For over a decade, the Sister-to-Sister Young Feminist Leadership Program has been a cornerstone of the Nobel Women’s Initiative’s work to advance feminist peace and security. Through leadership and skills training, resource provision, and networking, the program equips young women to become influential leaders in their communities and beyond.
Sister-to-Sister Program 2026
Sister-to-Sister Program 2026
Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping our societies, bringing both new possibilities and new threats to peace, democracy, and human rights. As AI transforms civic space, information, and systems of power, feminist leadership is essential to ensure these technologies advance justice rather than deepen inequality.
It is in this context that the 2026 Sister-to-Sister Program takes its theme: Peace in the Age of AI: Building Feminist Futures.
Twenty-five young feminist activists from 23 countries, selected from nearly 700 applicants worldwide, will come together through the Sister-to-Sister Program to strengthen their leadership, build global solidarity, and explore how feminist movements can shape more just, inclusive, and peaceful digital futures.
Learn more about the program here!
Meet this year's participants:
Participant: Anubhuti Mahanta
Country: India
Area(s) of Expertise: Feminist Advocacy and Gender Justice
Anubhuti Mahanta is a feminist researcher, storyteller and a human rights activist from Assam, Northeast India. She’s currently pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature and has spent the past three years working across feminist and human rights spaces. She is the Founder of Old World Order, an initiative that aims to document underrepresented histories while questioning structures of power, erasure and social control. Furthermore, she’s the Co-Director of Politics4Her Asia, a youth-led intersectional feminist platform amplifying young women’s voices and advancing their political participation across Asia. Her current work includes research on AI-enabled and technology-facilitated gender-based violence, particularly image-based abuse and synthetic violence across Asia and Africa.
She has created and contributed to storytelling projects such as Between Sisters and Her Climate Kahani, and menstrual health projects, including working on a fundraising campaign in December 2023 to provide menstrual kits to young women and girls in Gaza.
Participant: Arielsela Holdbrook-Smith
Country: United States of America | Ghana
Area(s) of Expertise: Public Health, Health Literacy & Communications, Community Engagement
Arielsela Holdbrook-Smith is a Ghanaian-American public health professional, certified health education specialist, and multidisciplinary artist. Her work bridges community practice and cultural work, grounded in social equity, collective action, community well-being, and leveraging media and arts as public health tools. Arielsela manages community-based health equity and literacy programs in New York City, working closely with Community Boards and local organizations to address neighborhood priorities, primarily in Harlem and Upper Manhattan. She holds a Master of Public Health in Community Health Science and Practice from the New York University School of Global Public Health and a Master of Fine Arts in Performance and Interactive Media Arts from Brooklyn College.
Participant: Aseel Ibrahim
Country: Palestine
Area(s) of Expertise: Gender Equality, Digital Rights, Climate & Health, Inclusive Communications and Youth Leadership
Aseel Ibrahim is a Palestinian-Jordanian feminist researcher, youth advocate, and communications practitioner committed to advancing gender justice and meaningful youth participation across the Arab region. She holds a master’s degree in Audiovisual Translation, through which she developed expertise in inclusive media, digital cultures, and the ways communication systems shape the visibility and participation of marginalized communities. Her research examines the Arab manosphere, algorithmic misogyny, and AI-generated gender disinformation, with particular attention to threats facing women human rights defenders across Southwest Asia and North Africa.
Aseel is the founder of Right Not a Luxury, a youth-led initiative that has reached more than 1,000 young people across Jordan through work on climate justice, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and mental health. Aseel has contributed to feminist grantmaking and served on youth advisory bodies for global organizations.
Across her research and activism, Aseel transforms grassroots realities into evidence-informed advocacy and works to build inclusive, non-tokenistic spaces for youth leadership.
Participant: Aye Eaindray Maung
Country: Myanmar
Area(s) of Expertise: Feminist Fund Management, Gender Equality and Youth Empowerment
Aye is an intersectional feminist from Myanmar, currently based in Thailand. She works at a feminist fund management organisation, supporting women-led, LGBTQIA+, and disability-led organisations across Myanmar's conflict-affected communities through capacity strengthening, advocacy coordination, and coalition-building.
