In 2013, WELDD held workshops in the MENA and Sehal regions to build women’s leadership and political participation. The results were hugely successful; young female activists from Egypt, Tunisia, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Sudan, Senegal, Niger and Mali emerged invigorated and with a renewed sense of purpose.
We are delighted to announce that Aya Chebbi has won this year’s Excellence in Leadership award from the African Viewpoint Journal. This was granted on 19 January 2015, and is part of their Africa Youth Awards.
Chithrani is an illiterate union worker who told her bosses that they should not underestimate workers’ ability to see abuses of power. She represented the Red Flag Union at negotiations with the Industrial Dispute Resolution Commissioner in October 2014. The Union is affiliated to IESA under the banner of Citizens for Justice and Peace. Chithrani is a militant grassroots leader from the upcountry plantations of Sri Lanka, who has been actively engaged in fighting against injustice. Her plantation estate, Hare Park, is managed by the government, but it has been deliberately neglected.
Codou Bop, the GREFELS Coordinator, seized the opportunity offered by a WELDD training to interview a young woman leader whose experience could serve as a model for young Senegalese and Africans. This young woman, Sokhna Seynabou Mbacké, became councilor following the mayoral elections in June 2014
Participants of a two-day youth conference demanded on Monday legislature set the minimum age for marriage at 18 years for both boys and girls and urged the government to stop child marriages. Shirkat Gah – a women’s resource centre – had organised the National Youth Convention on Peace, Pluralism and Democratic Norms.
Being raised in a family that could be described as relatively “open minded” in a patriarchal society, I was able to see and feel the pain of many women around me who don’t have such a privilege as mine. On the other side I always felt responsible for opening their eyes to that reality. The chance to participate in the WELDD workshop wasn't merely a coincidence as it might seem. I've always known that I’ll find an entry into women’s activism; I just never imagined that it would be so magnificent!
