The International Pride Awards Committee, assembled by the UNDP and ILGA World, brings together a diverse group of global leaders dedicated to advancing LGBTIQ+ rights and inclusion. These experienced advocates represent a wide array of sectors, reflecting the breadth and depth of their commitment to equality and justice.
Nate Brown
Nate Brown (he/him) is the Executive Director of Pan Africa ILGA, a regional networking organization dedicated to advancing human rights for LGBTIQ+ persons across Africa. Recognizing the importance of advocacy and activism in creating a more inclusive society, Nate has dedicated himself to championing the rights of marginalized communities. His commitment led him to a leadership role focused on promoting human rights for LGBTIQ+ individuals throughout Africa. Nate holds a BA (Hons) in Accounting & Finance and a BA (Hons) in Business Administration from Greenwich University in London, United Kingdom. His educational background provides a solid foundation for his work in organizational leadership and financial management.
Margherita Coppolino
Margherita Coppolino (she/her) is an intersectionality consultant. She has undertaken the Australia Institute of Company Directors training and has sat on several boards in executive and non-executive positions. Recently, she was appointed Co-Chair of Inclusive Rainbow Voices (LGBTIQA+People with Disability) and also Co-Chair of ILGA Oceania and is a member of the ILGA World Board. In 2020, she was appointed as ILGA Oceania first Disability Sub-Committee Chair and is the current Vice Chair on the Drummond/&Queer-space Board. She has been appointed to three terms at the Victoria Ministerial LGBTI Taskforce and SBS Community Advisory Committee. Previously, she held the position of Chair on Arts Access Victoria and Australia Federation of Disability Organisations Boards. Margherita is first generation Australian, born to Sicilian mother who migrated in the 1959. She was born with a Short Statured condition and is a proud feminist and lesbian.
Vivek Divan
Vivek Divan (he/him) is a queer activist and lawyer who has been at the heart of LGBTIQ+ emancipation efforts in India and globally since the 1990s. He was centrally involved in decriminalization litigation efforts in India and worked at UNDP to foster law and policy change on LGBTIQ+ issues through advising and sensitization of, and advocacy with government functionaries in the global south. He founded the Centre for Health Equity, Law & Policy in 2019 at the Indian Law Society, Pune, India, which he currently heads. Vivek continues to write widely on issues of marginalization and rights as they relate to health and sexuality.
Julia Ehrt
Julia Ehrt (she/her) is the Executive Director at ILGA World and a widely respected LGBTIQ+ activist and community leader. Before joining ILGA World she was the Executive Director of Transgender Europe where she contributed significantly to how trans issues are perceived and debated today in Europe and beyond. She served as a founding Steering Committee member of the International Trans Fund until 2019, served as a board member of the Association for Womens' Rights in Development for six years, is a member of the Board of Directors of the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice and is a signatory to the Yogyakarta Principles plus 10. Julia holds a PhD in mathematics and lives with her partner and child in Berlin and in Geneva.
Jaevion Nelson
Jaevion Nelson (he/him) is a distinguished human rights, economic, social justice and inclusive development practitioner with extensive expertise in advocacy, communications and project management. Currently serving as the Community Support Advisor for UNAIDS in the Multi-Country Office for the Caribbean, based in Jamaica, Jaevion brings a wealth of experience from his tenure at Jamaica's oldest LGBTIQ organization, J-FLAG, where he held various roles including Executive Director from 2010 to 2021. Jaevion holds a Master of Science in Social Development and Communication from the University of Wales, Swansea, and a Bachelor of Science in Management Studies (Marketing) from the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus. His commitment to excellence is underscored by accolades such as being a former Chevening Scholar (2009/2010), recipient of the Youth Musgrave Medal (2008), and Prime Minister Youth Awardee for Excellence in International Achievement (2005). He was also recognized as a finalist for the Elizabeth Taylor Human Rights Award (2014) and shortlisted for the Thomson Foundation Young Journalist Award (2013).
