Nairobi, March 12 -- Kenyan human rights lawyer Binaifer Nowrojee will become the first woman from the Global South to head the Open Society Foundations, ending a three-year period of restructuring for the pro-democracy organisation.

Ms Nowrojee was appointed the president of Open Society Foundations (OSF) in a unanimous decision by the Board of Directors for the organisation, a dispatch said on Monday. She will replace Mark Malloch-brown who will be stepping in June this year.

Currently the vice-president for programmes at OSF, she joined the organisation in 2004, having previously worked at the Human Rights Watch (HRW).

George Soros, the founder of OSF, said this appointment is part of efforts to make the organisation "truly global"....