Our staff

Meet our staff

Caroline Lambert
Executive Director

Caroline came to the YWCA after a long involvement in women's human-rights issues, both in Australia and internationally. Caroline co-founded the Women's Rights Action Network Australia (with Barbara Palmer) in 1998, was involved with Amnesty International for many years, and is a past chair of Women's Housing Limited in Victoria.

Caroline is interested in applying the principles and processes associated with UN human rights treaties to work in our community: for example, through the Australia-wide CEDAW reporting project and as a worker for the groundbreaking "From Rhetoric to Reality: Making Human Rights Work for Service Delivery" conference in 2002.

Caroline has completed a PhD on the integration of trade issues into the CEDAW reporting process. She is the co-author of Critical Chatter: Women and Human Rights Activism in South East Asia and co-edited "Global Issues, Women and Justice".

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Kathy Richards
WomenSpeak Coordinator

Kathy has spent ten years working in human rights in the non government sector, including as Campaign Coordinator for Amnesty International Australia, Human Rights Policy Coordinator for the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) and Convenor of the Australian Forum of Human Rights Organisations (AFHRO).

Kathy's previous research work includes an extensive investigation of community-based anti-corruption programs for the anti-corruption movement Transparency International and publications on the links between corruption and people trafficking. Currently Kathy is the Vice President for Amnesty International Australia ACT/Southern NSW region.

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Luara Ferracioli
WomenSpeak Project Coordinator

Luara is originally from Brazil and works for YWCA Australia as part of the WomenSpeak Team. She holds a Bachelors Degree in International Relations, a Masters in Applied Ethics and is currently doing a PhD at the Australian National University.

Luara is also heavily involved in the ACT community. She is part of the Youth Advisory Council (YAC) and has recently been elected to the Y of Canberra Board of Directors. Luara is mainly interested in feminist philosophy, multiculturalism and youth issues.

Heather Walker
Administration Officer

Heather comes to YWCA Australia from a background in the IT, Tourism and Hospitality Industries.  She holds a Bachelors Degree in Biological Science and has recently moved to the ACT from the Northern Territory.

Alison Laird
Policy Coordinator

Information about Alison will soon be added to this website.