Denise Dunning, PhD, MPA
Denise Raquel Dunning, PhD is the principal investigator/program director of PHI's Adolescent Girls' Advocacy & Leadership Initiative (AGALI). AGALI improves adolescent girls’ health, education and livelihoods by enhancing the capacity of Latin American and African leaders to advocate for policies, programs and funding benefitting adolescent girls. Through capacity building, grants and technical assistance, AGALI’s major policy victories have advanced girls' rights and empowered young women to develop their own solutions to the obstacles they face.
Dunning has more than 15 years' experience working in global health and development. Previously, she worked for the David and Lucile Packard Foundation's population program on research and grantmaking in Mexico, India, Ethiopia and the Philippines. She also served as a Fulbright Scholar in Honduras implementing Hurricane Mitch relief efforts, and has worked as a consultant for several organizations, including the Population Council in Mexico, the Inter-American Development Bank and CARE.
Dunning holds a PhD in sociology from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master's degree in public affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University. She graduated summa cum laude from Duke University. Dunning was formerly the vice chair of the IDEX Board, a nonprofit organization supporting global grassroots development. She was also recognized as a Choice USA Top '30 under-30' Activist for Reproductive Rights. Dunning is a native Spanish speaker and also speaks French, Portuguese and German.
AGALI Scale Up
Leveraging AGALI’s success in transforming adolescent girls' lives globally, this new project will provide training, grants and technical assistance to AGALI grantees advocating for girl-friendly policies, programs and funding. In addition to improving adolescent girls’ health, education and livelihoods, this project will increase economic opportunities for indigenous adolescent girls by incorporating economic empowerment into the AGALI model.
AGALI – Phase V
The Adolescent Girls’ Advocacy and Leadership Initiative (AGALI) will deepen the impact of its current capacity building, grant making, and technical assistance by strengthening the leadership capacity of a new group of AGALI Fellows in Central America, while also providing ongoing support to AGALI alumni and grantees in both Central America and Africa.
Reproductive Health Advocacy & Leadership Initiative (REHALI)
The Reproductive Health Advocacy & Leadership Initiative (REHALI) improves reproductive health outcomes by building the capacity of civil society leaders and organizations to effectively advocate for improved reproductive health funding and policies in Malawi and Guatemala. Leveraging the successes of AGALI, REHALI strengthens leaders’ and institutions' ability to advocate for improved RH budgets, services and programs locally and nationally. REHALI is a subprogram of AGALI.