Expert

Ann Warner is senior gender and youth specialist at the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW). In this role, Warner works on a range of projects related to the health and human rights of women and girls.

Warner brings more than 10 years of experience in research and program development in international health and policy issues. Prior to her current position, she served as the special assistant to ICRW’s president, where she directed a research and advocacy project on the social drivers of HIV and AIDS. Before joining the organization in 2008, Warner led a research project for Columbia University and the International Rescue Committee that documented the prevalence of violence against women and girls in two Liberian counties. Warner also worked as the director of development at CARE, where she managed the organization’s relationships with professional foundations and consulted on a post-tsunami development program for CARE Sri Lanka.

Warner won the Global Health Council’s “New Investigator in Global Health” award in 2008 for her work in gender-based violence in Liberia.

Sunayana Walia is a senior specialist at the International Center for Research on Women’s (ICRW) Asia Regional Office. In this capacity, Walia coordinates intervention research projects on adolescent reproductive health and women’s empowerment. She also assists partner institutions to design evaluations and monitor programs.

Walia has extensive experience evaluating life skills programs for adolescent girls and measuring women’s empowerment. She has coordinated several impact evaluations on reproductive and sexual health in India and examined the links between workplace interventions and women’s empowerment. Before joining ICRW in 2001, Walia worked for six years with the Self-Employed Women’s Association in Ahmedabad on a longitudinal research study. She also worked as a research associate with the Indian Institute of Management, where she coordinated an evaluation study on a national residential school program.

Kirsten Stoebenau is an International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) gender and population specialist who focuses on women’s reproductive and sexual health.

A global health researcher trained in social demography, Stoebenau brings more than a decade of experience analyzing the social determinants of women’s reproductive and sexual health. Prior to joining ICRW in 2010, Stoebenau was a postdoctoral fellow at Canada’s University of Ottawa, where she led a mixed-method study of the social and economic roots of transactional sex among youth in two regions of Madagascar. She also has worked as a research assistant in the department of population and family health sciences at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Stoebenau served in the Peace Corps in Madagascar, where she developed, coordinated and supervised a project to nutritionally enrich a traditional highland Malagasy dish.

Anne Stangl is a senior behavioral scientist at the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW). In this role, Stangl develops strategies and coordinates efforts to reduce HIV- and AIDS-related stigma and discrimination.

Stangl brings more than seven years of international public health experience in Africa and Asia with a focus on stigma, qualitative and quantitative research methods, research design, statistical analysis and monitoring and evaluation. Stangl’s research centers on HIV- and AIDS-related stigma, particularly as it relates to HIV prevention, care and treatment. Prior to joining ICRW in 2007, Stangl designed and conducted studies on HIV prevention and stigma for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Tulane University School of Public Health.

Stangl also served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Zimbabwe, incorporating lessons on HIV and AIDS awareness and prevention into high school curriculum.

Rajendra Singh is a technical specialist at the International Center for Research on Women’s (ICRW) Mumbai Project Office. In this capacity, he oversees all ICRW projects initiated through the organization’s Mumbai project office.

Singh has more than 13 years of experience working as a research officer. Prior to joining ICRW, he was a research manager at the market and social research organization, Gfk-MODE, an associate project coordinator and senior research officer at the International Institute for Population Sciences, and a research officer for independently organized workshops. In these positions, Singh worked on projects focused on reducing HIV risk and conducted research on patterns of sexual behavior. He has co-authored numerous published papers and has presented his research at national and international conferences on HIV and AIDS, reproductive health, masculinity, gender-based violence and capacity building. Singh also has conducted independent research studies for several institutions.

Bell Okello is a gender, agricultural and rural development specialist at the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW). In this role, Okello provides technical support on gender and agriculture for ICRW’s initiatives across east Africa. He is based in ICRW's East Africa Regional Office in Nairobi, Kenya.

Okello brings 13 years of regional experience in livelihoods and food security, gender analysis and monitoring and evaluation. Most recently, Okello was an independent consultant on rangeland management, natural resource management, livelihoods and food security for a variety of organizations including ETC East Africa. He also has served as a rural development specialist for Mercy Corps and Cooperazione Italiana Nord Sud (CINS).