With over five years of experience in community development, Aye's expertise spans youth empowerment, gender equality, and financial inclusion of women. She holds a Master's degree in Gender and Development Studies from the Asian Institute of Technology and a Bachelor's degree in International Relations from the University of Yangon.
Guided by a strong belief in collective liberation, Aye's work is grounded in solidarity, care, and a deep commitment to justice. Outside her professional work, she is an award-winning writer on feminism and women's rights, contributing to public awareness and dialogue in Myanmar, and is an active voice in regional and international feminist spaces, having spoken at spaces across Asia, Latin America, and beyond.
Participant: Catherine Harry
Country: Cambodia
Area(s) of Expertise: Feminism and Sexual Reproductive Health Rights
Catherine Harry is a feminist vlogger and founder at A Dose of Cath, a channel that focuses on sex education, gender equality and cultural issues from a feminist perspective. Her channel has 1 million followers on Facebook, and 600,000 on TikTok. Asides from creating content, Catherine is also a writer.
Named one of Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2018 and shortlisted as one of Women of the Future Asia 2019, Catherine has been working to raise awareness on feminism and empower women to further the feminist movement. In 2022, she was selected as one of Obama Foundation Asia-Pacific Leaders.
As an intersectional feminist, Catherine recognizes the challenges that women from different backgrounds have to overcome. She realizes that the feminist movement can’t be advanced without allies and support from other people, especially other women. With this in mind, she always looks for ways to empower women and inspire them to shine in their communities so that they can pass on the inspiration to more women.
Participant: Chiara Gonçalves Fernandes
Country: Brazil
Area(s) of Expertise: Feminist Peace and Security, International Development and Disarmament
Chiara Fernandes is a feminist advocate working at the intersection of gender, peace and security, disarmament, and emerging technologies.
Born in Brazil and raised in Europe, she is a Master's candidate in European and Global Studies at the University of Padova, Italy, with additional training in humanitarian action and armed conflict. She currently interns with the Consortium on Gender, Security and Human Rights, where she supports the Feminist Roadmap for Sustainable Peace and Planet project, and with the Permanent Mission of Portugal to the United Nations in Geneva, where she assists diplomats on disarmament issues, including autonomous weapons systems. She also co-founded the Brazilian section of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF).
Chiara is building a humanitarian career grounded in feminist principles and grassroots practice. More recently, she has focused on developing a critical approach to artificial intelligence, exploring how gendered and militarised logics shape emerging technologies and what feminist approaches to their governance might look like.
Participant: Dina Chaerani
Country: Indonesia
Area(s) of Expertise: Sexual Reproductive Health Rights, Feminist Storytelling, Digital Rights and Youth Participation
Dina Chaerani is an award-winning Indonesian feminist activist, survivor advocate, and content creator. Known as the “SRHR Barbie,” she uses social media to make policy answerable to the people whose bodies it governs. She co-founded Sexdugram and creates the content of Sex O’Clock News, where evidence, humour, and lived experience expose what institutions hide behind jargon. Dina sits on the Board of the Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights, is an active member of the UN Major Group for Children and Youth, and leads advocacy and partnerships for CARE+, an Indonesian school-based wellbeing and SRHR project. Her work with World Health Organization, United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA), International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), and Women Deliver advances bodily autonomy and youth partnership. As a survivor of sexual violence and online harassment, Dina campaigns against digital violence and AI-enabled gendered disinformation. Her work insists that young people are not ornaments in decision-making, but political actors with the right to shape their futures.
Participant: Esther Soma
Country: South Sudan
Area(s) of Expertise: Women, Peace and Security (WPS) | Feminist Peacebuilding | Inclusive Governance
Esther Soma is a South Sudanese feminist peace-builder, educator, and storyteller working at the intersection of Women, Peace and Security, feminist leadership, inclusive governance, and social transformation. Her work focuses on advancing women’s meaningful participation in peace and political processes, strengthening locally led peace-building and using storytelling to challenge dominant narratives and foster social cohesion.
