HRFN’s Global Conference
FUNDING FUTURES FESTIVAL
24-26 April 2024
Tbilisi, Georgia
Adrian Coman
Arcus Foundation
Program Director, International Social Justice
Adrian has worked in advocacy, philanthropy, education, and politics for more than 20 years. Since 2013, he has been coordinating the International Human Rights Program at the Arcus Foundation in New York, advancing LGBT human rights. Adrian was executive director of the LGBT group ACCEPT in Romania, where he led campaigns contributing to the repeal of an anti-gay criminal law and the adoption of anti-discrimination provisions. Upon his immigration to the U.S. in 2002, he worked in philanthropy with the Baltic American Partnership Fund and in human rights advocacy with OutRight International. In 2009, he went to the European Parliament in Brussels to assist a legislator on human rights and anti-corruption. Adrian holds degrees in chemistry and human rights, and is fluent in Romanian, English, Spanish, and French.
Angelika Arutyunova
CCECCNA Collaborative Fund
Co- Founder
Angelika Arutyunova, a Co-Founder of CEECCNA Collaborative Fund, is an international social justice and resource advocate with over 20 years experience in bridging international funding and human rights and social justice organizing through thought leadership, strategic interventions, direct grantmaking, donor advice and advocacy, long-term programs and project design, feminist participatory action research, convenings, and more.
Amira El-Sayed
Luminate
Director, Global Programmes
Amira leads Luminate’s global Participation & Dissent work, focused on making political power more inclusive and ensuring those who challenge power can do so safely and effectively. She previously managed the foundation’s global Civic Empowerment grants and investments.
Amira was previously Director of Programs and Strategy at Reboot, leading its New York-based Programs Team and working to advance civic participation and social action with a variety of philanthropic, government, and private sector partners. She also worked on Reboot’s theory of change and organisational strategy.
Prior to this Amira was a Programme Manager at Transparency International – Defence and Security. Amira first led the Africa Programme and later managed an initiative to develop global norms for responsible defence governance, as well as the Government Defence Anti-Corruption Index, TI’s flagship publication on defence and security.
Lulú Barrera
Numun Fund
Conversations Grower (Mexico)
Lulú Barrera is a human rights defender and feminist activist working at the intersection of tech, gender and human rights. She pioneered the work to combat online harassment against women in Mexico as founder and former lead of Luchadoras, a feminist organization that uses technologies to advance the fight for gender equality in the digital space. Her work and trajectory have been awarded locally and internationally for her contributions on feminist advocacy in digital media. She currently works at Numun Fund, a global fund created to support the feminist tech ecosystem in the Larger World.
Mariam Gagoshashvili
Independent Philanthropic Consultant
Mariam is a queer feminist activist, advocate, and grantmaker from Tbilisi, Georgia. Born and raised in the South Caucasus, she migrated to the US in 2013 and has since been splitting her time between New York City and Tbilisi. In her 17 years in the field of gender justice, Mariam has dedicated her efforts to strategically resourcing feminist and queer-led movements through participatory and trust-based grantmaking models and with an intersectional justice lens.
In her recent role as the Director of Programs at Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, Mariam oversaw the International Fund’s work in the Global Majority countries. In this capacity, she managed a vibrant multi-national team of seven and an annual budget of over $5 million for the Fund’s grantmaking, capacity strengthening, accompaniment, research, and philanthropic advocacy efforts. Additionally, Mariam has worked at Global Fund for Women and Women’s Fund in Georgia, is among the founding advisors of FRIDA The Young Feminist Fund, and has served on the Board of Urgent Action Fund for Feminist Activism. She holds a Master’s degree in Gender Studies from Central European University (Hungary), is passionate about healing justice and holistic safety, and spends a lot of time daydreaming about our collective liberation.
Mukami Marete
UHAI – the East Africa Sexual Health and Rights Initiative (UHAI EASHRI)
Executive Director
Mukami is an African queer feminist mother of two, with a long and broad activist career of 18 years. She works at the intersection of organizational development, human rights, and social justice. Her career has focused in particular on the resourcing organizing for and by LGBTIQ persons and sex workers. Mukami applies her personal values of feminism, social justice, service to others, integrity, and excellence, as well as professional and social skills, towards making this world a just and loving place to live in.
She is currently the Co-Executive Director of UHAI – the East Africa Sexual Health and Rights Initiative (UHAI EASHRI). UHAI is an activist LGBTIQ and sex workers fund. Prior to joining UHAI, she worked for the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) and was actively involved in the sexual and reproductive health rights program, particularly with the right to safe and legal abortion and the rights of LGBTIQ people. Mukami also serves on the Boards of the Black Feminist Fund (BFF), the Global Philanthropy Project (GPP), the East African Philanthropy Network (EAPN) and the African Philanthropy Network (APN). She previously served at the Board of Green Peace Africa as well as the Sex Worker Donors Collaborative (SWDC).
She has an MBA in strategy and a bachelor’s degree in building Economics and management – both from the University of Nairobi. She has a postgraduate degree in Human Resource Management and is a certified public accountant trained by Strathmore University. Mukami is a mother of two and believes that love makes a family. She wants to be able to bring up her African children to thrive even as they exist in the patriarchal, racist, imperialist and sexist world that she finds herself in.