NORWU KOLU HARRIS
LIBERIA
Areas of expertise: Gender-based violence, women’s rights.
About:?Norwu?Kolu?Harris holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and is currently a candidate for a master’s degree in Public Sector Administration. She is an experienced woman and youth advocate with over ten years of achieving exceptional results. She was part of the few young people that worked tirelessly for the passage of the National Children’s Law of Liberia in 2011.
In 2012, she along with other adolescent girls, drafted a manifesto called “Manifesto for the Development and Empowerment of the Liberian Girl Child”. The manifesto was meant to call the government’s attention to the plights of girls and what they wanted to change.
As a founding member of March for Justice ? a social justice network, she was part of the team that leads a three-day national call to action protest that?lead?the President of Liberia to declare rape a national emergency in August 2020.
Currently, she works at ActionAid Liberia as the Youth Program Officer. She also volunteers as a mentor at several civil society organizations.?Norwu?has developed a strong interest in finding solutions that will help other women and girls who are suffering from violence, discrimination and inequality in her society.
ILAF NASRELDIN
SUDAN
Areas of expertise:?Human rights, peacebuilding, social justice, development, focusing on gender-related issues.
About:?Ilaf Nasreldin is a 25 year-old women’s rights advocate. She is the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of AMNA, an organization that advocates against violence against women (VAW) in Sudan. She’s an activist for human rights, peacebuilding, social justice and development with a special focus on gender-related issues. Currently, she also works at the Sudanese Organization For Research and Development (SORD), as a Research Assistant and Projects Coordinator for the project (Supporting Feminist transformative Peace and Democracy in Sudan).
Ilaf puts a special focus on empowering young women in peacebuilding in the current ongoing transitional period in Sudan. She does this through coordinating, supervising and facilitating projects and programs aimed specifically at increasing the participation of young women in peacebuilding and politics.
MUSU DIAMOND KAMARA
LIBERIA
Areas of expertise:?Women’s political and democratic participation, sexual and gender-based violence and advocacy for women’s rights.
About:?Musu?D. Kamara is a young women’s rights activist, a social change campaigner, a stern feminist and an environmentalist by training working in Liberia to engender a society free from all forms of violence against women and girls. She has over five years of experience working with women and girls through advocacy campaigns.?Musu?is a vibrant member of many campaigns in Liberia (Enough Excuses Campaign- a campaign to transform social norms that justify sexual violence through victim-blaming), (#weareunprotectedcampaign ? which rose as a response to the “More Than Me” “Unprotected” report released by October 11, 2018, which detailed the rape and horrific sexual abuse that occurred at More Than Me Academy in Monrovia, Liberia). As a peer motivator,?Musu?believes in human dignity and independence, respects diversity in that ‘people are different, and those differences must be acknowledged and respected- giving every person equal opportunity and space to exist’, out of the intergenerational partnership.
Musu?envisages a future where women are not caged in society’s box of do’s and don’ts but a future where they are nurtured and supported to become proactive citizens leading the change in different safe spaces. She cherishes her time eating and listening to music.
MICHELLE CARBAJAL MEJIA
HONDURAS
Areas of expertise:?Gender violence, sexual and reproductive rights as well as rights of LGBTTI + populations.
About: Michelle is a feminist social worker who works in development processes and community organization with a gender focus and in organizations that fight to defend women’s rights and LGBTTI + populations in the country.
As an activist, she is part of the We Are Many Platform (for freedom and the lives of women), which is the platform that fights for the decriminalization of abortion in Honduras and is part of the I Do not Want to be Violated Movement, which is a space that addresses sexual violence, impunity and feminist political training as tools for organizing, training and defending the bodies of young women and women in the country.
Michelle seeks to empower women and young people in her country from feminism, from empathy and sisterhood, without forgetting the importance of political alliances with other organizations, movements and collectives. Michelle is active from joy and dignified anger, from enjoying meeting and learning from other women who vindicate their struggles for women’s rights. Art, music and nature are an important part of their personal and political lives.
GEHAD RAWY
EGYPT
Areas of expertise: Gender-based violence, women human rights defenders.
About: Gehad has been working for several years as an activist. Through her work in non-governmental organizations, to support women’s rights and i
mprove their conditions, especially with regard to issues of violence against women and the rights and status of women human rights defenders in Egypt and MENA region.
Gehad?believes that women in the MENA are struggling in similar circumstances and for the same rights, and that dialogue and cooperation between them strengthen the struggle of the feminist movement, supports the improvement of women’s conditions, achieves the exchange of experiences and the development of tools and capabilities of activists and WHRDs.
Gehad?has good experience in documentation, training, campaigning, project management, research, and advocacy. She uses these experiences to work in a team or with several groups to achieve goals that support women’s issues and rights.
ALEJANDRA PATAL
GUATEMALA
Areas of expertise: Political participation of women and youth. Human rights.
About:?Alejandra has five years’ experience in the public and non-profit sector and earned a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of San Carlos of Guatemala. She has been working in political training for women and youth around the country with?Oxlajuj?Noj’ Foundation. As a coordinator in YHRI Guatemala, she has contributed to teaching youth about human rights, thus helping them become advocates for promoting tolerance and peace.
During her time working with the local government, she elaborated a policy for women, as well as coordinated productivity projects with indigenous women. While studying a semester abroad, she interned with CAIR Coalition, an organization dedicated to serve detained immigrant population in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington D.C. Also, she volunteered two years with a non-profit organization that, through education, brings opportunities to children living out their lives around the Guatemala City landfill.?
Through these experiences, she developed strong project management and organizational skills. She enjoys focusing on human rights and women and youth political participation. Alejandra is a committed woman, looking forward to improving people’s lives not just in Guatemala but in Latin America because she identifies herself as Latin American more than Guatemalan.
ROI JA ZAHKUNG
MYANMAR
Areas of expertise:?Social justice education, human rights issues affecting women and girls from ethnic communities in conflict areas
About:?Roi Ja is an ethnic Kachin teacher who works with young activists from different backgrounds and ethnicities from her native Shan State, Burma, where there is a long-running civil war. She aims to empower and prepare youth to take on meaningful leadership roles to actively participate in the struggle for social and political change in Burma.?
Roi Ja has also worked as a youth organizer in her own Kachin community, as an interpreter, and as a health volunteer in northern Burma’s internally displaced person camps. She believes education is critical in promoting human rights, equality and justice towards genuine peace in her country.