Nick Grono
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Nick Grono (born 22 July 1966) is an Australian human rights campaigner who heads the
Freedom Fund The Freedom Fund is an international non-profit organisation dedicated to identifying and investing in the most effective frontline efforts to end slavery. In 2017, the International Labour Organization reported that on any given day in 2016, the ...
– the world's first private donor fund dedicated to ending slavery. He is also the co-chair of the Jo Cox Foundation, and a board member of
Girls Not Brides Girls Not Brides: The Global Partnership to End Child Marriage is an international non-governmental organization with the mission to end child marriage throughout the world. The organization was created by The Elders to enable small groups from a ...
, the Global Partnership to End Child Marriage. Grono, who trained as a lawyer, served as Chief of Staff to the Australian Attorney-General. He went on to take a senior position at the
International Crisis Group The International Crisis Group (ICG; also known as the Crisis Group) is a transnational non-profit, non-governmental organisation founded in 1995. It is a think tank, used by policymakers and academics, performing research and analysis on global ...
, the world's leading conflict resolution
NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...
. As CEO of the
Walk Free Foundation Minderoo Foundation's Walk Free initiative is an independent, privately funded international human rights organisation based in Perth, Western Australia. Walk Free works towards ending modern slavery in all its forms by taking a multifaceted and g ...
, he helped launch the first ever
Global Slavery Index The Global Slavery Index is a global study of modern slavery published by the Minderoo Foundation's Walk Free initiative. Four editions have been published: in 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2018. The 2018 edition builds on the Global Estimates of Modern S ...
. Grono has been CEO of Freedom Fund since January 2014.


Early years

Grono spent a number of years growing up on the square-rigged sailing ship “
Eye of the Wind ''Eye of the Wind'' is a brigantine built in 1911 at the C. H. Lühring shipyard in Brake, Germany, originally as a topsail schooner named ''Friedrich''. History ''Friedrich'' was initially used as a schooner for the South American hide trad ...
” (built 1911). With his father as captain, Grono sailed from England to Australia from October 1976 to December 1977, accompanied by his mother, younger brother and 25 other crew members. The trip took them to the
West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...
, the
Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a conduit ...
, the Galapagos,
Easter Island Easter Island ( rap, Rapa Nui; es, Isla de Pascua) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is most famous for its nearl ...
,
Pitcairn The Pitcairn Islands (; Pitkern: '), officially the Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands, is a group of four volcanic islands in the southern Pacific Ocean that form the sole British Overseas Territory in the Pacific Ocean. The four isl ...
,
Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austr ...
and
Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...
, and many others. He and his family repeated the voyage in 1981/1982, this time also taking part in the filming of “
Nate and Hayes ''Savage Islands'' (also known as ''Nate and Hayes'' in the United States) is a 1983 swashbuckling adventure film set in the South Pacific in the late 19th century. Directed by Ferdinand Fairfax and filmed on location in Fiji and New Zealand, it ...
” in Fiji with actor
Tommy Lee Jones Tommy Lee Jones (born September 15, 1946) is an American actor and film director. He has received four Academy Award nominations, winning Best Supporting Actor for his performance as U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard in the 1993 thriller film '' The ...
.


Early career

Grono received a law degree with first class honours from the
University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...
. He also holds a Masters in Public Policy from
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
. He began his career as a lawyer in
Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
, Western Australia. He then worked at
Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...
in London from 1992 to 1994 as a researcher. In 1994 he returned to Australia to work as a lawyer, eventually becoming the Chief of Staff and
National Security Adviser A national security advisor serves as the chief advisor to a national government on matters of security. The advisor is not usually a member of the government's cabinet but is usually a member of various military or security councils. National sec ...
to the Australian Attorney-General (from 1999 to 2001).


Activism work

In 2003, Grono began working for the International Crisis Group, the world's leading conflict prevention NGO based in
Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
, Belgium. He became the Deputy President and COO in 2008, responsible for the oversight and management of the organisation's programmes and operations in nearly thirty countries around the world. As part of this role, he testified on conflict and human rights issues before the European, UK, Dutch, and Australian Parliaments. He joined the Walk Free Foundation as its CEO in 2012. During his time as the CEO, the Walk Free movement gained over 5 million supporters. In 2013, the Foundation launched the first ever
Global Slavery Index The Global Slavery Index is a global study of modern slavery published by the Minderoo Foundation's Walk Free initiative. Four editions have been published: in 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2018. The 2018 edition builds on the Global Estimates of Modern S ...
. Grono has written widely on international justice, conflict prevention, human rights, and modern slavery in the New York Times, The Guardian, Foreign Policy, Huffington Post and elsewhere. In December 2015, Grono was an expert witness before the UN Security Council at its hearing on Trafficking in Persons in Situations of Conflict. Grono has been co-chair of the Jo Cox Foundation since late 2016, and a board member of
Girls Not Brides Girls Not Brides: The Global Partnership to End Child Marriage is an international non-governmental organization with the mission to end child marriage throughout the world. The organization was created by The Elders to enable small groups from a ...
, the Global Partnership to End Child Marriage, since 2015.


The Freedom Fund

In 2013, the Walk Free Foundation joined with Humanity United and the
Legatum Legatum Limited, also known as Legatum, is a private investment firm, headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Legatum is a partnership that uses its own funds to invest globally. The firm also invests in activities to promote entrepreneurs ...
Foundation to establish the Freedom Fund, the world's first philanthropic fund dedicated to identifying and investing in the most effective frontline efforts to end
modern slavery Contemporary slavery, also sometimes known as modern slavery or neo-slavery, refers to institutional slavery that continues to occur in present-day society. Estimates of the number of enslaved people today range from around 38 million to 46 mil ...
. The Freedom Fund was announced by President
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
at the
Clinton Global Initiative The Clinton Foundation (founded in 2001 as the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation, and renamed in 2013 as the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation) is a nonprofit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. tax code. It was es ...
in September 2013, who declared, “This is a huge deal and we should all support this.” The Fund focuses its work on areas where slavery is prevalent using a “hotspot” funding model. It identifies effective local anti-slavery initiatives and invests to improve their effectiveness and impact. Global initiatives, which coordinate efforts and resources around industries where slavery is common, are also used. The Fund also strives to strengthen the global movement of activists, experts and donors by providing the platform, knowledge and tools for them to connect and work together more effectively. The Fund has worked with some 100 frontline partners around the world to directly liberate 28,040 people from slavery and return over 57,419 at risk children back to school. Overall, its programs have positively impacted the lives of over 765,628 of those most vulnerable to exploitation. In the years before the Walk Free Foundation Nick was with International Crisis Group (ICG) working at its central office in
Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grono, Nick 1966 births Living people Human rights lawyers Australian human rights activists Anti–human trafficking activists