Leadership
A diverse group of practitioners and support staff who help to coordinate, facilitate, and implement the day-to-day work of the Network together with the Network’s leadership and membership.
USA
Abigail Moy
Director, Grassroots Justice Network
Abigail Moy
Director, Grassroots Justice Network
Global Network and Advocacy
USA
Abigail Moy is the Director of the Grassroots Justice Network, convened by Namati. Since Namati's earliest days, she has led efforts to build a thriving global movement for legal empowerment: one capable of innovating boldly and collectively tackling the greatest justice challenges of our time. The Grassroots Justice Network works to achieve this vision by connecting, strengthening, and expanding the number of community paralegals around the world. Prior to joining Namati, Abigail worked with access to justice programs in Africa, Latin America, and South Asia, in cooperation with the World Bank, The Asia Foundation, Fundación Soros-Guatemala, and Timap for Justice. She previously clerked for the Hon. David H. Coar in the Northern District of Illinois, served in the Office of the Legal Adviser at the United States Department of State, and worked in the New York office of White & Case, LLP. Moy was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship, graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School, and holds a master’s degree in law and development from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.
The Philippines
Marlon Manuel
Senior Advisor, Grassroots Justice Network
Marlon Manuel
Senior Advisor, Grassroots Justice Network
Global Network and Advocacy
The Philippines
Marlon has more than two decades of experience in legal empowerment work, having devoted practically his entire career to social justice and human rights lawyering. He has combined grassroots education activities with active involvement in strategic litigation on human rights and public interest issues, policy reform work on social justice legislation, and justice system reform programs on improving access to justice.
From 2008-2017, Marlon was the Coordinator of the Alternative Law Groups (ALG), a coalition of twenty (20) legal resource NGOs in the Philippines with distinct programs that are primarily concerned with the pursuit of public interest, respect for human rights, and promotion of social justice.  Before joining Namati, he has served as member of the Global Legal Empowerment Network’s Guidance Committee.
Marlon is a professor at the Ateneo de Manila University School of Law, where he received his Juris Doctor degree in 1994. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Management (Major in Legal Management) from the College of Arts and Sciences of the same university.
Spain
Luciana Bercovich
Manager, Grassroots Justice Network
Luciana Bercovich
Manager, Grassroots Justice Network
Global Network and Advocacy
Spain
Luciana is a Human Rights attorney from Argentina; she has been working on access to justice and social rights for more than ten years. Currently, she is coordinating the Legal Empowerment Network efforts in Latin America.
Previously, she was Co-Director of ACIJ – Civil Association for Equality and Justice and a member of the Network Guidance Committee. She has a broad experience working on social justice, access to justice and poverty, specify grassroots organizations and social movements, litigation on social rights, accountability and advocacy on social rights.
Luciana was a university professor of Human Rights and Constitutional Law in Argentina, and she has worked as a consultant research with the Center for Economic and Social Rights and the Inter-American Development Bank. She has authored several books, papers, and op-eds about social rights and access to justice.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS (IN SPANISH):
- “Social rights in the "Greater Buenos Aires": Approaches from theory, the institutions and the action”, Coordinator. Eudeba. (2013)
- “Collective ruling implementation: economic, social and cultural rights”, Co- coordinator. Eudeba. (2013)
-  "Those who were left out: the right to housing in the draft bill to reform the Civil Code", Legal Journal of the Di Tella University. Siglo XX1, (2014).
-  “From the slum to the Trial: Community Building, institutional advocacy and litigation to fulfill the right to housing in the City of Buenos Aires”, Co-author, in ¨The Right to housing in the City of Buenos Aires¨ Eudeba (2011).
-  “The State has the obligation to give priority to the most disadvantaged”, September 9th, 2014, La Nación.
