Nicolette Naylor

Nicolette Naylor is a Pan African feminist lawyer and senior philanthropy executive who has spent more than two decades working at the intersection of justice, feminism, and philanthropy. She is the CEO and founder of Ubuntu Global Philanthropy & Gender Justice Consulting, an organisation providing support to philanthropy organisations, feminist movements, civil society organisations and academic institutions. Ubuntu’s work is rooted in the belief that social justice work and the philanthropy underpinning it needs to be grounded in principles of love, mutuality, and connection. 

Prior to 2023 she spent close to 16 years at the Ford Foundation where she led the Ford Foundation's Southern Africa office and International Program on Gender, Racial & Ethnic Justice. Her work has focused on increasing resources and financial support for civil society in the global South with a focus on feminist movements and human rights organisations. 

Nicolette is an International Human Rights lawyer by training and spent the early part of her career working in the public interest law field litigating human rights cases in South Africa, at the African Commission of Human & Peoples’ Rights and at the European Court of Human Rights. She holds a LLM in International Human Rights Law from the University College London and a B.Proc. LLB from the University of the Western Cape in South Africa. She currently serves on several global Boards including, Together for Girls, the African Women Development Fund, Sonke Gender Justice, and she is the Deputy Chair of the Atlantic Institute Global Board.