Colleen Lowe Morna

Colleen, founder of Gender Links, transitioned from CEO in 2021 to lead GL Services, focusing on advisory services, training, grantmaking, fundraising and the GL Cottages and Conferencing centre. 

With nearly four decades of experience in gender mainstreaming across institutions and continents, especially Southern Africa, Colleen is a multitalented women's rights activist. Her diverse background, including South African and Zimbabwean heritage and marriage to a Ghanaian, underpins her multicultural sensitivity. She notably led Gender Links' campaign for the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development, a legally binding instrument that has since been cascaded to 450 councils. She continues to champion gender equality through various projects and publications, including editing the annual SADC Gender Protocol Barometer.

A journalist by profession, Colleen previously worked with Inter Press Service and the Commonwealth Secretariat, where she advised on South Africa's national gender machinery. She also served as founding CEO of the South African Commission for Gender Equality before establishing Gender Links. In 2019, Colleen received a Ford Foundation Fellowship to participate in the Leadership in Transition programme hosted by the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University, together with other NGO leaders from Africa.

Recognised for her strategic skills and leadership, Colleen has received numerous awards, including from the Newswomen’s Club of New York, Mail & Guardian and The CEO Magazine, and holds an honorary membership from the Golden Key International Honour Society.