Esther worked with UN Women South Sudan, where she supported women’s engagement in the 2018 peace process, and later served as Head of Programs and Deputy Country Director at PAX for Peace in South Sudan. She currently lectures at the University of Juba’s National Transformational Leadership Institute and is Co-Founder of The Junubeen Collective, a South Sudanese storytelling initiative. She holds a Master of Public Policy with Distinction from the University of Oxford.
Esther is committed to expanding the spaces in which women shape peace, leadership, and the stories societies tell about themselves.
Participant: Eugenie Rodriguez Huibonhoa
Country:
Area(s) of Expertise: Gender Justice, Feminist Security, Governance, Culture & Advocacy
Eugénie Rodriguez Huibonhoa is an independent policy adviser and partnership strategist specialising in the nexus of gender, governance, and culture. She seeks to advance plurality in justice, solidarity, and security, through policy, strategic collaboration, and cultural production that honour social difference, bridge worldviews, and encourage doing politics otherwise.
She holds an MSc with Distinction in Politics of Conflict, Rights & Justice from SOAS, University of London, and was named an Asia-Pacific Obama Leader in recognition of her leadership in advancing mental health and democracy in the Philippines. She is also a member of the 2026 Young Women in Disarmament cohort of the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation.
Eugénie has worked with the Philippine Senate, Human Rights Foundation, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Afghans for Progressive Thinking, Centre of Conflict, Rights & Justice, and Decolonial Thoughts, among others.
Participant: Hasina Akbari
Country: Afghanistan
Area(s) of Expertise: Psychosocial Support, Women’s Rights, Advocacy, Safer Digital spaces.
Hasina Akbari is a community leader and the founder of SOUL Women, an initiative supporting Afghan girls and young women through online psychosocial support and community-based programs. Since 2023, her work has reached hundreds of girls, creating spaces where participants can access support despite restrictions and displacement. Her broader work includes advocacy, journalism, youth leadership, and initiatives focused on women’s wellbeing. Having lived through displacement herself, Hasina is especially interested in how policies and technologies affect people whose voices are often missing from decisions that shape their lives. She currently lives in Toronto, where she continues developing SOUL Women while building her work in community leadership and women’s rights.
Participant: Jin Dawod
Country: Syria
Area(s) of Expertise: Women, Peace & Security & Feminist Leadership, Peacebuilding & Community Resilience, Mental Health & Psychosocial Support, Forced Displacement & Refugee Leadership, AI & Technology for Social Impact
Jîn Dawod is a Syrian refugee leader, computer engineer, and Founder & CEO of Peace Therapist, a refugee-led and women-led social enterprise & NGO advancing culturally sensitive mental health and psychosocial support for communities affected by conflict, displacement, and crisis.
Through Peace Therapist, she has built a multilingual network of more than 150 mental health professionals and reached over 80,000 people across 26 countries. Her work connects feminist leadership, peace-building, mental health, responsible AI, refugee inclusion, and social cohesion, with a focus on ensuring that women and conflict-affected communities are not only recipients of support, but active shapers of solutions.
Jîn contributes to international humanitarian and policy discussions and builds cross-sector partnerships to advance more inclusive systems for healing and peace. Her work has been recognized through the UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award – Europe, UN SDG Action Award, and Forbes 30 Under 30 Class 2026.
Participant: Maryam Liaquat
Country: Pakistan
Area(s) of Expertise: Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), Climate Action, Social Entrepreneurship, Youth Leadership.
Maryam Liaquat is a WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) activist, social entrepreneur, and the Founder of Ecorise, a youth-led initiative working to improve access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene in underserved communities across Pakistan. Through Ecorise, she conducts community workshops, introduces low-cost water filtration solutions, and raises awareness about how misinformation affects women's health decisions and access to safe water. Her work increasingly explores how AI and digital misinformation influence community trust, public health, and equitable access to information. Maryam believes lasting change begins when communities, especially women and young people, have access to both reliable information and practical solutions that enable them to make informed decisions. She is an Asian Girls Campaign Fellow and the only representative from Pakistan selected to present her work in Taiwan. Her work has also received national and international recognition, including the TED-Ed Student Talks Program, Pakistan 30 Under 30, and the 100 women leaders of Pakistan.
