About the Fund Advisory Committee
The 2026 round of the Democracy at Work Fund was selected through a participatory grant-making committee. This marked a shift from the fund’s first round, which used a semi-participatory model led by regional experts, to a more comprehensive approach that centered community-level experts and people with lived experience across the fund’s processes - from applications to decision-making.
The depth of the committee’s contextual expertise brought immense value to the process, and helped us shape a strong final cohort of grantees.
Fund Advisory Committee Members
Chiedza has over a decade of experience in philanthropy and social justice work across East and Southern Africa, supporting community-based organizations, particularly in the areas of gender justice, access to justice, democracy and social accountability as well as climate resilience. Chiedza is an African Philanthropy scholar with the Centre on African Philanthropy and Social Investment at the Wits Business School in South Africa. Her Masters research examined the resource mobilisations strategies used by rural women-led community-based organisations and the barriers they face in accessing philanthropic support. This work interrogated funder perceptions of legitimacy and highlighted how many funder processes exclude less-resourced organisations.
Fahmi has over two decades of experience as a labour researcher and project coordinator at the intersection of labour rights and social movements across Asia, as Project Manager for Solidar Suisse in Southeast and South Asia from March 2020 to February 2025, and Programme Coordinator at the Asia Monitor Resource Centre from 2010 to 2016. These roles have equipped him with extensive experience in coordination, research, and cross-border advocacy, with a recent focus on decent work in Indonesia's critical mineral sector, Southeast Asia’s just transition in the palm oil sector, and labour in the platform economy. His research includes labour rights and organising strategies, especially concerning marginalised groups, informal workers, and the impact of technological transitions on labour. He has had roles on the Editorial Boards of Asian Labour Review and Indoprogress since 2015 and 2006 respectively, and has numerous publications , such as the edited book Resistance on the Continent of Labour (2017) and articles on platform workers in Indonesia.
Fauziah Muthoni Wanjiru is a committed survivor leader and safeguarding advocate with more than ten years of experience in community mobilization, gender-based violence response, and anti-trafficking initiatives in Kenya. As a Secretariat Member and the Safeguarding Focal Point Person at Survivors Network Kenya (SNK), she plays a central role in ensuring that all organizational activities uphold the highest standards of safety, dignity, and accountability for survivor members. She supports the development and enforcement of safeguarding measures, mentors survivor leaders, and ensures trauma-informed practices guide all engagements. Fauziah has significantly contributed to national policy processes, including Kenya’s Alliance 8.7 Pathfinder Roadmap, where she represented survivor perspectives in consultations led by the Ministry of Labour. Her leadership was further recognized when she presented at the 19th Global Coordinating Group (GCG) meeting in Turin, Italy, amplifying the voices of Kenyan survivors on a global platform. Professionally, Fauziah has held roles at Footprint to Freedom, CREAW, and the Solidarity Center, where she facilitated survivor empowerment programs, conducted community awareness sessions, managed GBV cases, and developed learning tools for training and advocacy. She is trained in safeguarding, trauma healing, paralegal skills, GBV response, labour rights, and stakeholder engagement, equipping her with strong facilitation, documentation, and collaboration skills. Fauziah remains deeply committed to advancing survivor leadership and strengthening Kenya’s anti-trafficking response.
Gonzalo is a dual U.S.–Argentine citizen with fifteen years of experience designing, implementing, and monitoring labor rights and supply chain projects, primarily in the United States and Brazil. He serves as Executive Director of the Equitable Food Initiative (EFI), where he is focused on scaling and deepening the organization’s work across the Americas. EFI operates extensively in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, with growing engagement in South America, bringing together farmworkers, unions, growers, retailers, and civil society to improve working conditions in the fresh produce industry. Previously, he served as Country Program Director at the Solidarity Center and Senior Program Manager at Verité.
Nandita Shivakumar
Nandita is a researcher, organizer and campaigner working with women-led trade unions and international non-profits, who has focused on advancing gender justice, labor rights, and just transition in global supply chains. Notably, she coordinated the Justice for Jeyasre campaign, which led to the historic "Dindigul Agreement to Eliminate Gender-Based Violence and Harassment." This landmark agreement is Asia's first enforceable multi-stakeholder agreement to address both gender-based violence and caste-based violence in garment supply chains. She serves on the Steering Committee of the United Nations Foundation’s Accountability Platform, a global multi- stakeholder initiative advancing the health and rights of women workers in global supply chains. She is also a board member of the Union of Concerned Researchers in Fashion (UCRF), and an advisor to the Tamil Nadu Textile and Common Labour Union—one of India’s first independent, Dalit women-led trade unions.