Spain
Michael Otto
Senior Manager, Grassroots Justice Network
Michael Otto
Senior Manager, Grassroots Justice Network
Global Network and Advocacy
Spain
Michael has worked in access to justice, legal education and development since 2004, where he began building legal clinics and paralegal programs throughout Southeast Asia with Bridges Across Borders. In Cambodia, he managed the Community Empowerment and Legal Awareness Program, supporting grassroots advocates through participatory curriculum development, legal rights training and advocacy campaigns. Michael has also worked with Equal Access International in London and Nepal and has served as a founding board member of Tiny Toones in Cambodia, a non-profit working with at-risk youth through arts, dance and education, since 2007.
Michael holds a B.A. in Legal Studies from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, an MSC in Violence, Conflict and Development from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and is a certified mediator.
Kenya
Aimee Ongeso
Manager, Grassroots Justice Network
Aimee Ongeso
Manager, Grassroots Justice Network
Global Network and Advocacy
Kenya
Aimee Ongeso is a Global Network Manager at Namati, where she works on regional advocacy and learning initiatives to advance Namati’s mission.
For the last nine years, Aimee has worked to support communities in ensuring their active participation in the design, execution and implementation of pro-poor policies and legislation. Prior to joining Namati, Aimee managed a variety of projects for the Public International Law & Policy Group and the Kituo Cha Sheria Legal Advice Center based in Nairobi, Kenya.
Spain
Marta Almela MenjĂłn
Officer, Grassroots Justice Network
Marta Almela MenjĂłn
Officer, Grassroots Justice Network
Global Network and Advocacy
Spain
Born and raised in Barcelona, Spain, Marta supports the Grassroots Justice Network member initiatives throughout Latin America.
She has extensive experience in human rights and protection, with a regional focus in Latin America. Marta has lived and worked in Colombia and Guatemala, and has also served as a Latin America researcher for the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) coding political violence and conflict events in Central America.
Marta holds an MA in International Relations - International Humanitarian Action from Rijksuiversiteit Groningen and a BA in Humanities from Universitat Pompeu Fabra. She has also completed a professional postgraduate course in Humanitarian Protection (Universidad de Deusto). Marta loves hiking, reading, and cooking.
USA
Rebecca Iwerks
Director, Global LEJ Initiative
Rebecca Iwerks
Director, Global LEJ Initiative
Land & Environmental Justice
USA
As the Director of Global Land and Environmental Justice Initiative at Namati, Rebecca supports land and environmental justice warriors find new ways to scale and sustain the impact of their work.
Before joining Namati, Rebecca fostered movements for change and capacity development on access to justice issues ranging from natural resource revenue management to land tenure. Rebecca also has roots advocating for gender justice, drawing from experience directly representing survivors of trafficking and gender-based violence in New York. Her career began working alongside the Burmese democracy movement in Thailand and India. Rebecca earned a Juris Doctorate from Fordham University and a B.S. in astronomy from the University of Massachusetts. She has three children who she tries to convince to enjoy recipes that she collects from her travels.
USA
Akhila Kolisetty
Senior Advocacy Officer, Grassroots Justice Network
Akhila Kolisetty
Senior Advocacy Officer, Grassroots Justice Network
Global Network and Advocacy
USA
Akhila Kolisetty is Namati’s Senior Advocacy Officer, where she drives forward campaigns to improve global access to justice and expand the reach of the legal empowerment movement.
Akhila brings years of experience in research, advocacy, and partnerships to advance legal empowerment, gender justice, and human rights across Nepal, Sierra Leone, India, Bangladesh, and the United States. Most recently, as MADRE’s Policy and Campaigns Manager, she partnered with grassroots women and girls-led organizations to advance feminist policies for peace and environmental justice. Previously, she was a Presidential Fellow with the Open Society Foundations and a Consultant on legal empowerment data, policy and research with the Open Society Justice Initiative and Alliance for Social Dialogue in Nepal. A lawyer by training, she has also provided legal representation and advice to low-income survivors of domestic violence in family courts in New York. She holds a JD from Harvard Law School and a Bachelor’s in Economics and Political Science from Northwestern University. With roots in Andhra Pradesh, India and New Jersey, she enjoys poetry, creative writing, and exploring our beautiful planet.
