A nonprofit organization
Lidwina
Education, integration, and empowerment for women in vulnerable situations across Central and Latin America.
Lidwina is a California-based nonprofit working alongside women whose lives have intersected with the criminal justice system — women who too often face exclusion, stigma, and a scarcity of programs designed for who they are and what they need. We exist to change that.
OUR MISSION
Designed around the women we serve.
Through education, partnerships with local women-led organizations, and gender-responsive programming grounded in research, Lidwina helps open doors to dignified, healthy, and self-sufficient lives.
Who we serve
- Women in conflict with the law
- Women deprived of liberty
- Women in the process of social integration
- Women and girls in vulnerable situations across Central and Latin America
How we work
We believe meaningful change happens when programs are designed for women, carried out by women, and built on solid evidence. Lidwina partners with women-led organizations on the ground, draws on more than a decade of empirical research, and centers women with lived experience in every stage of program design and delivery.
WHY “LIDWINA”
Named for a lifetime of quiet service.
Lidwina is named for my grandmother — a retired elementary school teacher whose decades of volunteer work for people in vulnerable situations have shaped my understanding of what it means to live a meaningful life in service of others. She is the inspiration behind this organization, and her example is the standard we hold ourselves to: steady, generous, deeply human care for people the world too often overlooks.
Ellen Van Damme, Founder
OUR FLAGSHIP PROGRAM
MJRS
Mujeres Juntas para la Reinserción Social
Women Together for Social Reintegration
In much of Central America, comprehensive post-prison programs designed around women’s lives barely exist. MJRS — Lidwina’s flagship initiative — was built to fill that gap with a holistic, gender-responsive approach to reintegration.
For Women
Designed around women’s specific needs, experiences, and strengths.
By Women
Delivered through local women-led organizations, including women with lived experience.
With Evidence
Rooted in the Good Lives Model and over a decade of empirical research.
SIX PROGRAM AREAS
Mental Health
Trauma-informed counseling and psychosocial support tailored to women’s experiences.
Family Care
Rebuilding family bonds and addressing caregiving responsibilities post-incarceration.
Education
Learning pathways that open doors to economic independence.
Employment
Skills training and job placement through women-led local partners.
Self-Development
Strengthening identity, agency, and personal growth.
Community
Building belonging — both in the neighborhoods women return to and among women who share the experience of reintegration.
Help us launch MJRS
Lidwina is actively seeking funding partners who share our commitment to gender-responsive justice and sustainable reintegration. If you’d like to support the work, we’d love to talk.
THE TEAM
Who’s behind Lidwina.
Ellen Van Damme, PhD
FOUNDER & PRESIDENT
Criminologist specializing in ethnographic research on women, gangs, and migration. Former FWO doctoral fellow at the Leuven Institute of Criminology (KU Leuven), Fulbright Scholar at UCLA, consultant for the UN Development Program, and founder of Field Research Coaching.
Lissette Miranda
VICE PRESIDENT
Psychologist with over 25 years of experience designing and leading development projects in governance, prevention, social reintegration, and citizen security across Central America. Has mobilized funding from USAID, the EU, UNDP, AECID, and Norway, managed multi-million-dollar programs, and coordinated multidisciplinary teams of 100+, with a focus on human rights, gender, and inclusion.
Helene De Vos, PhD
SECRETARY
Executive Director of RESCALED, a European initiative she co-founded in 2019 to reform prison systems. Former prison researcher at the Leuven Institute of Criminology (KU Leuven), with doctoral research on the normalization of living conditions in Belgian and Norwegian prisons.
Michelle Lyttle Storrod, PhD
TREASURER
Assistant Professor at Widener University and SAFElab affiliate at the University of Pennsylvania. Feminist criminologist with a decade of gang intervention experience, focusing on girls and women in community violence intervention — work cited in UK policy and presented at the House of Lords.
María José Méndez Gutiérrez, PhD
DIRECTOR FOR LATIN AMERICA
Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto, where her research examines the gendered political economy of transnational gang violence in Central America. Her work draws on feminist, decolonial, and critical development theory, with recent publications in Signs and The Oxford Handbook of Gangs and Society.
GET IN TOUCH
Lidwina is in its founding year.
We’re looking for partners, supporters, and collaborators who share our commitment to gender-responsive justice. Whether you’re a potential funder, a researcher, a women-led organization in Central or Latin America, or simply someone who wants to learn more — we’d love to hear from you.