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© Canon Collins Trust
Last updated: 08 May 2012

education for southern africa








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London Marathon
2012
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Hi, I’m Nikki Naylor.
I studied for an LLM in International Human Rights at the University of London in 2002-2003 under the auspices of the Nelson Mandela Scholarship, administered by the Canon Collins Trust. I am married to a medical doctor, Shane Ontong and we have three beautiful dogs, Precious, Juju and Butch, who actively support and strengthen my running regime!
I have spent most of my professional career working in the non-profit sector, as a human rights lawyer. For several years, I worked at the Women’s Legal Centre, a public interest law firm that protects and promotes women’s rights and gender equality in South Africa. I focused on challenging violence against women through litigating constitutional court cases and undertaking advocacy at the national and international level. After completing my Masters, I was employed as a lawyer in the Equality Programme of Interights (an international human rights NGO based in London) where, amongst other things, I worked on submitting amicus curiae briefs before the European Court of Human Rights as well as the African Commission for Human & People’s Rights. In 2007 I transitioned to working in philanthropy and was appointed to the post of Program Officer for Human Rights in the Ford Foundation’s Office for Southern Africa. I am responsible for grant-making in the human rights field in Southern Africa. Encouraging a spirit of giving within South Africa and abroad is something I am passionate about.
Why am I running for the Canon Collins Trust? I am passionate about running and marrying my passion for social justice philanthropy with my running provides me with a key opportunity to give back to the scholarship that changed the course of my legal career and life in so many ways. Your support would help me to do the same for another scholar from southern Africa.
To sponsor me, click here.
Nikki running in Johannesburg
October 2011