Florence Aliba Ediu is Montrose’s Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) Specialist for the DFID-funded Health Pooled Fund (HPF3) in South Sudan. She has over 20 years of progressive experience and significant expertise in technical and managerial roles for women’s protection and empowerment, gender equality and gender based violence (GBV) programmes in emergency and development settings in the East African and Middle East region.

At HPF3, Florence leads specific actions across eight states, supporting 12 implementing partners to integrate GESI in HPF’s health service package through both service delivery and in communities, focusing on institutional change and whole community transformation.

Prior to joining HPF3, Florence led the development and implementation of GBV and gender equality strategies while working with a variety of international NGOs, both as a full-time employee and as a consultant. She was part of the South Sudan GBV National Sub-Cluster as the Field Coordinator, supporting sub-national level GBV coordination and building the capacity of partners on GBV prevention and response standards.

She also worked as a consultant in Iraq where she conducted capacity building on GBV prevention and response for various implementing partners supported by UNFPA and the Norwegian People’s Aid. She supported the establishment of a women’s centre in Mosul to facilitate recovery of women rescued from ISIL’s sexual slavery.

Florence also volunteers as a global mentor for Gender Based Violence in Emergencies (GBViE) under the UNFPA’s GBV Area of Responsibility, where she has mentored GBV specialists from Africa (Somalia and Burundi), Asia and the USA and is a mentor/coach for GBViE intern students from the American University in Nigeria. She is a member of global and regional networks for gender/GBV.

Florence holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Public Policy and Management from Uganda Management Institute, an MA in Public Administration and Management and a BA in Social Sciences majoring in Sociology, both from Makerere University, Uganda.