Meet the 2017 participants:
ALIA SOLIMAN
EGYPT
Alia Soliman is the Head of Marketing and Communications for HarrassMap, an organization that is engaging Egyptian society to create an environment that does not tolerate sexual harassment. Alia is passionate about challenging misconceptions and stereotypes about culture and religion and their intersection with the status of women in Egypt — she is working to create space for women and girls in Egypt to make choices about their lives, bodies and futures. In her role with HarrassMap, Alia develops and delivers training for media professionals in a nuanced and fact-based manner. She has worked as a journalist and is currently a Masters student in Gender and Development at Cairo University.
ATONG AMOS AGOOK JUAC
SOUTH SUDAN
Atong Amos Agook is the Executive Director of the Aliab Rural Development Agency (ARUDA) based in Juba, South Sudan. In addition to providing leadership to the organization, Atong has designed various programs and workshops to provide training in trauma counseling, entrepreneurial skills, advocacy, awareness raising of the issues related to gender-based violence for women in communities and for those who have been internally displaced. Atong is motivated to share the story of South Sudan, and the reality that hundreds of thousands of South Sudanese who only four years ago were relatively unscathed by the conflict, are now forcibly displaced. She wants to be a voice for a generation of women who have been raised amid violence and fear and to provide support as they face the challenges that lie ahead.
YAH PARWON
LIBERIA
Yah Parwon is a feminist and a women’s rights advocate. She serves as the Advocacy Officer with medica Liberia (mL), a women’s rights organization that provides psychosocial, health and legal services for survivors of post conflict sexual gender-based violence. Yah focuses on advocacy as a tool to engage national and local leaders to influence the development and implementation of women’s rights laws and policies. Yah believes and commits to ensuring that women’s voices are no longer buried by patriarchy. She is passionate about giving adolescent girls the opportunity to live a healthy and self-determined life – she is the co-founder of a non-profit community based initiative (The Rising Youth Mentorship Initiative) that provides access to sexual reproductive health information to girls.