Meet Dr Vedhna Dayanand-Lalla: Championing Capabilities, Ubuntu and Human Flourishing
Dr Vedhna Dayanand-Lalla is a social worker, lecturer and establishing researcher whose work sits at the intersection of gender, empowerment and the capability approach. As a member of the NWU's Optentia Research Unit, her scholarship centres on marginalised and situated knowledge from the Global South, asking what human flourishing looks like in the lived realities of South African women.
A scholar of empowerment and flourishing
Based in the Department of Social Work on the NWU's Vanderbijlpark Campus, Dr Lalla holds a BA in Social Work (University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville), a Master's in Employee Assistance Programmes (University of Pretoria) and a PhD from the NWU. Her doctoral research focused on the empowerment and flourishing of South African Indian women, engaging themes of social exclusion, cultural diversity and feminist theory, and asking how empowerment can move beyond formal rights toward the real freedoms the capability approach places at its heart. Her expertise spans gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF), women's empowerment, and empowerment, capabilities and flourishing.
From theory to frontline practice
Dr Lalla's scholarship is matched by hands-on leadership. She has been a driving force behind the NWU Vanderbijlpark Campus's first-ever GBVF Empowerment Centre, a one-stop, trauma-informed hub for survivors, and, alongside Prof Vhumani Magezi, helped establish University Networks of Impact (UNI) in partnership with University College Dublin — an international initiative combating GBVF through collaborative research and innovation. In 2025 she represented Optentia at the International Conference on Emerging Trends in Psychosocial Well-being in Namibia, presenting on community-based approaches to psychosocial well-being.
Mentoring as a practice of flourishing
I have had the privilege of being involved in the mentoring of Dr Lalla, and it is a pleasure to share that today she obtained a certificate in Academic Mentoring — with distinction.
Reflecting on the course, she says it challenged her to rethink mentoring as more than guidance or performance management. "I have come to appreciate the importance of building mentoring relationships grounded in empathy, trust, Ubuntu, and a genuine commitment to developing human potential." For her, the Capability Approach and decolonial perspectives reinforce the need to recognise diverse experiences, strengths and aspirations while empowering individuals to achieve goals they have reason to value. As a mentor, she aims to encourage agency, flourishing and meaningful growth — enabling others to reach their full potential.
Why the research networks should take note
Dr Lalla bridges social work and the capability approach, connects gender justice with decolonial thinking, and moves fluently between the seminar room, the survivor support centre and the international conference stage. For research networks working on capabilities, human development, gender and social justice in the Global South, she is a valuable collaborator to know.
