A founding member of the Ethnic Communities Council and Founder and Executive Director of an Ethnic Childcare Cooperative, Vivi Germanos Koutsounadis was awarded the Human Rights Medal in recognition of her three decades of advocacy and community work across a broad range of social welfare areas. Her work also included Aboriginal welfare, childcare, women's issues, aged care and disability issues. A strong advocate of equal rights, Vivi has worked at both a grass roots and policy level of many community-based organisations; lobbying for resources and funding on behalf of disadvantaged groups.
Growing up in Redfern, and her experiences as a child of a Greek migrant family, shaped Vivi's belief in the need for communities to work together on common social issues, regardless of their backgrounds. In the past five years she has been extensively involved in the promotion of the rights of children, working with a range of advocacy groups to encourage government and community organisations to take steps to implement the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Human rights medal
Winner