The Nobel Women’s Initiative and the Coady International Institute welcomes 20 exceptional young feminist activists and leaders from 17 countries to the virtual edition of the 2023 Sister-to-Sister Mentorship program, working together to create a new vision for inclusive feminist peacebuilding and women’s rights advocacy.
Learn more about the program here!
Participant: Adela Sueiras Moncada
Country: Honduras
Area(s) of expertise: Human rights and social justice.
Adela is a last-year law school student; her passion for Human Rights has led her to focus on studying women's and sexual and reproductive rights. Throughout her education, she had the opportunity to participate in internships and volunteer work with civil society organizations, where she has been actively engaged in human rights issues. Currently, she works at the Ministry of the Interior, Justice and Decentralization; she is also an active member of the University Movement called "VOS", and part of the Executive Committee of the Association of Students of the Faculty of Legal Sciences, holding the position of Secretary for Social Action. Through these spaces, she aims to contribute to the development and well-being of Honduran society.She is an organized person and always eager to learn new things. She loves to travel and explore different places, embracing the diversity of cultures and customs that enrich her perspective.
As a future legal professional, her goal is to continue promoting and defending human rights from a feminist and intersectional perspective. She is excited about what the future holds and how she can positively contribute to the world around her.
Participant: Alexa Martinez Montalbán
Country: México
Area(s) of expertise: Accompaniment to families searching for a disappeared loved one in Mexico, documentation of human rights violations.
Alexia is a Mexican feminist and a human rights defender who is about to finish a master’s degree in Human Rights and International Relations. As a young human rights defender, she has been working with women and men who search for a disappeared loved one in different modalities, principally as a volunteer.
She is one of the authors of the Report on the Situation of the Disappearance of People in Puebla (2021) and her professional career and was a volunteer at the Centro de Derechos Humanos Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez, in Mexico City from 2020 to 2022. She is in charge of the Disappearances Observatory at the Instituto de Derechos Humanos Ignacio Ellacuría SJ, Puebla, Mexico.
She strongly believes in building dignified situations for everyone and has understood that indignation generates change and solidarity.
Participant: Alina Vasieikina
Country: Ukraine
Area(s) of expertise: Creative Education and Mentorship (Holistic Methods of Sustainable Art, Upcycling and Play).
Alina is a Ukrainian artist, creativity teacher, activist and currently a refugee, based in Rome. Her main focus right now is oriented towards building a strong inclusive creative community that could help not only refugees and migrants to integrate better in the society but also local people who have a need for a safe creative space to overcome their hardships.
Participant: Amer Ruben Nhial
Country: South Sudan
Area(s) of expertise: Sexual Gender Based Violence and Gender Equality as Human right, and feminist Activism.
Amer Nhial is a committed social worker who finds purpose in gender issues and provides psychosocial support and counselling to survivors of GBV/SGBV/CRSV in South Sudan.
She manages the National GBV Helpline, engages in community sensitization on harmful cultural norms, and campaigns for girl child education and ending child/forced marriage in South Sudan.
Challenging the patriarchal systems and the deeply rooted harmful cultural norms/practices that have promoted Gender-Based Violence, especially child/forced marriage in South Sudan, has been difficult. However, working with the grassroots communities, Amer has created awareness and engaged in intergenerational dialogues to ultimately change attitudes, beliefs and behaviours, contributing to ending Violence Against Women and Girls.
Amer has engaged in broader women’s networks for advancing the Women Peace Security (WPS), Agenda, whose advocacy has contributed to ratifying multiple international frameworks within WPS and the most recent regional legal instrument Maputo protocol. Currently, she is a member of SIHA Network, advocating for the review of Family Bill and enactment of Anti-GBV bill.
Amer loves exploring different cultures, healing herself through yoga, playing basketball and spending time with her family.
Participant: Andrea Melissa Rosales Hernandez
Country: Honduras
Area(s) of expertise: Women’s Rights, Sexual and Reproductive Rights, Human Rights.
Andrea Rosales is a writer, feminist activist/organizer and firm believer that other worlds are possible. She has a degree in International Relations but promotes social change in Honduras through communications and as a project technician, where she focuses her efforts on advancing sexual and reproductive rights.
