. He is also interested in interventions that prevent child marriage and enhance positive social norms regarding women’s sexual/reproductive health. Sultan is currently leading several projects, including a systematic review and meta-analysis assessing the effectiveness of interventions in preventing IPV. He holds an M.Sc. in Applied Statistics, University of Dhaka and has a background in biostatistics, longitudinal data analysis, and time series analysis.
Sultan’s presentation is on Effectiveness and value for money of combined interventions to empower girls and address social norms in reducing child marriage in Bangladesh: A cluster randomized controlled trial and cost-effectiveness study.
Mentor: Naeemah Abrahams, Director, Gender & Health Research Unit, South African Medical Research Council
KARTIKA ANGGUN DIMAR SETIO
Kartika is a lecturer in the Faculty of Public Health at the University of Indonesia. Her interest in adolescent sexual/ reproductive health began at school, working as a youth peer advocate and providing counsel for her peers. Kartika integrates topics like LGBT rights and gender-based violence into her curriculum. Despite facing resistance from some colleagues, she steadfastly promotes these issues, advocating for academic freedom and inclusion, and to raise awareness of sexual violence as a significant public health issue in Indonesia. She holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in health promotion and is pursuing her PhD at UNSW Sydney, focusing on child marriage practices and sexual violence in Indonesia.
Kartika’s presentation is Unlocking the secrets: Uncovering the forces behind adolescent child marriage in Indonesia – preliminary results from a qualitative study
Mentor: Melissa Alvarado, UN Women Regional Advisor on Ending VAW, Asia & the Pacific