Human Trafficking: It’s Not Always Obvious

Nyarayi Kapisavanhu
ICD.D, Executive Director
TOES (Tools of Empowerment for Success)

Nyarayi Kapisavanhu is a multilingual community leader, entrepreneur, and teacher at heart. She is the Executive Director of TOES Niagara an organization that works with and in marginalized communities, enhancing capacities and equipping them with the Tools of Empowerment for Success, focusing on five pillars for empowerment; Economic Development, Education for Sustainable Development, Leadership Development, Social Development and Personal Development, to bring about transformative economic, educational and social changes in communities.

A teacher at heart, Nyarayi is a strong believer in Education for Sustainable Development, which allows every human being to acquire the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values necessary to shape a sustainable future.  Nyarayi is heavily involved in the community and sits on many boards and committees, locally and internationally, in various capacities. Locally, she is the current president of the Niagara District Council of Women, Vice Chair of the Niagara Regional Police Services Board and a Board Trustee at Brock University.

A seasoned international development specialist, in the past, Nyarayi has led and managed national-scale, multimillion-dollar, multi-country projects. Projects span from maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) to Anti Human Trafficking projects in Challenging Operating Environment (COEs).  Her expertise extends to business development, where she provides technical advisory support to organisations and governments writing gender -specific national strategies, preparing country funding requests, donor contract negotiation and building frameworks for successful project implementation. Nyarayi’s experience includes designing and facilitating interactive virtual and in-person workshops, integrating gender analysis and trauma informed approaches into programming, and designing interventions from a trauma-informed and decolonial approach

In her alternate life, Nyarayi and her husband run LENTWORKS, a for profit company that provides a host of services to the corporate world internationally. She loves cooking, interior décor and playing image consultant as Maison D’N.