Some of the highlights from my extensive CV include:
Work Experience
Sep 2020-Sep 2021 Scientific Expert/Consultant; Council of Europe, European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice, GT-QUAL Working Group
As a Scientific expert, I am conducting a study on gender equality in the European Council’s 47 member states’ judiciaries. Using qualitative research techniques such as questionnaires, I am tasked with producing an in-depth research report on gender equality in judges’ recruitment process and access to positions of responsibility. Thereafter, I will provide the European Council with recommendations and guidelines for reforming underperforming judiciaries and best practices for member states.
Oct 2020-Feb 2021 External Collaborator; Global Citizenship Observatory (GLOBALCIT), European University Institute
As an external collaborator for Malawi under the GLOBALCIT program, I was tasked with checking and updating the citizenship legislation in force in Malawi. Additionally, I also submitted a country report on citizenship law in Malawi for publication in the repository.
2012-2019 Senior Research Officer and Academic Faculty member; Democratic
Governance and Rights Unit, University of Cape Town
1. Research and Advocacy Responsibilities
- I conducted legal research, empirical fieldwork, and critical analysis as part of a project on judicial appointments and the rule of law. The result was in-depth reports, policy recommendations, briefing notes for governments, multilateral funders, and judicial stakeholders, and material for relevant regional bodies such as the Southern African Chief Justice’s forum. I also gave opinions on policy reform guidelines.
- I led the gender project in this Judicial Governance unit, and my primary focus was gender equality in the legal sector. I oversaw and coordinated various research, advocacy initiatives, and regional and international engagements that included facilitating and presenting at workshops and conferences in Southern, East, West Africa, the United States, Canada, and Hong Kong.
- I assisted with programmes focusing on access to justice, including judicial education courses, access to legal information projects, and judicial independence and impartiality matters.
- I worked on law projects funded by international organizations such as the Norwegian embassy, USAID, UNODC, Open Society Foundation, GIZ, and Ford Foundation. These projects required that I conduct capacity-building workshops, assist at judicial leadership training and symposia as part of my responsibilities.
- I had a significant advocacy component, which entailed forming partnerships with Civil Society Organisations regionally and globally. We worked together to achieve common goals regarding strengthening the courts and access to justice, supporting good governance and equitable representation of women in judiciaries, the legal profession, and judicial appointing bodies. I also facilitated at Judge’s forums organized by my unit, interacting with Magistrates and Legal professionals nationally, regionally, and internationally.
- I conducted workshops for women in the legal sector on gender justice and judicial reform. I also provided technical assistance to the Judges Matter Coalition and the South African Chapter of the International Association of Women Judges.
2. Teaching Responsibilities
- From 2015- 2019, I guest lectured for several undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, including and not limited to: the London School of Economics and Political Science and UCT Human Rights Summer School, the Women and Law in Society Masters class, the Law and Society in Africa residential school, the Women and Law Research seminars and the Governing Under the Constitution final year class.
3. Mentoring Responsibilities
- From 2015-2019 I led the Women’s Pioneer Programme (WPP Leadership Programme), funded by the Norwegian government. Its focus was the capacitation of women law students and women judicial officers to equip them with relevant skills for leadership. This involved mentoring the law students and pairing them with women judicial officers, running and facilitating weekend writing and leadership retreats, and running skills acquisition programmes.
2017-2018 PhD Fellow and Researcher; Human Rights Centre, Ghent University,
Belgium
I was employed on a Judicial reform research project focusing on increasing gender diversity in judiciaries. During the research project, I organized and facilitated the inaugural Gender and Judging Experts seminar that included international speakers. The papers from this seminar form the basis for a special issue journal of the International Journal of the Legal Profession published in 2020, which I also co-edited.Nov 2011 / Consultant; AIDS and Rights Alliance of Southern Africa
I was the Rapporteur for the Regional Partnership forum. This role required that I consult with relevant regional and international partners and monitor efforts to achieve universal healthcare access. This culminated in the submission of a report for the Annual African Partnership Forum.
2009-2010 / Project Manager (previously Researcher); Treatment Action Campaign (TAC)
I supported the General Secretary and the National Chairperson’s substantive and administrative duties in respect of advocacy initiatives focusing on the provision of adequate treatment to all people living with HIV/AIDS in South Africa. I coordinated civil society engagements, assisted with policy briefings, speech writing, and presentations at international conferences. I coordinated TAC’s involvement with UNAIDS, DFID, The Global Fund, Bill Gates Foundation, Comic Relief, and EU HIVOS.
2007-2009 / Candidate Attorney; Tomlinson Mnguni James Attorneys
I conducted legal research and drafted opinions on various pending legal issues and changing legislation. I presented this research to Senior Partners to clients and at workshops.
Some selected Key Positions, Domestic and International Engagements in the last five years.
- Editorial Board member for the South African Chapter of the International Association of Women Judges law journal.
- Rapporteur for the panel on Judicial Integrity and Ethics at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, High-Level meeting on Judicial Integrity held in Doha, Qatar, February 2020.
- Honorary Research Associate of the University of Cape Town Law faculty, July 2019-June 2024.
- Organizer and speaker at the Leadership Training weekend for members of the Women’s Pioneer Programme in Cape Town, April 2019.
- Discussant at the book launch of International Courts and the African Woman Judge: Unveiled Narratives held by the Center for Research on Law, Equality, and Diversity at Queen Mary University, London, September 2018.
- Presenter on the panel ‘Africa, Gender and Justice’ at the Annual Law Society Association Conference, Toronto, June 2018.
- Chair and Discussant of the panel ‘Gender and Legal careers’, at the Annual Law Society Association Conference, Toronto, June 2018.
- Organizer and Presenter at the Expert seminar on Gender and Judging, Ghent University, April 2018.
- Presenter on ‘Conceptualizing Gender in Legal research’ at the University of Zambia law school seminar, April 2017.
- Co-organizer and facilitator of the inaugural Judicial Exchange workshop, between the Malawian and South African chapters of the International Association of Women Judges held in Malawi, March 2017.
- Presenter of the paper ‘Perceiving Gender and Judging from an African Vantage Point’ at the inaugural Law and Society Conference in Africa, December 2016.
- Presenter at a gender workshop and a plenary session at the East African Magistrates and Judges Association annual conference, November 2016.
- Facilitator and Presenter at the Zimbabwean Lawyers for Human Rights workshop on Judicial Appointments hosted in Harare, June 2016.
- Presenter of a paper called ‘The Vulnerability of Judges in Contemporary Africa: alarming Trends’ at the Law and Society Association conference in New Orleans, USA, June 2016.
- Presenter of research results from the pilot project ‘Crimes of Passion: A Gendered Approach to Judging,’ at the AfricanLII Workshop in Ghana, February 2016.