Vanessa Pillay spent most of her adult working life serving the South African labour movement , first as a shop steward in a white-collar union and then as a worker educator. She joined the DITSELA Workers Education Institute early in 2000 where she worked until mid-2011. Her areas of focus in workers’ education have been women’s leadership development and Organisational Development in a trade union context. She is especially interested in the application or ‘plough back’ of learning in academic and social contexts to build democratic working class organisations.
Before joining WIEGO, Vanessa was the Director of a vocational skills training Centre for disadvantaged youth where she made time in her busy management role to facilitate life skills for unemployed youth. She holds a MPhil in Adult Education degree from the University of Cape Town.
At WIEGO she holds the position of Programme Officer : Organization and Representation in Africa. Her responsibilities include supporting the strengthening , democratic organization building and advocacy of Membership-Based Organizations(MBOs) of domestic workers, home-based workers, street vendors and waste pickers.