#AidToo

In the context of sharp criticism of the UK aid sector for failing to tackle sexual abuse perpetrated by workers overseas, and in advance of a Charity Commission report and likely recommendations from the Department for International Development, a panel of practitioners and scholars will consider some broader questions. How do different sectors and disciplines understand the scope of the #AidToo movement? Can we - academics, practitioners and policymakers - push for change inside organisations whilst also pursuing accountability? Could a broader perspective enable other interlocking forms of violence and abuse - such as racial and sexual harassment of LGBTQI and ethnic and racial minority aid workers within the aid sector - to be addressed?

About the speakers

Lesley Agams (@MzAgams) is a writer, lawyer and social entrepreneur based in Abuja. She is founder of the Women's Crisis Centre, Demeter's Solicitors & Advocates, Women's Legal Defence Trust Fund, NGWomen4Peace and Naija by Nature. She has worked in the social justice sector for over 25 years.

Shaista Aziz (@ShaistaAziz) is a former BBC News, Al-Jazeera and CNN journalist and has worked as a communications specialist for  organisations including Amnesty International, Doctors without Borders (MSF) and Oxfam. She has worked extensively across the Middle East, Pakistan, East and West Africa. She is the founder of the Everyday Bigotry Project, an anti-racism, anti-bigotry digital platform, and co-founder of the Women’s Advancement Hub, Pakistan and Intersectional Feminist Foreign Policy.

Aiko Holvikivi (@AikoIiris) is a researcher at the LSE Centre for Women, Peace and Security, and a PhD candidate at LSE's Department of Gender Studies, where she conducts research on gender training for military and police peacekeepers. Before entering academia, Aiko worked in the fields of international development and gender and security sector reform in the government and NGO sectors. 

Dr Armine Ishkanian (@Armish15) is Associate Professor in the Department of Social Policy at LSE. She is Programme Director of the MSc in International Social and Public Policy and an associate member of the LSE’s International Inequalities Institute. Her research examines how civil society organisations and social movements engage in policy processes and transformative politics in a number of countries including Armenia, Egypt, Greece, and the UK. 

Dr Marsha Henry (@mghacademic) (chair) is Interim Director of the Centre for Women, Peace and Security and Associate Professor at the Department of Gender Studies, LSE.