Joanna Kerr

Joanna Kerr became the Chief Executive of ActionAid International in January 2010, resigning from her post as policy director for Oxfam Canada. Prior to this Kerr was the Executive Director of the Association of Women's Rights in Development.

"Previously she was a Senior Researcher at The North-South Institute in Ottawa. She managed the gender program at The North-South Institute for almost 7 years, where she started the Gender and Economic Reforms in Africa Program (GERA). The GERA program is an action research initiative that brings together 16 African organizations to influence economic policies from a gender perspective. She holds an MA in Gender and Development from the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK. She has policy research, participatory research, advocacy, gender training, project management and monitoring, writing and public speaking experience on issues related to the gender dimensions of economic reform, trade and investment, women's human rights, and women's employment issues. Some of her publications include Demanding Dignity: Women Confronting Economic Reforms in Africa (2000) co-edited with Dzodzi Tsikata, The Gender Dimensions of Economic Reforms in Africa, editor with Lynn Brown (1997), Gender and Jobs in China's New Economy, co-authored with Julie Delahanty (1996) and Ours by Right: Women's Rights as Human Rights (1993), published by ZED press. She has worked in collaboration with researchers and practitioners in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, Ghana, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and Côte d'Ivoire."

Affiliations

 * Associate, Just Associates
 * Member of the Governing Council, Society for International Development
 * Former Executive Director, Association of Women's Rights in Development
 * Advisory Council, Gender Action