Participant: Melanie Joy Feranil
Country: Philipinnes
Area(s) of Expertise: iTrade Justice, People-Powered Sustainable Consumption and Production, Feminist Economy
Melanie Joy Feranil is a feminist development worker based in the Philippines. She serves as the Research and Policy Coordinator of IBON International on the Sustainable Consumption and Production Programme, Trade and Investment Theme, where they campaign against neoliberal policies that further unequal trade between the Global North and South and engage peoples' organisations in monitoring international trade and investment policies and amplifying their struggles for a sustainable economy in global policy spaces.
She is also a Steering Team member of Our World Is Not For Sale, a network of organisations and social movements from around the globe fighting the current model of corporate globalisation and advocating for a sustainable, socially just, democratic and accountable multilateral trading system.
Melanie believes that collectively reimagining and dreaming of better futures, even and especially amid spiralling multiple crises, is important in nourishing our resistance, resilience, and fight towards smashing systems of patriarchy and capitalism that propel violence, resource plunder, wars of aggression, and militarism.
Participant: Molly Chan
Country: Guatemala
Area(s) of Expertise: Advocacy, Strategic Communications, Project Management, Youth Engagement and Digital Campaigns, Sexual Reproductive Health Rights, HIV, Gender Equality and Social Impact.
Molly Chan is a feminist advocate, creative strategist, and social entrepreneur from Guatemala. Growing up in a context marked by gender inequality, she learned to transform frustration into action and creativity into advocacy.
She is the Founder and Executive Director of REAL JUSTICE+, a youth-led organization that harnesses digital art, storytelling, and strategic communications to humanize complex social issues and make advocacy more accessible. With more than seven years of experience in project management, content design, youth engagement, and global advocacy, Molly has contributed to initiatives advancing gender equality, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and the rights of people living with HIV.
A lifelong learner, Molly is also passionate about emerging technologies, particularly artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, and their potential to strengthen social movements and expand civic participation. She believes that meaningful advocacy begins when people feel seen, understood, and empowered to lead change.
Participant: Nashiba Nakabira
Country: Uganda
Area(s) of Expertise: Governance, Youth Participation, Women/Youth Peace and Security
Nashiba Nakabira is a governance, youth participation, and peacebuilding practitioner with over eight years of experience advancing inclusive governance and community-led development across Africa. She currently serve as a Member of the African Union Advisory Panel on Democratic Elections and Governance in Africa.
Previously, as an African Youth Ambassador for Peace (AYAP) representing Eastern Africa, Nashiba supported the implementation of the Youth, Peace and Security agenda under the Continental Framework on Youth, Peace and Security (CFYPS). She also worked with Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya to support the development of their first National Action Plans on Youth, Peace and Security.
Nashiba is a co-founder of Sisters for Peace Initiative (SPI), a women-led organization that empowers women and girls to prevent violence and violent extremism through dialogue, leadership, economic empowerment, policy advocacy, and community-based peacebuilding.
As a Program Specialist at the African Youth Development Link (AYDL), she designs and implements initiatives on governance, advocacy, leadership, gender equality, and peace-building, leading projects that strengthen community development and expand opportunities for youth and women.
Participant: Roshni Anwar
Country: Pakistan
Area(s) of Expertise: Gender Equality, Climate Justice, Youth Empowerment and Inclusive Futures
Roshni Anwar is a feminist activist and development practitioner working at the nexus of gender equality, climate justice, youth empowerment, and inclusive futures. She is the Founder and Executive Director of HerSpace, a youth- and women-led grassroots organization advancing climate action, gender equality, and youth empowerment through community-led initiatives, participatory research, advocacy, and policy engagement.
