Stacey-Leigh Manuel

Stacey-Leigh Manuel is the deputy director of the Women’s Rights Division at Human Rights Watch. She helps guide the division’s strategic direction, supports the management of a diverse and growing team, and strengthens partnerships with organizations advancing gender justice globally.

Before joined Human Rights Watch, Manuel was a senior program manager at Open Society Foundations, where she worked in the Sexual Rights and Reproductive subtheme within the Public Health Program. Her word focused on marginalized communities, particularly sex workers in Western Europe and Southern Africa. She co-led a multi-million-dollar portfolio in the China in the World initiative, strengthening Global South engagement with Chinese public and private actors on climate justice and accountability.

Previously she served as the inaugural program manager for Equitable Policies in New Jersey, a pooled fund supported by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, which is a philanthropic intermediary advancing racial and health equity in New Jersey. In that role, she helped design and implement trust-based grantmaking strategies and fostered partnerships with advocacy and policy organizations.

Manuel has a strong background in legal advocacy, having worked as an attorney at the Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT) and the Women’s Legal Centre in South Africa. Her work focused on strategic litigation, policy advocacy, and advancing legal protections for marginalized communities.

She holds a Master of Law (LLM) in Public Law from the University of Cape Town and a Bachelor of Law from the University of the Western Cape.