Victoria Ibezim-Ohaeri

Victoria Ibezim-Ohaeri is the founder and director of research and policy at Spaces for Change [S4C], a non-profit organization based in Nigeria that conducts cutting-edge research and advocacy focusing on strategic sectors such as urban governance, gender inclusion, energy policy and defending the civic space. She is an SXSW 2013 honoree, 2016 Desmond Tutu Fellow and 2015 Harvard University alumni.  In her 15 years of legal career and involvement in social and economic rights research and advocacy, she has traversed four continents: Africa, Europe, North America and South America, leading research investigations, documenting and exposing human rights violations, formulating and analyzing social and economic policy at national, regional and international levels.

Victoria has spent the past eight years at S4C conducting rigorous research studies and policy analysis, empowering under-served communities, advising private and public institutions, speaking at high-level national and international convenings and facilitating multi-stakeholder policy dialogues on critical social and economic justice issues. As the organization’s director of research and policy, she has led and participated in major international studies commissioned by UN-HABITAT, COHRE, MSI Integrity, Ford Foundation, International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), Energia, Women Learning Partnership, University College London’s (UCL’s) Bartlett Department of Planning Unit, Conectas, among others. She writes for numerous national dailies and also sits on the board of a number of national and international non-governmental organizations, such as Publish What You Pay International, Journalists Initiative for Sustainable Environment, Good Women Association, Legal Resource Center etc.