Selected Publications
The Delivery of Civil Legal Aid in Nepal: An Assessment of the System and Recommendations on the Way Forward. Akhila Kolisetty and Neetu Pokharel. National Human Rights Commission, Nepal. Sambahak: Human Rights Journal, Vol. 15 (May 2020)
Examining the Effectiveness of Legal Empowerment as a Pathway out of Poverty: A Case Study of BRAC – World Bank Justice and Development Working Paper Series (2014)
Book Review – The International Rule of Law Movement: A Crisis of Legitimacy and the Way Forward – Harvard Human Rights Journal
Ghana
Sylvester Appiah-Honny
Officer, Grassroots Justice Network
Sylvester Appiah-Honny
Officer, Grassroots Justice Network
Global Network and Advocacy
Ghana
I am a trained Paralegal and an Advocate with 9 years’ experience in human rights practice and protection with regional focus in Africa, capacity building, prisoners’ rights, advocacy, public education, team building, rule of law, collaboration/networking expertise, and legal reforms within Ghana’s criminal justice sector.
I hold Bachelor of Laws Degree and Arts [in Psychology, Geography and Resource Development] from the Central University and University of Ghana respectively.
Prior to joining Namati, I served in various capacities at the POS Foundation i.e Project Manager, Paralegal, Admin/Finance Officer and managed several projects in Ghana and the West African Sub Region:
- Justice For All Programme - which provides access to justice for Pre-trial Detainees in efforts to de-congest overcrowded prison facilities by organizing Mobile Special Court Sittings in Prisons to adjudicate Remand cases.
- In-Prison Paralegal Program – Trained incarcerated persons and officers as paralegals to offer assistance to fellow incarcerated persons to appeal on their cases by self-representation per Article 19 (2)(f) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.
- UN Universal Periodic Review – Managed Ghana’s Civil Society Platform under the UPR, a peer review mechanism of the human right record of member states of the United Nations
- Promotion of Rule of Law and Judiciary – Promoting Small Scale Cross Border Trade, Rule of Law and Use of Technology in West Africa
The Philippines
Dominique Calañas
Senior LEJ Associate, Grassroots Justice Network
Dominique Calañas
Senior LEJ Associate, Grassroots Justice Network
Global Network and Advocacy
The Philippines
Dominique is born and raised in Davao City, The Philippines. Before joining Namati as Senior LEJ Associate, Grassroots Justice Network on October 2022, Dominique was working with the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) for four years. She is an alumni of Ateneo de Davao University, where she completed her Bachelor's degree in International Studies major in Asian Studies cum laude. She enjoys discovering RnB/hip-hop artists, creating memes, and going to the beach.
Kenya
Lynn Kamande
Operations Associate, Grassroots Justice Network
Lynn Kamande
Operations Associate, Grassroots Justice Network
Global Network and Advocacy
Kenya
I am joining Namati as the Operations Associate for the Grassroots Justice Network. I have three years of experience in translating operations and organizational development function into reality in order to add value to the organization and society at large.
I am passionate about contributing towards transformation of structural power relations to achieve Gender Equality, Women and Girls’ Human Rights and justice for all.
USA
Poorvi Chitalkar
Learning Agenda Specialist
Poorvi Chitalkar
Learning Agenda Specialist
Global Cross-Cutting
USA
Poorvi Chitalkar is the Learning Agenda Specialist at Namati. In this role, she leads efforts to generate new knowledge on legal empowerment, connecting research and program experimentation to drive learning. She supports collaboration among practitioners from Namati and the Global Legal Empowerment Network as well as researchers to advance comparative learning across diverse contexts.
Before Namati, Poorvi led research and analysis at the Global Centre for Pluralism (Canada) advancing applied research on the sources of inclusion and exclusion in diverse societies and helping to shape inclusive policies and practices. She has worked at the International Development Research Centre, the office of the Ontario Ombudsman and practiced law at the Bombay High Court in India.
She has conducted research on issues related to law and social justice, including the role and impact of public interest litigation and socio-economic rights litigation.
Poorvi holds an LL.B from Symbiosis University (India) and an LL.M from the University of Toronto (Canada).
She lives in Washington DC with her husband.