Through her work, Roshni strengthens the leadership and agency of women and young people, creating pathways for their knowledge, experiences, and priorities to influence both community action and decision-making. She serves on Pakistan’s Prime Minister’s National Youth Council and the Youth and Gender Technical Working Group for Pakistan’s NDC 3.0, connecting community experiences with national policy processes.
Roshni was recognized by UNEP as a Climate and Gender Champion and is a UN Women Asia-Pacific AI School Fellow and Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) Young Leader. She also contributes to global youth and feminist spaces through UNFPA JYWG, Women Deliver, and UNESCO YouCAN. Her work also extends to inclusive technologies and anticipatory leadership, exploring how emerging technologies and future-focused approaches can contribute to more equitable and human-centered futures.
Participant: Rozhwan Yasin
Country: Iraq
Area(s) of Expertise: Clinical Psychology, Psychotherapy, Multilingual Mental Health Services (Kurdish, English, Arabic, Persian, Turkish), Trauma-Informed Care, Youth & Women Empowerment, Disability Rights & Mental Health Advocacy, Clinical Ethics, Counseling Ethics
Rozhwan Yasin Ali Mstafa is a dedicated psychotherapist working at the Halabja Disabled Organization (HDO). Holding a degree in Clinical Psychology from Koya University, I specialize in psychological support, trauma-informed care, and community mental health advocacy. My work focuses on supporting individuals with disabilities, young women, and vulnerable groups. I am also the founder of the Girls Psychologist project, an initiative dedicated to empowering young women through tailored mental health support. Leveraging my multilingual proficiency in Kurdish, English, Arabic, Persian, and Turkish, I deliver inclusive psychological care to diverse populations in their native languages. My background spans clinical placements at Baxshin Private Hospital, the Autism Private Center, and the Chemical Weapons Victims Treatment Hospital, alongside leading youth programs with Kurdistan Save the Children and save the Children international.
Participant: Simone
Country: Zimbabwe | Senegal
Area(s) of Expertise: Digital Communications, Sexual Reproductive Health Rights, Gender Based Violence Prevention, Holistic Wellness
Marie-Simone Kadurira is a feminist researcher, strategic communications specialist, and policy consultant with over eight years of experience working across gender justice, sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), technology-facilitated gender-based violence, and feminist movement building. Her work sits at the intersection of research, advocacy, and communications, translating complex evidence into accessible strategies, publications, and campaigns that support social change. She has worked with international NGOs, UN agencies, and feminist networks across Africa and globally, focusing on issues including reproductive justice, digital rights, gender-based violence prevention, economic justice, and decolonial approaches to development. She is particularly interested in how power, technology, and funding shape whose voices are heard, whose knowledge is valued, and how feminist movements can build more equitable, community-led futures.
Participant: Sunika Joshi
Country: Nepal
Area(s) of Expertise: Digital Inclusion, Economic Empowerment, Health and Wellbeing and Climate Justice
Sunika Joshi is a psychologist committed to advancing mental wellbeing through an ecological and systems-based lens. As co-founder of Lighthouse Neural, she leads efforts to integrate mental health into schools, workplaces, and communities while grounding interventions in local cultural contexts rather than adopting Western frameworks. Her work examines the interplay of society, policy, governance, gender, and human rights in shaping psychological health. A Chevening Scholar and Erasmus Scholar, she holds an MSc in Clinical Psychology from Royal Holloway, University of London, and an MSc in Social and Cultural Psychology from ISCTE-IUL, Portugal. Recognized as a Vital Visionary Leader 2026 and Asia Global Fellow 2025, she has previously worked on refugee education, children affected by HIV/AIDS, human trafficking, and rural women's empowerment. She is dedicated to ensure that mental wellbeing becomes an integral pillar of gender equity and social justice, especially for women and rural communities in Nepal and beyond.
