Elaine Compagno (left)
Elaine Compagno serves as the General Manager of the Women for Women Foundation, an NGO dedicated to empowering women and girls through education, advocacy, and community support. With over a decade of work in the area, Elaine is an advocate for gender equality and a catalyst for initiatives that assist women in rebuilding their lives and gaining independence.
At the Women for Women Foundation, Elaine supports strategic planning, program oversight, and partnership development to advance equality and social justice. The Foundation assists many annually through education, mentoring, emergency aid, and career access.
In 2012, Elaine co-founded SOAR under the St Jeanne Antide Foundation, a peer-support service aimed at providing practical and emotional assistance to women affected by domestic violence. Elaine pioneered a survivor-led model, based on the idea that women who have endured abuse are uniquely qualified to advise policymakers and help others recover and transform. Through SOAR, Elaine developed mentoring, training, and social enterprise programs to empower survivors with skills and confidence for independent living.
Her work is deeply informed by both personal experience and professional knowledge. As a survivor of domestic violence herself, Elaine dedicates her career to creating safe spaces for women to heal, learn, and grow. Her journey from hardship to empowerment has inspired many to speak out, seek help, and reclaim their lives.
Academically, Elaine studied Youth & Community Studies, Gender & Development, and holds a Master’s degree in Knowledge-Based Entrepreneurship from the University of Malta. She is an accredited DASH Risk Checklist trainer, equipping professionals to understand domestic violence risk. Elaine regularly designs and leads educational programs for NGOs, corporate teams, and other professionals, bridging advocacy with practical applications.
Among other publications, Elaine edited and compiled the book Phoenix Rising – Starting Over After Domestic Violence (2016), a powerful anthology of true experiences by domestic violence survivors navigating the justice system in Malta. The work has been celebrated for shining a spotlight on survivor voices and addressing system gaps and stigma with honesty and hope.
Elaine’s professional and personal missions are tightly linked: she believes in converting pain into purpose and harnessing collective effort to effect change. Through her leadership, advocacy, and storytelling, she continues to motivate others toward resilience, compassion, and transformation, values deeply rooted in both Malta’s corporate and community spheres.
Prof. Marceline Naudi (right)
Prof. Marceline Naudi is an academic and an activist. She received her first degree from the University of Malta (1980), her Master’s Degree in Women’s Studies from the University of Bradford (U.K.) (1990) and her Doctorate from Manchester University (U.K.) (2004).
A social worker by profession, her practice (in England, Ireland and Malta) included work with children and young people in care and their families, ex-offenders, homeless people, persons with mental health support needs and survivors of domestic violence. She contributes to teaching and supervision of student research within several University of Malta Departments on gender issues, violence against women and other anti-oppressive issues (LGBTIQ, ethnicities, disabilities) at Diploma, Bachelor, Master and Doctoral level. She was also the Scientific Co-ordinator of the European Observatory on Femicide, which was launched on the 1st of March 2018 and was hosted by the University of Malta until December 2019, and she remains part of its core coordinating group.
She has contributed to research and reports for several EU projects and Institutions, such as FRA and EIGE, on the issues of gender and violence against women, among others. She is a Regional Editor for Europe of the Journal on Gender-Based Violence and co-edited a special issue. She also served on the board of Women Against Violence Europe (WAVE Network) and the European Women’s Lobby Observatory on Violence.
She continues to be active in the field of gender equality and violence against women, as well as in wider human rights issues, and has convened, chaired, and presented at countless conferences, seminars, and meetings, both in Malta and across Europe. She represented Malta on the Council of Europe Ad Hoc Committee on Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (CAHVIO), which drafted the Istanbul Convention, and was then an elected member of its Group of Experts, GREVIO, for eight years, including six years as President and Vice President. She has supported and acted as a consultant to various organisations in the field of violence against women, gender, LGBTIQ, racism and ethnicity, and continues to support, sit on the boards of management and act as a consultant to various NGOs in the field. She also served as the Chairperson of the Commission on Domestic Violence (Malta) from 2006 to 2010 and as a member and Chairperson of the Gender Issues Committee of the University of Malta for many years.
(Photo Credit: Therese Debono)
