Who We Are

The Women's Justice Initiative is a Guatemala-based organization dedicated to combating gender inequality and ending violence against indigenous girls and women in rural communities.

Our Mission

The Women’s Justice Initiative improves the lives of indigenous Guatemalan women and girls through education, access to legal services and gender-based violence prevention.

Our Vision

Our Approach

Meet the Team

Kate Flatley
Executive Director

Kate is a lawyer with over fifteen years of experience working for non-governmental organizations developing and implementing projects and conducting research in the fields of women’s rights, access to justice, and public health.
Elvia Raquec
Programs Director

Elvia is a social worker by training with an emphasis in Development Management, having graduated from Rafael Landívar University. She has experience implementing programs that promote human rights in indigenous communities and has completed training in other Central American countries.
Viviana Patal
Legal Director

Viviana Patal joined WJI in 2013. As WJI’s Legal Director, she is responsible for designing and implementing the Legal Services Program and oversees the organization’s team of lawyers and paralegals.
Marta Miza
Community Advocates Program Officer

Marta joined WJI in 2016. She oversees the Community Advocates Program and supports the Legal Services Program by providing psychological counseling to survivors of violence who seek legal support from WJI.
Sandra Cocón
Program Coordinator for the Adolescent Girls Program

Sandra joined IDM in 2013 and is currently the Coordinator of the Adolescent Girls Program. She identifies as a Kaqchikel Mayan woman, has a teaching background, and is pursuing her Bachelor's Degree in Clinical Psychology.
Estela Calcá
Senior Field Technician

Estela has been part of WJI since 2012. She is a Kaqchikel Maya woman, a nurse by profession, and has been trained in human and women's rights at institutions such as UAM, IUMUSAC, MAIA, and the University of Colorado.
Clara Ferraro
Partner and Head of Investor Relations - Tiger Global Management

Clara is the Co-Head of Investor Relations and Analyst Recruiting at Tiger Global Management, LLC, an investment firm based in New York City. Tiger Global deploys capital globally through its public equity funds and private investment partnerships.
Tess Hellgren
Deputy Legal Director - Innovation Law Lab

Tess Hellgren is an attorney and Deputy Legal Director at Innovation Law Lab, where she litigates cases that defend the right to asylum, fight systemic injustice in the immigration courts, and seek to uphold the rights of visa applicants and their families. She also creates legal resources to support innovative models of massive collaborative representation.
Katie Newman
Partner and Senior Tax Counsel - Apollo Global Management

Katie Newman is Senior Tax Counsel at Apollo Global Management in New York, specializing in tax matters with respect to Apollo’s private equity funds, their investors and their investments worldwide.
Brian Regan
General Partner - Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe

Mr. Regan is a General Partner of Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe (“WCAS”), where he focuses on healthcare investments and is a member of the Firm’s Management Committee.
Gabriela Roca
Director of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability - Corporación AG

Gabriela Roca is the Director of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability of Corporación Aceros de Guatemala, where she oversees the legal, communication, and relationship management of the Corporation. She was a founding partner of the firm QIL+4 ABOGADOS, where she spent nine years providing legal and consulting services to energy project developers and banking entities to finance projects in the electricity industry in Guatemala. 
Abigail Ford Winkel
Dept. Obstetrics & Gynecology - NYU School of Medicine

Abigail Ford Winkel (Abby) is an obstetrician-gynecologist in New York City. She is Associate Professor and Vice Chair for Education and Residency Director in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at New York University School of Medicine and an attending physician at Bellevue Hospital which is the oldest public hospital in the country and the flagship of New York City Health + Hospitals.
Ingrid Camacho
Senior Franchise Manager - PepsiCo

As Senior Franchise Manager of PepsiCo in Guatemala, Ingrid is in charge of the markets in El Salvador and Nicaragua. Ingrid develops and leads the strategy of the beverage business, establishing long-term plans, investment plans, and innovations for the company. Additionally, she leads the relationship with CBC, the...
Sonia Domínguez
Humanitarian Program Lead - USAID/Guatemala

Sonia Domínguez is the Program Development Specialist for the Food for Peace Program in the US Agency for International Development in Guatemala. She has been working for USAID since 1998 in several chapters including food security, democracy, disaster preparedness, and poverty reduction.
María Isabel Mayorga
Research Fellow - Population Council

María Isabel Mayorga is a Research Fellow at the Population Council’s Guatemalan office. In this role she identifies and nurtures strategic partnerships related to Social and Behavioral Science Research (SBSR) and the International Program’s strategic partnerships model. She actively engages in meetings with partners in Guatemala and the...
Eric Knight
Senior Trader - Jane Street Capital

Eric Knight is a Senior Trader at Jane Street Capital, a quantitative trading firm headquartered in New York City. Having been with the company for more than 20 years, he has experienced trading a wide range of assets, including ETFs, ADRs, options, and cryptocurrencies. Having a mother who...
Will Durbin
Senior Policy Advisor - Independent Consultant

Will works in international development; his work has spanned climate and environmental policy for an air pollution consulting firm, poverty measurement at the World Bank, and global health innovation at the US Agency for International Development. He is currently a consultant to a government in the Caribbean on...
Sergio Melgar
Executive Vice President and CFO - UMass Memorial Health

Sergio was appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”) of the UMass Memorial Health in January of 2014. For the past 31 years, Mr. Melgar has been working with health care and academic institutions. Prior to his appointment in 2014, he participated in the acquisition and...

WJI Partners

Our work would not be possible without the support of our invaluable partners.

Reports and Financials

Transparency is important to us. See the progress we’ve made over the years and the ways in which we’ve used your generous donations to help us achieve our mission.

Stay in touch with us!