Participant: Susan Chisi
Country: Malawi
Area(s) of Expertise: Digital Inclusion, Economic Empowerment, Health and Wellbeing and Climate Justice
Susan Salome Chisi is a young feminist leader, activist, and development practitioner from Malawi and the Founder and Executive Director of Girls on the Lead Young Feminist Movement, a grassroots organization advancing the rights and leadership of girls and young women. With over five years of experience in feminist organizing, Susan works at the intersection of gender justice, women's rights, digital inclusion, climate justice, economic empowerment, health and wellbeing and gender-based violence prevention. She is passionate about strengthening the voices and leadership of young women, particularly those from rural and underserved communities, and creating spaces where they can influence decisions affecting their lives. Susan has engaged in national, regional, and international feminist movement spaces and has facilitated youth and feminist leadership initiatives across Africa. Her growing interest in digital rights and technology is rooted in ensuring that women and girls can safely participate in and shape the digital future.
Participant: Teresa Akello
Country: Kenya
Area(s) of Expertise: Climate Justice and Environmental Advocacy
Teresa Akello is an Environmental professional and emerging environmental leader passionate about climate justice, environmental conservation, and inclusive community development. Her work at the Green Belt Movement has given her practical experience supporting ecosystem restoration, community-based conservation, and the meaningful participation of women and youth in environmental decision-making. She is particularly interested in the intersection of climate and gender justice, and in advancing solutions that place communities at the center of environmental action. Teresa is also a Greenpeace environmental advocacy volunteer and a participant in the Coalition WILD 2025 Global Mentorship Program, where she strengthened her leadership and collaboration skills through engagement with conservation practitioners globally.
Participant: Thalia Kattoura
Country: Lebanon
Area(s) of Expertise: Feminist Peace-building, Youth Political Participation and Climate Justice
Thalia Kattoura is a Lebanese feminist organizer and researcher working on climate justice, youth political participation, and women’s rights. Her work is shaped by questions of war, corruption, displacement, and unequal access to resources and information. At the American University of Beirut, she served as an elected student representative and led campaigns addressing period poverty, gender-based violence and institutional accountability. She has since worked with NGOs, grassroots groups, and international organizations across policy research, advocacy, documentation, and community-based initiatives. Today, as Research Director at Climate Sirens, she organizes feminist healing circles and leads a regional digital anthology on women’s resilience amid war and displacement. She will pursue an MSc in Social Science Research Methods at the University of Bristol, where she plans to explore how emerging digital spaces can deepen gendered exclusion and how new tools can strengthen political organizing in Lebanon.
Participant: Verónica Rodríguez Cárdenas
Country: Spain
Area(s) of Expertise: Communications, Gender Justice, Feminist Peace-building, and Participatory Democracy
Veronica is a communications strategist and social anthropologist working at the intersection of narrative change, feminist peacebuilding, and programme design. As Communications Lead at Catalyst Now, she built the organization's global communications function, helping social innovators amplify their vision for change. At the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP), she led advocacy communications on the Women, Peace and Security agenda at international forums, including CSW68 and the 25th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, while coordinating a capacity-building programme for more than 100 journalists and women peace-builders in Colombia. She currently serves as Co-Chair of Communications & Partnerships for the Working Group on Climate at the Global Coalition on Youth, Peace and Security. Her work centers the voices of grassroots organizers and movement leaders, using strategic communications to advance more inclusive, feminist approaches to peace and social change.
Participant: Yasmine Aburaya
Country: Egypt
Area(s) of Expertise: Gender-Based Violence, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, Women's Legal Rights and Youth Empowerment
Yasmine Aburaya is an intersectional feminist, gender equality and youth empowerment based in Egypt, working at the intersection of sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender-based violence, and women's legal rights. She founded Your Voice Initiative Against VAW, a youth-led feminist initiative reaching over 10,000 people across digital platforms, and currently works with Equality Now as a Legal Equality Associate for the MENA region.
Her work spans direct advocacy, policy, and knowledge production. She authored a policy paper on comprehensive sexuality education through the WOSSO Fellowship, and an Arabic-language policy paper on period poverty. She is a member of the Arab States Feminist Network, and her multilateral engagement includes collaborating with ITCILO, KIT Royal Tropical Institute, UNFPA and UNDP Arab States.
Yasmine holds a master's degree from the University of Bologna focused on the Istanbul Convention and protection of migrant women.
