Transition Assistance Practice Group /

Avila Kilmurray

Avila Kilmurray has worked in Northern Ireland since 1975. She was Regional Coordinator of the Rural Action Project (NI) – an EU Anti-Poverty Programme; Development Officer with the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action; and Women’s Officer with the Transport & General Workers Union.

From 1994-2014, Avila was Director of the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland, managing EU funding programmes that supported political ex-prisoners, victims/survivors of violence and grassroots community activism. The Community Foundation for Northern Ireland was a founder member of the Foundations for Peace Network, a peer network of independent indigenous funders working in contested societies. Avila has long been active in the women’s movement and was a founder member of the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition, joining its negotiating team for the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement. She has written extensively on community development, women’s issues, conflict transformation and philanthropy.

Avila is currently working as a consultant with The Social Change Initiative, an international NGO working to strengthen civil society activism and advocacy in the areas of human rights, migration/refugee rights and community-based peacebuilding. She is a member of the Working Group on Philanthropy for Social Justice & Peace. Avila was appointed Honorary Professor in the Transitional Justice Institute, Ulster University and remains actively involved in philanthropy and peacebuilding. She has a PhD from the Institute of Governance, Queens University Belfast.