Behind every project, policy, and programme are people whose lives matter
Grounded in Global South perspectives and lived experience, we deliver solutions that combine technical excellence with empathy, context, and purpose.
Our Leading
Team.
Meaningful change starts with the people and communities shaping projects, policies, and programmes. Grounded in Global South perspectives and lived experience, we deliver solutions that combine technical excellence with empathy, context, and purpose.
Marcela Rueda Gómez
Founder & CEO
Marcela is a globally recognised leader in gender justice, human rights, and inclusive development, with more than 25 years of experience advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), gender equality, and community-centred programming across Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Europe, and Asia. She is the Founder and Managing Director of IWORDS Global and the Founder and President of the Neru Initiative, a Colombia-based effort supporting people with disabilities affected by armed conflict and humanitarian crises. Throughout her career, Marcela has led high-impact evaluations, research initiatives, strategic planning processes, and resource mobilisation efforts for international organisations including the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Mercy Corps, Amref Health Africa, Norwegian Refugee Council, International Planned Parenthood Federation, and International Organization for Migration. She has also co-authored publications and knowledge products with organisations such as UNESCO, International Planned Parenthood Federation, and the Norwegian Red Cross, among others. Her work is grounded in feminist, participatory, and equity-driven approaches that prioritise accountability to communities most affected by inequality, exclusion, and crisis. A trusted advisor to donors, NGOs, and multilateral institutions, Marcela has contributed to the mobilisation of more than €50 million for initiatives focused on gender justice, health equity, youth leadership, and social transformation. Marcela is currently pursuing a doctorate in Advanced Hispanic Studies at University of Valencia. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Government and International Relations from Universidad Externado de Colombia, as well as master’s degrees in Gender, Society and Public Policy, and Creative Writing. She is also a published fiction author writing under the pseudonym Marcela Rugo. She is widely recognised for combining rigorous analysis with strategic vision, compelling advocacy, and powerful storytelling.
Alzbeta Kucerova
Director of Operations
Originally from the Czech Republic, Alzbeta has spent the past 25 years living and working across the United Kingdom and Spain, building a strong cross-cultural perspective shaped by extensive international experience and curiosity about the world’s diversity. Having travelled to more than 50 countries, she has consistently sought to understand different cultures, communities, and ways of life. Her passion for documenting these experiences led her to pursue studies in Photography and participate in photography competitions, using visual storytelling to share insights gained through her travels. With more than two decades of international professional experience, Alzbeta brings a rare combination of cross-cultural fluency, financial rigour, and operational precision to her role. She is responsible for contracts, accounting, and the end-to-end management of multilingual communications projects — ensuring that every deliverable meets the highest standards of accuracy, cultural sensitivity, and client impact. At the heart of IWORDS Global operations, Alzbeta coordinates a global network of specialist contractors and maintains trusted, long-term relationships with some of the world’s most respected humanitarian and social impact organisations, including International Planned Parenthood Federation, UNESCO, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Fòs Feminista, and Humanity United. Grounded in a genuine commitment to social justice and global equity, she believes that access to clear, inclusive communication is not a luxury — it is a right.
Global reach.
Local knowledge.
Founded in 2011, IWORDS Global was born from a simple but powerful vision: to strengthen the work of NGOs, humanitarian actors, multilateral agencies, and social impact initiatives through specialized services designed with a deep understanding of the communities they serve.
Our founder, Marcela, recognized an important gap within the development and humanitarian sector. Many organizations rely on external providers for essential services such as language solutions, evaluation, research, design, communications, and strategic support. While technically skilled, these providers often come from predominantly corporate backgrounds and may not fully understand the realities, sensitivities, and structural challenges faced by the people and communities at the center of social change efforts.
IWORDS Global was created to offer something different: high-quality professional services grounded in lived experience, sectoral expertise, and a Global South perspective. Marcela’s journey in social impact began at the age of 17 as a peer educator in an NGO advancing women’s rights and sexual and reproductive health and rights in Colombia. She later participated as a youth advocate in United Nations negotiation spaces on health, gender equality, population, and meaningful youth engagement. Over the years, she served as a Youth Advisor for United Nations Population Fund, contributed to the governance of regional and international NGOs, and built extensive expertise in HIV/AIDS, gender-transformative programming, sexual and reproductive health care, cervical cancer prevention, and community empowerment across national, regional, and global initiatives.
This combination of grassroots engagement, policy advocacy, technical expertise, and entrepreneurial vision shaped the foundations of IWORDS Global.
Today, we work to strengthen civil society organizations, multilateral agencies, philanthropic actors, movements, networks, and socially responsible initiatives in their efforts to reach underserved and vulnerable populations. Since our foundation, we have continuously evolved and expanded our services to respond to emerging global challenges and changing sector needs. What has remained constant is our commitment to offering specialized, tailored, and innovative solutions that are both technically rigorous and deeply human-centered. We approach every collaboration with an understanding that impact depends not only on strong ideas, but also on context, systems, culture, language, power dynamics, and the lived realities of communities.
Over the past 15 years, we have collaborated with hundreds of stakeholders across more than 130 countries. Throughout this journey, we have continued to learn, adapt, innovate, and grow — while staying true to the passion, purpose, and values that inspired our founding.
At IWORDS Global, we believe meaningful change requires both expertise and openness to learn from others. We bring both to every project we undertake.
Our Commitment to Social Responsibility.
At IWORDS Global, we believe that expertise can be as transformative as funding. As part of our commitment to social responsibility, we dedicate professional time, technical expertise, and seed funding to initiatives that align with our values and contribute to lasting social change.
Through IWORDS Grassroots, we support grassroots organizations, collectives, and community-led initiatives by strengthening their capacities in areas such as strategic planning, resource mobilization, organizational development, and communications, helping them build sustainable pathways to impact. The programme is tailored to the needs of each group and focuses on transferring practical skills and knowledge that remain long after our support ends.
We also lead FUNNERU, an initiative that works at the intersection of disability, gender, and crises. FUNNERU promotes the rights, visibility, and meaningful participation of persons with disabilities—particularly women and girls—in humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding contexts, while strengthening support networks and generating knowledge to advance more inclusive responses.
Together, these initiatives reflect our conviction that social impact is strongest when local leadership, inclusion, and long-term capacity strengthening are placed at the centre of change.
Work with
us.
Whether you need a translation, a full social impact strategy, or just a conversation — we're here.