co-Executive Director > zohra moosa
zohra moosa was Mama Cash’s Director of Programmes since May 2013, and has been Executive Director since July 2017.
zohra came to Mama Cash from Action Aid (UK), where she was their Women’s Rights Advisor for three and a half years. She led AAUK’s policy and advocacy work on women’s rights through research, policy analysis, programme advice, campaign development, and media and advocacy.
Prior to joining AAUK, zohra was the Senior Policy and Campaigns Officer at the Fawcett Society in the UK, one of the UK’s oldest and best-known feminist organisations. zohra has also been a freelance blogger and reporter for the Guardian’s “Comment is Free,” openDemocracy and The F-Word since 2007.
Why do you like working for Mama Cash?
“As a person from the Global North, I like working in an organisation that offers useful contributions worldwide, without acting like it always knows what the best approach is. An organisation that is an ally to the groups she support and follows their leadership , and doesn’t tell them what to do with the backing she provides. This for me is an important way of working.”
What makes Mama Cash stand out?
“Mama Cash is quite radical in her approach: in the language she uses, the issues she supports, the ways she does her work. Mama Cash doesn’t shy away from using terms like ‘feminism’ for example. I find that a very strong characteristic.”
What is the point on the horizon you’re working towards?
“I want a full revolution. So that everybody can live a beautiful life, with joy, and community.”
co-Executive Director > Happy Mwende Kinyili
Happy Mwende Kinyili has been working for Mama Cash since 2014, first as Senior Program Officer for the Body Portfolio and since July 2017 as director of the Programmes team.
Happy comes to Mama Cash from UHAI - the East African Sexual Health and Rights Initiative, an indigenous, activist fund supporting East African LGBTI and sex worker movements. Happy joined UHAI in 2009 and served as the Director of Programmes from 2013. In addition to supporting the activist-led peer grantmaking process each year, Happy led in crafting skills and knowledge strengthening programmes for UHAI as well as guiding co-creation processes with activists in the region to host three of Africa’s then largest conferences bringing together sex workers and LGBTI activists and donors.
Why do you like working for Mama Cash?
“Because it’s a space where I can work to make my feminist visions real, and work with other feminists to collectively build and give space to strong, resilient, vibrant feminist movements.”
What makes Mama Cash stand out?
“Mama Cash focuses explicitly on creating space for people who normally remain unseen and unheard, and gives support that enables them to get a seat at the table and make their voices heard. The other thing that makes Mama Cash unique is the guiding principle of self-determination: the emphasis on the fact that each person has agency and the right to determine their own future.”
What is the point on the horizon you’re working towards?
“I want to get to the place where feminists from all parts of the world and from all kinds of movements – whether it be environmental rights movements, trade unions or LGBTI rights movements – get together to strategise, celebrate and break bread together, as part of their own paths of liberation and change. I want to be part of nurturing the spaces where these meetings can take place.”
Director of Partnerships and Communications > Sharon Petrie
Sharon is the latest addition to the management team at Mama Cash, having joined in March 2021.
Sharon brings over 20 years of experience in both profit and not-for-profit sectors, primarily in Resource Development and Communications. Sharon worked at local, regional and HQ levels, formulating and implementing long-term departmental, national and global resource development, partnerships and communications strategies. Her work with Habitat for Humanity, where Sharon held multiple positions – has taken her from Guatemala through Hungary, Armenia and Slovakia to Mozambique. After Habitat, Sharon worked as Vice President for Fundraising and Communications at Right to Play, where she was responsible for maximizing fundraising revenue, improving fundraising efficiency and creating a global communications strategy, while managing 8 national fundraising offices. Sharon has also worked as a consultant and served on nonprofit boards. In various roles that Sharon held, she was passionate and committed to advancing rights of women, girls, indigenous women, and women living with HIV.
Why do you like working for Mama Cash?
As someone who has worked for various organisation across the globe for most of my professional life, I derive energy from working with people who are passionate about what they do. At Mama Cash I am privileged to work with fearless feminist activists every day: colleagues, grantee partners, members of the supervisory board, donors and supporters - all working together and tirelessly to create a more just and equal world for women, girls, trans people and intersex people.
What makes Mama Cash stand out?
Mama Cash dares to make bold choices. We seek to match the courage of the movements we support and invite others to explore, experiment and dream big.
What is the point on the horizon you’re working towards?
I am part of the movement that normalises equality. A world where being equal doesn't constitute a daily fight but where equality for all is the new normal.
Director of Programmes > Coco Jervis
Coco Jervis has worked at Mama Cash since 2019. She joined as the Grants Manager and, in July 2022, became our Director of Programmes, based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Prior to starting at Mama Cash, Coco served as the campaign and communications manager at the Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+). Coco is a proud graduate of City University of New York, Hunter College and Howard University School of Law.
Why do you like working for Mama Cash?
“I value being part of an organisation that aspires to live its intersectional feminist politics. We constantly challenge ourselves in ways that are consistent with our values of curiosity, inclusiveness, accountability, and courageousness.”
What makes Mama Cash stand out?
“Mama Cash is committed to embedding the values of sharing power in all of the ways that we work. Becoming a fully participatory grantmaker, which we did in 2021, is one example of how we are disrupting traditional philanthropic practice by putting decision-making in the hands of activists who seek funding. In doing this, we are striving for more transparent, accountable, and co-creative relationships with the feminist activists that are seeding our world with more compassion and justice.”
What is the point on the horizon you’re working towards?
“I want a world with just and joyful communities for all of us. A world where women’s, girls’, trans people’s and intersex people’s health, safety, and well-being is unconditionally prioritisted. A world reborn, reimagined and rebuilt by feminist activists that is reflective of us in all of our beautiful diversities.”
Director of People, Finance and Operations > Linda Moerland
Linda Moerland joined Mama Cash as Director of People, Finance and Operations in August 2022. She is Indonesian-Dutch and Amsterdam-based. Linda brings more than 15 years of relevant experience in finance, IT, people management, and leading strategic change projects, as well as grassroots organising experience for climate and social justice. She has worked as an audit manager, certified public accountant, project manager, and strategic business controller in the private sector supporting publicly listed firms achieve their targets. As an intersectional feminist with experience organising and leading campaigns for Amsterdam BIJ1 and XR NL, she is a firm believer in Mama Cash’s decentralised and decolonial way of working.
Why do you like working for Mama Cash?
I love working for Mama Cash because I have the opportunity to work with people who are dedicated to a decolonial feminism and feel the same urgency I feel in supporting brave feminists struggling on all our behalves across the globe.
What makes MC stand out?
What makes MC stand out to me is the commitment to a decolonial way of working where we strive to eliminate hierarchy and existing structures of dominance and order in our dealings with the movements we support.
What is the point on the horizon you are working towards?
I am committed to making Mama Cash’s core processes more robust and fit for purpose to ensure we are in the best possible position to deliver on our 10-year strategic plan.