Shereen El Feki
Shereen El Feki is the inaugural Director of Solidarity for Change and Voice at International Planned Parenthood. She is the author of Sex and the Citadel: Intimate Life in a Changing Arab World (Penguin Random House), a groundbreaking study of sexuality and its intersection with politics, religion and culture across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Shereen is the former Regional Director for MENA at UNAIDS and former Regional Director for MENA with Equimundo, where she led the International Men and Gender Equality Survey Middle East and North Africa. Shereen has previously served as Vice-Chair of the UN’s Global Commission on HIV and the Law and is currently an Associate Fellow of Chatham House. She started her career as a Healthcare Correspondent with The Economist and presenter with Al Jazeera. Shereen is a molecular immunologist by training, with a BSc from the University of Toronto and an MPhil and PhD in molecular immunology from the University of Cambridge.
Jeffrey O’Malley
Jeffrey O’Malley (he/him) works with UNDP as its Global Hub Manager, LGBTI+ and Key Populations. Based in South Africa, he works in countries across Africa to promote social inclusion and human rights for sexual and gender minorities and other key populations, contributing to public health and social protection. Jeff has worked at the intersection of public health, human rights and sustainable development for over 30 years. In the early days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, he was at the forefront of organizing support to community action on the epidemic in developing countries, working with the World Health Organization’s Global Programme on AIDS, at the Harvard School of Public Health and as the Founder and Executive Director of the International HIV/AIDS Alliance (now “FrontlineAIDS”). From 2004 onwards, O’Malley worked more broadly on public health and development issues, serving as the India Country Director for PATH (the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health), as the Director of HIV, Health and Development for UNDP, and as the Director of Data, Research and Policy for UNICEF. His academic publications have focused on HIV, sexual and reproductive health and rights, child rights and the role of civil society in development.
Phyll Opoku-Gyimah
Phyll Opoku-Gyimah (she/her) is the co-founder and CEO of UK Black Pride, Europe’s largest pride celebration for LGBTIQ+ people of colour. She is widely known as Lady Phyll – partly due to her decision to reject an MBE in the New Year’s Honours' list to protest Britain’s role in formulating anti-LGBTIQ+ penal codes across its empire. Lady Phyll is an experienced community builder and organizer, an Albert Kennedy Trust patron and a writer and public speaker focusing on race, gender, sexuality and class. Lady Phyll is also the Secretary for the Commonwealth Equality Network, a network of organizations challenging inequality based on sexual orientation, gender identity and expression and sex characteristics. With an honorary doctorate recognizing her exceptional contributions, Lady Phyll has dedicated over two decades to human rights advocacy. She's regularly called upon to advise nascent LGBTQI+ organizations around the world to help leaders create cogent organizing strategies, establish robust partnership networks and work effectively in service of the LGBTQI+ community and inspire all who strive for equality and justice.
Alba Rueda
Alba Rueda (she/her) is a Trans Activist at Mujeres Trans Argentina. She was the first Special Representative on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship of Argentina, and the first Undersecretary of Diversity Policies of the Nation, at the founding moment of the Ministry of Women, Gender and Diversity. In these roles, she promoted inclusion and integration policies, coordinated actions for strengthening access to health care, and promoted employment of the LGBTIQ+ population. As Special Representative on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, she worked on the promotion of trans employment in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship, participated in numerous international LGBTIQ+ human rights activities, and promoted the recognition of trans rights and decriminalization of LGBTIQ+ people. In 2021 the BBC named her as one of 100 women "playing a role in reinventing society, culture and the world". In 2022, Time Magazine included her on the Time 100 Next list (100 leaders of the future). In 2023, the U.S. Department of State honoured Alba Rueda as one of the Women of Courage for her foreign policy and trans activism work.
Candy Yun
Candy Yun (she/her) is an LGBTIQ+ human rights activist. Candy is the executive director in the Korean Sexual Minority Culture and Rights Centre and bisexual representative of ILGA Asia. Candy is involved in various LGBTIQ+ activities both domestically and internationally such as advocacy, capacity building, social campaigning, organizing national conferences, human rights activism, research and lectures. She served as a steering committee member of Rainbow Action against Sexual-Minority Discrimination, the coalition group of LGBTIQ+ and allies’ organizations. Also she co-founded the Bi-Moim (now Bi-Magazine), a bisexual social meeting group, the Transgender Activist Group Jirung-e and transgender human rights activist group Jogakbo in Korea. She served as a co-chair of ILGA Asia from 2019 to 2022. Currently, Candy is focused on LGBTIQ+ aging, engaging in research, community building and organizing events to support LGBTIQ+ individuals in embracing their identities as they age.