Girls Opportunity Alliance x AMPLIFY Girls Panel Discussion - Friday, April 22
On Earth Day, Friday, April 22, 2022, at 8 pm EAT/12 pm EST, AMPLIFY Girls, together with Girls Opportunity Alliance hosted a global event and panel discussion titled: Girls’ Education & Climate Change - Unheard Voices from the Global South.
The panel discussion highlighted the effects of climate change on girls’ education with unique perspectives from leaders of community-based organizations in the global south. While discussions around climate change have long focused on global emissions and how to hold world leaders accountable, women and girls around the world are experiencing catastrophic day-to-day living situations that are caused by climate change yet have received little attention. Many times, it is community-based organizations that are on the frontlines implementing climate change adaptation and mitigation interventions to provide girls with holistic support to attend and stay in school.
The panel built on our recent publication ‘The Unheard Voice of Climate Change’ illustrating how girls are affected by climate change, as well as the interventions that community-based organizations are implementing around the world.
In case you missed it, you can catch up on updates about the event and our call to action in the article below highlighted by Global Partnerships for Education-US.
Please read the article here: Girls' Education is Not a Silver Bullet Solution to Climate Change.
Meet our Speakers:
Christina Kwauk - Gender, Education & Climate Change Specialist
Christina is a social scientist with research and policy expertise in gender equality and education, education for climate action, and sport for development. She is the co-editor of Education for Climate Action: Toward an SDG 4.7 Roadmap For Systems Change and co-author of What Works in Girls' Education: Evidence for the World's Best Investment. She has co-authored several agenda-setting reports on girls' education and climate change and has led or advised several global girls' education initiatives. She is also a Non-Resident Fellow at the Brookings Institution and a 36x36 Transformation Fellow with the Wellbeing Economy Alliance, the Schumacher Institute, and the Collective Leadership Institute.
Wendo Aszed, Founder and Excecutive Director, Dandelion Africa - Kenya
Wendo Aszed was born in a rural village in Kenya. In 2010 she founded Dandelion Africa, a grassroots organization focused on the multidimensional concept of economic empowerment through quality and accessible healthcare to communities in hard-to-reach rural areas. In her role as Executive Director of Dandelion Africa, she works in advocacy, championing to end Female Genital Mutilation through boys’ engagement in the rural areas of Nakuru, Baringo, Kajiado, and Narok counties in Kenya. She has been selected for several fellowships, featured in different publications, and has been recognized both locally and internationally for her community work.
Jackie Bomboma – Founder and CEO, Young Strong Mothers Foundation - Tanzania
Jackie Leonard Bomboma is the founder of Young Strong Mothers Foundation, Tanzania. Jackie founded YSMF in 2015 with the aim of supporting young teen mothers in Morogoro and other regions of Tanzania by re-building their dreams, helping them discover their talents and skills, and empowering them. YSMF also aims to support the girl child in various aspects of life.
Through Jackie’s leadership, YSMF is now a home of hope and inspiration for vulnerable young mothers and their children and stands as a bridge, connecting them with opportunities and solutions for a better future.
Soeurette Rigodon, Director of Programs at Lidè - Haiti
Soeurette Rigodon finished her coursework at Université d’Etat d’Haïti in psychology in 2013 and then immediately put that knowledge into service for Lidè as a counselor. She was quickly promoted to Program Coordinator, where she took care of everything from tracking which girls are struggling with life issues, to what the program activities are each day, to the well-being of the instructional staff. Soeurette currently serves as Director of Programs at Lidè, where she is responsible for managing the overall direction of Lidè’s programs in: the arts, education, and preparation for adulthood.
Prior to sharing her light with Lidè, Soeurette provided psychosocial support to at-risk youth through school enrichment programs and also worked in reunifying former street kids with their families and helping them to adjust to new schools near their homes.
Diane Truong, Director of Communications & Operations at Pacific Links Foundation - Vietnam
Diane is passionate about women's empowerment and advocates for the investment in youth to empower them to become stronger individuals and change-makers. Diane oversees Pacific Links Foundation's communications, grant writing and reporting, and donor communications. She has 10+ years of international nonprofit experience, specializing in donor relations, grant writing, reporting, monitoring and evaluation, volunteer management, and communications. Diane joined Pacific Links Foundation in 2011 and earned her B.A. in Integrative Biology from the University of California, Berkeley.