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Jessica Horn is a feminist activist, strategist and writer. Early in her career Jessica worked as Coordinator for Amanitare, the first African feminist regional sexual and reproductive rights network, and was nominated as a Soros Reproductive Health and Rights Fellow. She has since worked as lead in creating ground-breaking social change initiatives. In philanthropy she worked to design models for UHAI- the first African-led fund focusing on LGBTI rights, and early ideas for FRIDA- the first global fund for young feminists. In a thought leadership role Jessica pioneered the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) Futures initiative, forecasting the future of women’s rights in Africa. She also led the creation of AIR- a practice-based initiative to reconceptualise approaches to trauma and mental health and wellbeing from an African feminist perspective, and the co-creation of the AWDF Flourish retreat for African feminist activists. Jessica is a Commissioner on the Lancet Commission on Gender and Global Health and currently serves as Regional Director for the Ford Foundation, East Africa. 

 Jessica’s research and analysis has been published in academic, media and popular platforms.  Her essay ‘So we don’t die tomorrow’ is published in Kenya Hunt’s Girl: Essays on Black womanhood (Harper Collins/Amistad, 2020). She is currently working on a book on African feminist praxis. She recently co-launched .the temple of her skin documenting African women’s tattoo and scarification stories. Jessica is a founding member of the African Feminist Forum Working Group, co-editor of Voice, Power and Soul: Portraits of African Feminists (Vol1) and co-producer of the AFF documentary series Know Your African Feminists.