Dawn Cavanagh (23 March 1962) is a South African activist, writer and feminist.
She attended Fairvale Senior Secondary School in Wentworth, KwaZulu-Natal, and graduated from the University of Natal with a Bachelor of Science degree in social work in 1982.
[2] She has worked on social justice projects and development in local communities and in regional and international spaces.
She also worked for Oxfam[6] as well as the Civil Rights Defenders, Akina Mama wa Afrika and the Women's Leadership Centre in Namibia.
In 2014, Cavanagh set up the Masakhane programme (Zulu for "Come, let's get stronger together") with the German LSVD to provide better networking and empowerment to lesbian, bisexual and transgender women in sub-Saharan Africa.