Mentors
Participant: Ayesha Amin
Country: Pakistan (S2S 2025 Cohort)
Area(s) of Expertise: Climate Justice, Gender and Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR)
Ayesha Amin is a feminist activist and researcher working at the intersection of gender, climate justice, and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). As Founder and CEO of Baithak – Challenging Taboos, she works to dismantle patriarchal structures, amplify grassroots feminist voices, and advance gender-responsive climate action.
Her leadership focuses on strengthening young feminists, engaging men and boys in gender justice, and centering care and wellbeing in movement building. Ayesha holds an MS in Social Policy from the University of Pennsylvania and a Postgraduate Diploma in Gender Studies from the University of Iceland. Her work has received global recognition, including the Gender Just Climate Solutions Award at COP28 and the CAREC Climate and Gender Award.
Participant: Daniela Alba
Country: Colombia (S2S 2025 Cohort)
Area(s) of Expertise: Education, Migrants Rights and Gender Based-Violence
Daniela Alba, originally from Bogotá, Colombia (Muysca Territory), immigrated to the United States at a young age. She currently serves as Advocacy Coordinator for the Social Justice and Ecology Secretariat (SJES), Policy and Advocacy Officer at Politics4Her, and Advisor to the Beyond Climate Collaborative (BCC).
She holds a master’s degree from The American University of Rome and a bachelor’s degree from Brooklyn College, City University of New York (Lenapehoking). Her work centers on advancing education accessibility, fostering cross-cultural advocacy against gender-based violence, and challenging harmful narratives about people with lived experience of displacement—topics she also explores in her TEDx talk.
Daniela is a mentor with MENTEE and a Talitha Kum Youth Ambassador. Previously, she has worked with Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), Oxfam, UNICEF Italia, and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Participant: Ilaf Nasreldin
Country: Sudan (S2S 2021 Cohort)
Area(s) of Expertise: Human Rights, Peace-building, Social Justice and Gender Equality.
Ilaf Nasreldin is a women’s rights advocate and the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of AMNA, an organization working to end violence against women in Sudan. Her activism spans human rights, peacebuilding, social justice, and development, with a particular focus on gender justice.
Ilaf also works with the Sudanese Organization for Research and Development (SORD) as a Research Assistant and Project Coordinator for the Supporting Feminist Transformative Peace and Democracy in Sudan project. Her work focuses on strengthening young women’s leadership and meaningful participation in peacebuilding and politics, supporting them to play an active role in shaping a more peaceful, just, and inclusive future for Sudan.
Participant: Mbuthi Lilian Njeri
Country: Kenya (S2S 2025 Cohort)
Area(s) of Expertise: Gender Justice, Equality, Climate Justice, Peace and Security
Lilian Njeri Mbuthi is a Nairobi-based feminist researcher, storyteller, and organizer working across gender justice, global health, climate justice, peace and security, economic empowerment, digital safety, and participatory policy. She is committed to amplifying African youth voices and advancing equitable, inclusive change.
Through research and partnerships with governments, INGOs, and grassroots networks, Lilian has helped shape policy on digital rights and gender equality, launched programs reaching 1,800 adolescents and young women across Africa, and trained hundreds of advocates in digital safety. She holds a BA in International Relations and is completing an MA in Political Science at Stanford University.
Participant: Nura Brimo
Country: Syria (S2S 2024 Cohort)
Area(s) of Expertise: Peace and Security
Nura Brimo is a PhD student at Duke University, interested in the intersection of scientific research and humanitarian advocacy. She holds an MSc in Entrepreneurship and an MPhil in Biomedical Engineering and is a prolific scientific author with numerous articles and publications to her name. Nura has received multiple patents and awards for her contributions to biomedical applications. Her professional journey reflects a deep commitment to social justice and innovation, with leadership roles in the humanitarian sector, including her work with the White Helmets.
Nura participated in the United Nations Young Leaders Training Program. She is dedicated to feminist principles of peace and security. She is proficient in multiple languages, with a strong interest in meditation, reading, and tennis.