Joanne leads SDDirect’s Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in Emergencies work. She is a senior member of the GBV portfolio and Director of the GBV AoR Helpdesk: a research and advice service for humanitarian actors working on GBV risk mitigation, prevention and response in emergencies. She also contributes expertise to the Ending Violence against Women and Children Helpdesk - a research and advice service for the UK government and is a Senior Technical Advisor to the Learning Partnership of the ‘What Works: Impact at Scale’ programme.
Joanne brings 20+ years of experience working on GBV in acute and protracted emergencies, as well as development contexts and the UK. She has worked with civil society, UN, government and the private sector on the prevention and response to violence against women and girls. Her work to date spans all regions. Joanne brings a strong track record of designing and implementing GBV programming, capacity-strengthening initiatives, documenting practice-based learning, as well as supporting research and policy development. She also provides strategic technical advice to a range of clients and stakeholders.
She is committed to improving practice and partnerships within humanitarian and development settings to enable a redistribution of power and resources. In doing so she seeks to recognise and elevate the expertise and contribution of local women and girl-led organisations.
