Kathryn Travers

As Executive Director of Women in Cities International (WICI), Kathryn oversees the organisations’ functions and leads the development, management and coordination of WICI’s programmes, projects and research. Kathryn also works independently as a Consultant, providing technical assistance on issues of gender inclusion, safe cities, participatory urban development and governance. She has a successful history of developing and managing programmes in Canada and internationally and has effectively worked to broaden the understanding of women’s safety by bringing an intersectional approach to her work and by collaborating with different groups of women and girls to explore new related issues (accessibility, essential services, adolescence, etc.). Kathryn has led the development of new and innovative tools for capturing data about women’s and girls’ safety experiences in urban environments and has led training workshops in several countries. She has extensive experience in working with diverse populations in the global North and South including adolescent girls, women with disabilities, indigenous women, elderly women, women living in informal settlements, etc. She has contributed to the development of groundbreaking research reports, including the production of the reports Adolescent Girls’ Views on Safety in Cities (2013) and Gender and Essential Services in Low-Income Communities (2011). Kathryn coordinates the Technical Working Group on Gender and Safe Cities, and was a co-organizer of the Third International Conference on Women’s Safety. Kathryn sits on the Board of the Huairou Commission, is a member of the Gender and Urbanization Hub of the Habitat University Network Initiative (UNI), and sits on the International Advisory Committee for Safetipin. Before joining WICI, Kathryn worked for ICPC on issues of women's safety, youth at risk and urban safety.