WiAD pleased to announce two new appointments

Women in Aid & Development is pleased to announce the appointment of two new directors, Vivian Chordi and Lisa Smyth, who took up their roles in May 2021.

Chair, Chris Franks, announced the appointments saying, “After a competitive recruitment process, the WiAD Board is delighted to appoint Lisa and Vivian as Directors and we look forward to working with them to expand our communications and mentoring programs.”

Both bring great skills to enhance the current board as well as enable us to meet our strategic goals.

Find out more about our new directors below!

Lisa Smyth

Lisa is an international communications specialist with 13 years of experience managing communications teams and projects for government agencies, the United Nations, NGOs, and private companies in Australia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea and Germany.

She has worked across a varied portfolio, including Communications for Development (C4D) initiatives, behaviour change communications, media outreach, digital and social strategy, stakeholder engagement, and issues management.

Lisa has a Masters in C4D from Malmo University, Sweden and is a ColabM mentor for international development students at Monash University in Melbourne. She is passionate about sharing her knowledge with women who aspire to work in the international aid, development and humanitarian sectors.

Vivian Chordi

Vivian works in the higher education sector advising global citizenship education programs, specialising in human rights, cultural diplomacy, and stakeholder engagement. She is a passionate advocate for cross-sector collaboration, mentorship, and empowering the next generation of leaders to think critically about their role as global citizens, by creating a more peaceful, sustainable, and equitable society for all.

Vivian has worked in Bangladesh, integrating gender mainstreaming into food security programs; in Colombia securing grants to combat gender-based violence, and in Cambodia Consulting on child rights and protection. Vivian is also an experienced facilitator and has led the development and implementation of training workshops, cultural programs, and humanitarian design summits across Bangladesh, Malaysia, Nepal, Cambodia, and China.

Vivian holds a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Politics, International Relations & Cultural Studies and a Masters of Peace and Conflict Studies from The University of Sydney.