As such, she is part of Somos Muchas, the national platform that seeks the decriminalization of abortion in Honduras. Her participation in this space has given her the opportunity to make visible the consequences of the absolute criminalization of abortion before the 83rd session of the CEDAW Committee, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and in international tours of Mesoamerican women defenders.
Andrea is also very committed to the defence of human rights, the fight for climate justice and the use of art as a tool for social change.
Participant: Arwa Al-Eryani
Country: Yemen
Area(s) of expertise: Feminist peace as well as psychological and social support.
Arwa is a Yemeni woman who graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Psychology and social studies and worked for 8 in that field. After that, she started to shift her interest towards advocacy and defence of human rights, especially the women's and children's being the minorities in society.
Arwa studied many courses related to that field to help her work on the ground and provide help to the extent she can. She gained lots of experience during her five years of work in Yemen, and her journey continued even after leaving the country by being a member of the Peace Track Initiative team (PTI).
Arwa loves writing, sports, arts, and travelling, and she tries her best not to let any day passes without learning new things.
Participant: Ayeh Dolian Johnson
Country: Cameroon
Area(s) of expertise: Teacher, Project Manager, Protection, Gender base violence and feminine genital mutilation.
Ayeh Dolian holds a Bachelor’s degree in curriculum studies and teaching, a Master’s degree in Conflict Resolution and a second Master’s degree in Project Management. Dolian is a level-headed Cameroonian and an African black woman whose childhood experiences groomed her into being a writer, feminist and devoted humanitarian in her country, Cameroon and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Dolian has expertise in different domains, such as in the field of Protection, Project Management Gender Base Violence, water supply, Hygiene and sanitation programs in West, Central and North Africa, using participatory approaches, e.g., Community Led Total Sanitation, PHAST and CHAST. Dolian has worked and volunteered with many organizations, such as; Danish Refugee Council, Mentor Initiative, and UNICEF; currently, she is the Gender Base Violence Officer for TeenAlive Organization-Cameroon.
Dolian being a writer, writes more on topics concerning gender, traditional, political and religious norms that affect women negatively in Cameroon and the world at large. Some of her publications include; NO To Bride Price, The Unemployability of Cameroonian Graduates and The CupWeb Of Christianity. As a feminist, Dolian envisions an inclusive, diverse and respectful world.
Participant: Caryn Dasah Oyo
Country: Cameroon
Area(s) of expertise: Human rights, peacebuilding and social justice.
Caryn Dasah holds a Master’s Degree in peace conflict and international relations. She is a Social Justice Activist and a Recognized dynamic youth leader.
She has frontline experience implementing campaigns and advocacy initiatives advancing women’s rights, gender equality and peacebuilding.
Her dedication to highlighting the issues of women and girls and building peace places her as the National Coordinator of the Cameroon Women’s peace movement. Caryn has extensive experience promoting women’s rights, Mediation and Negotiations, Trauma Healing, Education in emergencies, Humanitarian Action and Advocacy.
Participant: Cindy Nataly Erazo Ospina
Country: Colombia
Area(s) of expertise: Human rights, social justice and Women’s Political and Democratic Participation.
Nataly is a Colombian feminist, activist and animal and human rights defender who believes in communication's power to drive behavioural change. She holds a degree in Journalism and Social Communication and is currently completing her master’s degree in creative and Cultural Management. With a deep commitment to promoting gender equality and social justice, she works tirelessly to challenge societal norms and advocate for the rights of marginalized communities in Colombia.
She had more than ten years of experience leading public campaigns to question existing behaviours and, in this way, to prevent several types of violence, particularly gender-based violence, in a country that has been dealing with more than 60 years of armed conflict. Currently, she is the communication and mobilization leader of an NGO that also promotes leadership for peacebuilding. Through this organization, she has successfully impacted over 7 million people with creative and powerful strategies focused on changing paradigms and mindsets that perpetuate violence.
