User:Meanjary/Lisa Marie Faye

Ms. Lisa Faye hails from the very small town of Wishart, Saskatchewan. After graduating high school she joined the University of Regina where she completed an honours degree, double majoring in English and Women's Studies. From there she moved on to St. John's, Newfoundland to complete a research based Master's degree at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Working with farm women in Saskatchewan, Ms. Faye considered the various ways in which feminist theory, community and practice could better address the needs of rural women in Canada.

After finishing her education Ms. Faye moved to Accra, Ghana where she began work with the Women's Initiative for Self Empowerment (WISE). In this position she created a gender awareness programme for government workers. In this work Lisa began to recognize how important it was for people to understand the construction of gender in order for them to be a part of deconstruction. From there Ms. Faye moved to Ho, Ghana where she worked for Women in Law and Development Africa (WiLDAf). WiLDAf provides free legal help to women and children. From the client lists, Ms. Faye developed statistics on violence against women and children in the region in order to motivate government to change policies. Again, the ability to be a significant part of real social development, public education and change motivated Lisa to consider further opportunities to work internationally.

Ms. Faye has recently returned to Canada following three years volunteering with Uniterra in Gaborone, Botswana. Working as a technical advisor with the Gender Unit at the Southern African Development Community (SADC) she did a variety of work - everything from editing capacity building documents, writing monitoring and evaluation reports and ensuring full communication amongst the SADC Secretariat and all of the partner organizations. In fact, Lisa did not simply work at SADC, she integrated into the team and was well respected by her colleagues. Lisa was a constant advocate for the gender unit and for women's rights in general. Working in a regional economic community, Lisa learned the importance of legislative change and policy development.

With the SADC Secretariat Ms. Faye had the opportunity to travel the Southern Africa region and beyond. She has been as far as Ethiopia, taking part in a meeting with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) regarding United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security. She has been to Mauritius, attending a Summit of the Southern African Heads of State meant to look at ways in which the region could better work to put an end to poverty. Being in the same room with the likes of the former President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki and King Mswati III from Swaziland, Ms. Faye definitely felt that she was on the right track in terms of seeing real change for the women of Southern Africa. In November 2008, Lisa participated actively in the International Forum on Women's Rights and Development held by the Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) in Cape Town, South Africa. Here she was inspired by women passionate about making change, and she was encouraged to continue in her work with women in developing countries.

Lisa has recently returned to Saskatchewan where she continues to work in international development at her new position, as Public Engagement, Advocacy and Campaigns Coordinator for the Prairie Region, with Oxfam Canada.