Lucinda van den Heever joined Sonke as the International Programmes Specialist. Lucinda’s responsibilities include co-coordinating the Male Involvement Learning Centre Initiative, an exciting new partnership between Sonke and The Swedish Association for Sexuality Education (RFSU), which will support project sites in Uganda and Zambia and promote regional communications, advocacy, and research on men as clients and partners in sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Prior to working with Sonke, Lucinda worked in the sports and development sector for six years for an organisation called SCORE. She started as a volunteer working her way up to managing a National HIV and AIDS Programme using sport to address issues of HIV and AIDS, particularly with youth. She was also actively involved in international training through the Kicking AIDS Out network, a network of mainly African sports and development organisations using sport to address HIV and AIDS.
In 2008, Lucinda pursued a Masters Degree in gender and development at the Institute for Development Studies (IDS) at Sussex University in Brighton, UK. Her final dissertation focused on men and masculinities and specifically looked at Sonke’s work with men and how it challenges dominant masculinities in South Africa. From 2010 – “ 2011 Lucinda worked for Triangle Project, an LGBTI organisation advocating for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and intersexed persons. She was very involved in working with LGBTI groups around issues of gender, sexuality, community mobilization, citizenship and human rights. This work strengthened her belief in the importance of men becoming involved in challenging homophobia and that addressing homophobia and heteronormativity plays a vital role in ending all forms of gender-based violence.