Nataly is also a storyteller and an illustrator, and she has co-created methodologies that promote mental health in children, empower young women, and challenge traditional notions of masculinity. She has been volunteering for different global organizations such as Greenpeace, Amnesty International, The Human rights film festival and others, and she is a curious explorer with a high capacity for surprise.
Participants: Daniela Meza-Figueroa Maria
Country: Costa Rica
Area(s) of expertise: Agroecology, ecofeminist, LGBTIQ+, human rights, education, refugee rights.
Daniela is an inspiring ecofeminist farmer deeply engaged in various activist endeavours. She actively collaborates with organizations like Chicas Al Frente and NGOs dedicated to supporting refugees from the LGBTQI+ community. With a firm belief in the power of collective effort, Daniela envisions a society where transformation is possible through united action.
Daniela holds a variety of academic backgrounds, A major in library science and non-formal education. Additionally, she obtained a degree in Organic production and has actively participated in numerous environmental, feminist, and academic programs across the United States, Central America, and Costa Rica.
Beyond her passion for social and environmental causes, Daniela is a versatile individual with a love for music. She is a singer and instrumentalist in a cumbia band. Moreover, she enjoys working with wood and tools, immersing herself in the world of medicinal plants from various cultures, and practicing jiu-jitsu.
Through her diverse interests and tireless dedication to making the world a better place, Daniela serves as an exemplary role model for those seeking positive change and promoting inclusivity in every aspect of life.
Participant: Esra Karadas Ekinci
Country: Iraq
Area(s) of expertise: Feminist Ethnography, Urban Anthropology, and peace-building activism through cultural and social organizing.
Esra is a doctoral student of Anthropology at Ankara University as well as the general coordinator of the Mesopotamia Foundation, which has worked for Mesopotamian local communities for ten years, and the chair of the Archive Urban Culture and Social Research Association works based on the rights of urban, sheltering, and social in the Kurdish region. And also, she has been working on feminist biographies in the Kurdish region.
Esra's social and political interests led her to work with the feminist movement, minority groups, and endangered cultural groups in the Kurdish region. She is a committed gender equality and urban rights activist for making peace-building for all.
Esra loves to explore urban landscapes, feminist organizations, and cultural experiences worldwide. Esra is inspired, in particular, to learn from feminist and grassroots movements across various geographies. She believes that organizing with Feminists strengthens us against the inequalities we have encountered!
Participant: Gloria Albert P. Redentore
Country: South Sudan
Area(s) of expertise: Governance, Policy Influence with a specific focus on Sexual Reproductive- MHM and GBV.
Gloria Albert is a pharmacist by profession with vast experience in clinical pharmacy and retail pharmacy. She is passionate about sexual reproductive health and rights, through which she founded a young women-led organization that focuses on providing sexual reproductive health rights, menstrual hygiene education and other community initiatives programs and the organization built the First Menstrual Station-which serves as a safe space for girls to access right information in regards to sexual reproductive health, menstrual hygiene as well provide sanitary material for the girls in the community and the entire South Sudan.
Currently, she works with South Sudan Democratic Engagement, Monitoring and Observation Programme (SSuDEMOP) as a project officer- an organization that has a niche on governance and democracy, gender mainstreaming and Election Monitoring. As the program officer, she’s running different projects on public finance and management and Constitution Process, where she leads.
She is a Young African Leadership Initiative Fellow, Generation Change Fellow-where she shared her passion for girls’ education with His Holiness- Dalia Lama. She’s Currently undergoing a comprehensive training and mentorship programme on Youth and Women in Democracy with Koffi Annan Foundation.
She believes in a world where women and girls are able to enjoy their fundamental human rights to education, information with dignity and without any hindrance.
Participant: Jane Siesi Ebiere
Country: Nigeria
Area(s) of expertise: Women's Peace and Security, Gender Based Violence.
Jane is currently rounding up her MSc program in Gender studies. She has also participated in several capacity-building workshops on women's peace and security, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and Gender-based violence, amongst others.
She is passionate about women's development and women's peace and security. With her current position in WILPF Nigeria, Jane has co-designed and supported various development initiatives with several women's rights organizations, CSOs and MDAs across the six geo-political zones in Nigeria. These initiatives were geared towards strengthening feminist peace, reducing forms of violence against women and building alliances with men to promote peace and security.
Jane has also supported several networks and organizations in promoting gender equality, such as the Women's Situation Room Nigeria, Nigerian Women Mediators Network, WILPF Membership in Nigeria, Joy Onyesoh Foundation, Coalition for the Promotion of Gender Justice etc. Jane also supports a group of young university women through a WhatsApp platform to build capacities on sexual rights and sexual and gender-based violence.
Jane loves to play board games, dance, travel, try out new things and meet new people.
Participant: Langa Jabhisane Pinky
Country: South Africa
Area(s) of expertise: Pinky is a feminist activist working on women's education and economic empowerment. She is a Women Can Do It facilitator, a training and capacity-building programme for women that the Norwegian Labour Party initiated in the 1980s, an organization to promote and strengthen the participation of women in public and political life. Her recent lifework includes running a study circle with women from communities with high unemployment affected by mining, looking at why and how these communities are not given the resources they need, and how to build local economies and equip women to be able to fight and leave abusive relationships.
VISION: Women are natural leaders; the world needs more female leaders across all sectors. Not only will this improve conditions for women, but it will be instrumental in embedding equality in future generations growing up with women leaders.
"It's time for women to be in leadership positions in every sector of society. I work to realize this in Southern Africa" JP Langa.
Participant: Naw Eh Tse Bhwe
Country: Myanmar
Area(s) of expertise: Gender-Based Violence Prevention and Response.
Eh has eight years of working experience, which truly determines her as a women's rights activist as she decided to focus on gender-based violence as her area of contribution to Myanmar society.
She is passionate about promoting a gender equality mindset in Myanmar society and generating justice mechanisms for women who survived domestic violence and other sexual violence. And she has a strong perspective that encouraging feminist leadership and the concept of gender equality is very important to revolve for social justice and peace in the country. Sustainable peace in society cannot be achieved without justice and equal rights for everybody.
Therefore, she worked at different CSO, NGO and INGOs in Myanmar to promote feminist concepts and gender equality culture among societies by conducting training, community dialogue and debate, and campaign and advocacy to different levels of stakeholders. Furthermore, she closely worked with women, girls, LGBT, women survivors and community leaders to address and end gender-based violence in communities.
Eh loves travelling and exploring new cultures and people.
Participant: Negina Yari
Country: Afghanistan
Area(s) of expertise: Negina Yari is an accomplished Women's Rights Defender, Peace Activist, and founder of Afghanistan Peace House (APH). She is also the Women Advisory Group (WAG) Chairperson to the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT), of Afghanistan. Ms. Yari is the Elected Alternative Board Member of WILPF International (Women's International League for Peace and Freedom), to South Asian Countries.
Born in Ghor Province of Afghanistan, Negina Yari graduated from Kardan University with MBA master’s in business administration Degree. Negina Yari's contribution and active work to the development of Afghanistan's Civil Society spans more than 13 years; her visionary perspective has earned her opportunities to work with multiple Civil Society Stakeholders and INGOs.
Negina Yari has been a delegate and Speaker of Afghanistan to United Nations Human Rights Council (Urgent Debate on Afghan Women and Girls Rights 2022), delegate of Women Advisory Group to United National Human Rights Council (Human Rights Situation in Afghanistan Conference 2022) and the delegate to the Open Government Global Summit 2019, Canada and Afghan Women Peace Group, Sri Lanka 2019.
Negina Yari has advocated for women's participation in peace negotiation, women empowerment, gender and education in Afghanistan.
Participant: Sara Ali Mouawia Obaid
Country: Sudan
Area(s) of expertise: Gender-based violence, women's political participation.
Sara is a 24 years old Sudanese woman. She is a Marxist, feminist activist. She was originally based in Khartoum until the April 15th war took place in Sudan, and now she is a Refugee in Cairo.
She is in her final year of a medical student and feminist with a profound responsibility to work for the benefit of the unprivileged and marginalized communities, especially women.
She has worked and volunteered with many organizations, including the medical student association Sudan- sexual and reproductive health office, the Institute of reproductive health, action for social development, non-governmental organization, the democratic students front, and many other civil and political organizations. Her work includes capacity building as she is coordinated many Feminist trainings through actions for social development org and knowledge production hence. Also, she is an editor and content creator for Noon feminist group.
She loves poetry and language learning.
Participant: Saum Idd Esendi
Country: Kenya
Area(s) of expertise: Human rights and social justice.
Saum Idd is a journalist and storyteller based in Nairobi, Kenya, who believes stories have the power to change the world. She has worked with organizations to tell stories of their work and efforts through human-interest feature stories, development documentaries and films.
She's passionate about storytelling and understanding adaptive and innovative strategies being applied to create more human-centred products and services. These organizations include United States Agency for International Development (USAID), African Union (AU), Development Alternatives Inc. (DAI) and brands such as Scania, Unilever, Kenya Airways and Shell through agencies such as Ogilvy and Fat Rain Films.
Saum graduated in Print Journalism and Public Relations from The Technical University of Kenya. Currently the Managing Director of Dua Ya Dada, a media production company focused on telling inspiring stories from marginalized rural communities through cultural exchange, digital empowerment and creative expression. Saum has lobbied and run successful advocacy programs that have put women on the frontlines of creating their own narratives, helped to package and document their stories, managed production sets and acted as a local production liaison producer in Kenya.
Saum travels through books and film and loves to meet new people, places, cultures, history and human connection through stories.
Participant: Tennen B. Dalieh Tehoungue
Country: Liberia
Area(s) of expertise: Researcher( Universal jurisdiction, transitional justice), feminism, Women and Human rights, Conflict Studies, Peace and Security.
Tennen is a final year doctoral candidate at the Dublin City University School of Law and Government researching the impact of extra-territorial prosecutions of war and serious crimes on national transitional justice processes. She has over a decade of experience working in Liberia's national civil society space and bilateral governments, leading research, advocacy and training on gender, women and human rights, peace and security, transitional justice and "all things feminism".
Tennen is a Fellow at the Liberian think-tank Ducor, contributing to the national discourse on women's political participation and leadership, gender justice, human rights, and transitional justice. Additionally, she's a Fellow at the PAREN, Institute of Justice and Reconciliation where she contributes to deliberations on best practices for TJ mechanisms to support reconstruction and reconciliation in post-conflict states on the African continent.
At the Embassy of Sweden in Liberia, she served as National Programme Officer-Gender and Human Security. She doubled as the Embassy's "Gender Focal Point", including many things where she led the popularisation of the Swedish Feminist Foreign policy among bilateral partners, multilateral organizations and national stakeholders.
Participant: Thelma Kaliu Aretha
Country: Malawi
Area(s) of expertise: Elimination of sexual and gender-based violence and child marriages, gender in humanitarian action, women’s economic empowerment, feminist action for climate justice, access to SRHR service.
Thelma Aretha Kaliu is a feminist leader, gender and development enthusiast with seven years of work and voluntary experience in promoting gender equality and development through feminist and human rights approaches in Malawi and Sub-Saharan Africa. She holds a postgraduate diploma in International Gender Studies from the University of Iceland, and Bachelor’s Degree in Education (Social Studies) from the University of Malawi. She is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Gendering Practices at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Her passion lies in promoting the welfare of adolescent girls and young women, advocating for gender equality and economic justice. She has imparted over 25000 adolescent girls and young women with life skills and knowledge to build their agency, bodily autonomy, confidence, economic independency, assertiveness and many more.
Professionally, Thelma has served with Plan International, UN Women, World University Service of Canada and UNFPA in Malawi. She is a member of the African Women Leaders Network (AWLN) leading the Malawi youth chapter and the Young Feminist Network where she advocates for financial inclusion and women’s peace security.
Throughout her career, Thelma has actively promoted gender equality, (SGD 5) by changing intersecting, discriminatory social norms, practices, laws, and policies. She has proven to be passionate, determined and result-oriented in ending intersecting social injustices that hinder women and girls to enjoy their rights fully.
