Leane Ramsoomar

Background

About Leane Ramsoomar

Dr Leane Ramsoomar- Hariparsaad, PhD Public Health, MHP, is a public Health researcher with 20 years’ experience in conducting quantitative research, impact evaluations, policy analysis and desk top reviews in the areas of Violence against women and girls, HIV/AIDS, alcohol and other substance use. Leane is also an academic and holds an honorary lectureship at the School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand, and an Extraordinary Lecturer position at the School of Public Health, University of Pretoria, South Africa. She has experience in conducting research across surveillance, randomized control trial and cross-sectional study designs in Sub-Saharan Africa. Her experience includes, conducting empirical research (largely among youth), capacity development, programme management, national and international stakeholder liaison and management and translation of research evidence into policy processes and programming. She has authored and co-authored several peer and non-peer reviewed articles, media and advocacy pieces and technical reports. Most recently, she held the portfolio of Research Uptake Manager of the Global UK-AID funded What Works to prevent Violence against Women and Girls, where she led a multi-faceted strategy for research uptake in the global What Works programme. She managed multiple dissemination platforms, and was pivotal in the oversight, direction and finalization of over 50 research products, each tailored to the needs of practitioner, policymaker, donor and research audiences. This maximized the reach to, and impact of evidence to diverse stakeholders in-country and globally. Notable successes of research translation under her leadership, include; high-profile local and international media coverage (e.g. BBC, The Guardian, The Telegraph SABC) on the issue of VAWG prevention; high level of demand for What Works evidence from international bodies (e.g. UN Women, UN Trust Fund, WHO, World Bank); the use of What Works evidence in informing the prevention pillar of the €500 million EU-UN Spotlight Initiative, UN Women/WHO RESPECT Framework, the South Africa Gender-based Violence and Femicide National Strategic Plan, and the awarding of multi-year funds for scale up in more than 20 sites in LMIC settings. Leane has extensive experience working with international academic and donor organizations, including, the universities of Kentucky and Ohio, the World Health Organization, The Wellcome Trust, UNTF, and UNICEF and DFID.