Abigail Dreyer

Abigail Dreyer holds a Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in Psychology and English, an Advanced Diploma in Adult Education, a Certificate in the Anthropology of Children and Youth in Research and Development, and a Master of Public Health. Her professional memberships include being an executive member of the Western Cape Network on Violence Against Women and a board member of the Foundation for Community Work. Her consultancy experience includes work for the Policy Project, where she designed and facilitated HIV/AIDS training with women's groups, faith-based organisations, and youth. She has also supported the regional programme by initiating a Health-Promoting Schools programme in Lesotho with six schools as a pilot and trained volunteers at Rape Crisis Cape Town and NICRO Women's Support Centre, two organisations addressing gender-based violence. She was a participant in the Master Training of Trainers in the CEDPA Women's Leadership Programme in 2001. She has more than 10 years of project management experience and more than 7 years' experience designing and delivering social and health services at the community level. She has worked in five of South Africa's nine provinces, as well as in Lesotho and Eswatini (formerly Swaziland). She is knowledgeable in project management, particularly health-related interventions, gender, youth, participatory research methodologies, and advocacy. Her strengths include the ability to learn quickly and adapt to new and challenging circumstances, enthusiasm and the capability to work with colleagues from culturally diverse backgrounds, and effective interpersonal, group communication, and facilitation skills. She has experience and understanding of community development issues, a strong understanding of NGOs and CBOs, and a proven ability to adapt research methodologies to the implementation context. She is a person of the Southern Africa FAIMER Regional Institute (SAFRI) and is currently a lecturer in the Department of Family Medicine in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand.