2017
THE WOMEN HAVE WINGS AWARDS
Ela Bhatt
India
Ela Bhatt is an Indian leader, Gandhian, labor organizer, activist for women’s empowerment, and one of the early leaders of the microfinance movement. She founded the Self-Employed Women’s Association of India (SEWA) in 1972, co-founded Women’s World Banking in 1979, and among other roles since then serves as an Elder in a group of global leaders convened by Nelson Mandela in 2007.
Her courage is evident in founding the SEWA after sitting with homeless, migrant women seeking work at textile warehouses. She wrote an article for a local newspaper detailing their problems, which the cloth merchants countered in an article of their own. But publicity from these articles led to calls to organize a labor union for self-employed women. This was a fairly novel idea, because the self-employed had no real history of organizing, and they struggled to become recognized as an official trade union. She also had to struggle with other labor unions to find common cause, and to create space for an assertive women’s group in their midst. Ela’s dynamic and inspiring leadership and courage helped SEWA include and defend the lower-caste untouchables. Because of this outspokenness, SEWA lost some connections with the labor industry, but began to grow even faster and started new initiatives.
SEWA’s main goals are to organize women workers for full employment, meaning they are able to obtain work security, income security, health care, child care, and shelter. They also work for women’s self-reliance, both economically and in decision-making ability. They challenge the many constraints and limitations imposed on them by society and the economy, while also providing development activities that strengthen women’s bargaining power and offer new alternatives. They also offer supportive services like savings and credit, health care, child care, insurance, legal aid, capacity building, and communication services – many of these were initiated and run by the women members themselves.
Ela’s collaborative leadership was recognized when she was invited to be part of the Elders, a group of world leaders that contribute their wisdom, independent leadership and integrity to tackle some of the world’s toughest problems. The Elders work globally on priority issue areas including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Korean Peninsula, Sudan and South Sudan, sustainable development and equality for girls and women. Ela is particularly involved in the Elders’ initiative on equality for women and girls, including the issue of child marriage. READ DETAILED PROFILE
Insia Dariwala
India
Insia Dariwala is the co-founder of Sahiyo, an organization that empowers Dawoodi Bohra and other Asian communities to end female genital cutting (FGC) and create positive social change. Insia speaks against the lack of knowledge about FGM/C prevalence in the Dawoodi Bohras communities, and how most work against FGM/C fails to support Asian communities and advocates. Insia further addresses FGM/C as a film-maker activist and founder of The Hands of Hope Foundation, an organization working against sexual abuse on children using visual art and education to create awareness in schools, communities & slums in India. Insia’s organizations are part of the Women Thrive Alliance, and she has worked pro-actively to ensure that the alliance’s Achieve SDG5 Initiative includes advocates from minority communities like the Bohras.
Insia is an incredible advocate because she goes where the silence is. In the past few years, she has used her art to ensure that silent issues such as child abuse and FGM/C are brought into the light, discussed, and acted upon. Her first movie “the Candy Man” addressed child abuse, and her second film, “The Cock Tale” focused on rape and led to the creation of The Hands of Hope Foundation. Insia has not just addressed issues that her country faces, she has gone deep into her own Bohra community and become vocal about Khatna (female genital cutting), overcoming taboos and threats to raise awareness about the issue and help drive a community movement to bring an end to the practice. Be it with diaspora communities in the US or back in India, Insia has been one of the faces and the voices of a small group of brave survivors denouncing the practice and calling for its eradication. She has inspired others to come into the light to share their stories, putting faces on a practice that is still such a strong taboo in their community. Through her film-making, she has given women survivors of Khatna a platform through which to express themselves. Her work with the media and her focus on story-telling has also inspired survivors to write about their own experiences in a way that not many had done before in the Bohra community.
In just a few months, Sahiyo has put its mark on the movement to end FGM/C, by publishing impactful blogs about survivors’ personal experiences of FGM/C; organizing a movement of advocates in the diaspora communities of the USA to become champions of change; and using art to mainstream messages to broader audiences. Insia has played a central role in all of this work, driven by her unwavering commitment to protecting women and girls and her capacity to change people’s minds through storytelling and visual art.
Mercy Anagbogu
Nigeria
Mercy Anagbogu is a Professor of Education in the field of Guidance and Counseling. She is highly published and a great gender activist who fights for the rights of women and mentor to several women’s groups in universities in Southeast Nigeria towards social change. Her main preoccupation is counseling against Anti-Social Behaviours for better adjustment of Nigerian Adolescents.
Professor Anagbogu is the Chairperson of Women Action Committee and Vice Chairperson of Anambra Network of Women NGOs. She was also a former head of department of Guidance and Counseling and currently Lectures at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka – NIGERIA. Apart from mentoring young persons to understand and defend their right, Prof. Anagbogu coordinated the state branch of the National Coalition on Affirmative Action (NCAA) to get the State House of Assembly to pass the Gender and Equal Opportunities Bill in the state, a feat that could only be achieved by 4 other branches long after her. The young girls she mentors in the universities are following her footsteps.
Marilee Karl
Italy
Marilee Karl has devoted her life to the causes of social justice, civil and human rights, equitable development and women’s empowerment. She co-founded Isis International in 1974, an organization linking women from South to North and from East to West. Through networking, communication, and capacity building activities for over 30 years, Isis has supported and inspired tens of thousands of activist women and groups around the world, whose work ranges from grassroots empowerment and community action, to conflict resolution and women’s rights advocacy at the international level. Marilee led Isis International, as part of a team, until 1994. After two decades, she passed the leadership on to younger women from the South. As a honorary chairperson, Marilee continues to play an active role in Isis International, Manila, as well as in other women’s rights, feminist, and development networks and organizations.
Marilee is also the author of “Women and Empowerment: Participation and Decision Making.” Because of her involvement in many different movements for social change — civil and human rights, indigenous rights, social justice, equitable development and women’s empowerment — Marilee Karl met many women around the world who were part of the growing international women’s movement, and co-founded Isis International to help women around the world share ideas and resources to help accelerate global change. Marilee Karl was nominated for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize as part of the 1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize project.
Souriyat Across Borders
Syria
The founders of Souriyat Across Borders have a compelling personal story – as refugee women themselves, they got together with other Syrian women in the diaspora and other refugees to provide sorely needed services in order to help individuals affected by the ongoing war as well as contribute to building lasting peace and women’s empowerment in seeking peaceful solutions.
Although all were directly affected by the refugee crisis, they were uniquely motivated by the strength of Syrian women, and sought to restore their hope in the future, in each other, and in themselves following the loss of their country and their loved ones. they believe strongly in the power of women to rebuild society and their critical role in a future of peace, and are creating a new kind of organization sharing the responsibilities.
Intimately familiar with the needs of refugees, they champion their recovery not only physically, but also psychologically, and acknowledge the need for long-term support. In addition to providing medical services, Souriyat also offers educational programmes to prepare children for post-secondary education, serves 500 students in 2016; raises money for food, hygiene kits, and clothing for refugee camps in Jordan and Syria; runs workshops to help refugees integrate into their new societies; and provides vocational training to Syrian women, allowing for them to support their families financially—all of this free of charge. One of the interesting elements of their education programme is providing English classes for Syrian and Jordan students together – building peace student to student in what can sometimes be a difficult relationship between refugees and host country residents.
They continue to seek out new opportunities to alleviate the conditions of refugees, recently introducing static caravans to the Zaatari refugee camps in place of insubstantial shelters, greatly improving the health and safety in the camps, and setting an example to many other camps and donors in the region. The co-founders of Souriyat Across Borders, Nisreen, Samera, Samara and Zeina are recognized for the critical work they are doing and the way in which they go about it to build a peace with justice and equality in Syria.
Favourite Regina
Uganda
Favourite Regina is a Rwandan whose family fled to Uganda in the mid-1990s when Favourite was a child. After completing primary school in Kyangwali Refugee Settlement, Favourite went on to become one of the first women in Kyangwali to complete six years of secondary school. After completing secondary school, Favourite helped to establish a Coburwas International Youth Organization to Transform Africa (CIYOTA) branch in her community. This opened room for her to work with the organization to mentor boys and girls, many of whom are now on the path to completing their high school education. That leadership led to Favourite receiving a university scholarship award from the MasterCard Foundation to attend United States International University in Nairobi.
For more than a decade, Favourite remained focused on her educational goals despite many challenges facing her as a person living in a protracted refugee situation in Uganda: the loss of her father when she was a teenager; the persistent pressure placed on her to get married; the rigors of studying for and passing national exams while sick with malaria and when lacking adequate lighting; and the complexities inherent in her commitment to honor her responsibilities to family and community while also stepping toward opportunities presented to her as a global student and citizen.
Today, as one of a handful of women from Kyangwali who have achieved a university degree and traveled abroad, Favourite has returned to the Settlement to mentor and inspire young women and boys as they create and sustain their educational goals. Favourite is currently leading the CIYOTA alumni program to engage students at University to give back to their community. She regularly hosts gatherings for the youth in Kyangwali, advising them on traditional and vocational pathways to education. She meets with parents to counsel them on the long-term benefits of educating both girls and boys. She maintains a regular presence at the primary and secondary schools in Kyangwali as well as at regular community gatherings in order to bring information to young women about various pathways to self-sufficiency. Recently, a woman Favourite mentored for the past two years has successfully graduated college and obtained a job as a teacher.
In all situations, Favourite shares her personal story of resiliency and courage, as well as the learning she has gained as a woman who traveled outside of her adopted country. Recently, while in the U.S. to support the release of the documentary film, Sauti (Voice), Favourite attended numerous screenings and spoke afterwards with adults and high school students about her life story and her commitment to give back to youth and families living in Kyangwali Refugee Settlement. Audience members were truly inspired and eager to talk with Favourite and learn more about her experiences and vision.
As a Women Have Wings Award recipient, Favourite envisions continuing the community work she has been doing, developing programs which bring innovative techniques to secondary school education, and creating data-based measurements for the impact of secondary education on the lives of young students and their families.
Nakinti Nofuru
Cameroon
Nakinti Nofuru has launched a movement of girl clubs to close the gap of girls’ education in regions of Cameroon where 90% of girls struggle to access school. The girls she reaches are living in places with no telephone network, no electricity radio or TV signals, or accessible roads. Most drop out of school early, forced into marriage or pregnant. Herself having surmounted enormous odds to gain a college degree, and facing local violence and government internet suppression and blackouts, Nakini is determined to pay it forward as the Founder of Rescue Women. Today Rescue Women’s girl clubs are growing – reaching hundreds of girls with knowledge on sex, reproductive health, internet communication technology, and leadership — providing them with global mentors, school supplies and a constant stream of motivation. Her ultimate aim is to break the cycle of poverty by ensuring all girls gain an education across her region.
Celine Osukwu
Nigeria
Celine Osukwu is a leader for disability rights and women’s rights in Nigeria. Developing Kyphosis as a child, and a survivor of civil war, Celine has surmounted enormous lifelong challenges to establish the Divine Foundation for Disabled Persons. Through her foundation she works tirelessly to eradicate the stigma of disabilities community mobilization, advocacy campaigns, radio programs, and political organizing that has reached millions. Her foundation also provides direct support to thousands of vulnerable persons in Nigeria with disabilities, with a particular focus on women to strengthen their self-worth and self-sufficiency. Her vision is a world that stops treating persons with disabilities as objects of charity – a world where persons with disabilities are no longer begging in the streets, and women with disabilities know their self-worth and organize others for social change.
Huma Fouladi
Pakistan
Huma Fouladi is currently working as the Executive Director of the Rights, Research and Development Foundation in Quetta, Balochistan. Huma has MBA degree from Virtual University of Pakistan. She has been active in organizing Hazara women and youth for peace and their participation in peace processes. She has been selected for the UN Women’s National Advisory Group of CSOs from Balochistan in 2012. Huma has fought tirelessly to organize youth in Balochistan to form Youth Peace Clubs and youth peace dialogues. She also works with women affected by violent conflict and extremism in Quetta, to whom RRDF is supporting through skill training and income generation projects.
Natalia Karbowska
Ukraine
Natalia Karbowska has more than 18 years of experience in protecting women’s rights and promoting gender equality in Ukraine and internationally. Since 1997, Natalia has been working in the area of civil society development and women’s rights, first as the Women’s Program Director of the Open Society Institute in Ukraine, then as the Deputy Director and later Director of Women’s Economic Empowerment Project at Winrock International, followed by her position as Deputy Director of USAID’s Healthy women of Ukraine Program, and presently as a Director of Strategic Development for the Ukrainian Women’s Fund (UWF).
Prior to joining the UWF as a staff member Natalia served as UWF’s Chair of the Board for more than seven years. Under her leadership, the Fund has provided more than $1.6 million in grants to women’s rights NGOs in Ukraine and neighbor countries – Moldova and Belarus. As a Chair of the Board of the UWF, Natalia contributed to significant growth in fundraising and grant making. The Fund started in 2000 with the budget of $10,000 and has increased their budget by almost 100 times. But most importantly, UWF now has a wide network of grantees and partners in Ukraine who trust and consider the Fund not only a donor, but also a valuable part of the prevailing women’s movement in Ukraine. Natalia is a big believer in the power of movements. Due to her commitment working on Ukraine’s women’s movement, she has been rigorously building/creating/strengthening alliances among grassroots and national organizations throughout her entire career.
As a member of the gender advisory council of the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine and adviser of the Global Fund for Women, Natalia has also served on the Boards of Prospera – International Network of Women’s Funds and Ukrainian Philanthropists Forum. She is a proud Ukrainian with a Master’s degree in Personnel Management and a Bachelor’s degree in Organizational Management from Interregional Extramural University of Personnel Management, and a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Kyiv Polytechnic University.
Besides being deeply involved grassroots activism, she is a mother. Her first campaign was organized when her daughter was only seven years old. Even as a little girl, her daughter helped Natalia organize an advocacy campaign for equal access to the lessons of computer science for boys and girls in her school. Natalia joined the Open Society Institute in Ukraine where she spent nine years helping thousands of organizations and individuals protect human rights and achieve social change at the local, oblast, national and international levels. Natalia has continued this valuable work and applied it at the UWF as well as other organizations/projects.
The civil war that started in 2015 completely upended Ukrainians’ normal lives and brought dreadful challenges. The UWF responded fast by developing a new strategic plan to refocus work on peace, security and reconciliation as the top priority for the Fund. Through Natalia’s leadership, UFW directly partnered with the government and other women’s NGOs to draft the National Action Plan pretaining to the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and lobbied for its adoption (the plan was adopted in 2016).
Presently UWF is working with local women’s NGOs in nine regions of the country on developing regional action plans. UWF also launched a training program for women’s NGOs on monitoring the effectiveness of the National and regional plans. Natalia has been running ragged through the county to meet with stakeholders and to train activists. Sadly, Ukraine has the highest number of Internally Displaced People (IDPs) in Europe – 1.7 million. They are primarily women (66% of IDPs), men and children who flee from the East of the country due to the war. The UWF is working with IDPs and host communities to promote reconciliation and support better IDPs integration into new communities. Their approach is multi-deminsional and complex . UWF starts from mapping and analysis of a community, then provides a space for women to come together and discuss their changed life, challenges and opportunities. The next step is a series of training for activists, then creation of the action plan, and finally – UWF provides small grants to women’s NGOs and coalitions to implement the plans. Illustrative examples of activities supported by UWF are: creation of a documentary play “Stories of women-IDPs;” presenting it in different regions of the country (the readers of the stories are opinion leaders in the region); using sports in reconciliation; and organizing media literacy trainings, etc.
By working the past ten years ago together with the colleagues at the Ukrainian Women’s Fund Board, Natalia is very proud that they created a young women and girls’ leadership program “First Step to Success”. The aim of the program is to empower young women-leaders in communities and help them realize their leadership potential. Now the program has more than 400 alumni. Two years ago some of the alums decided to become donors of the program. In a country like Ukraine where there is lack of culture of philanthropy this is a great achievement.
When Natalia and I spoke, she told me that she was especially proud that during the Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine in 2014-2015 she and her UFW colleagues with other women (many first-time activists) – lawyers, doctors, university professors and students, businesswomen and activists, who were protecting protesters and their rights in the courts, helping in the hospitals, providing psychological support, patrolling the city at nights, and offering many other acts of bravery, protection and kindness.
In January 2015, the banking crisis in Ukraine caused the UWF to lose all of its funding (everything – the remaining 2014 budget, the whole 2015 budget, and the reserve fund). Natalia and the UWF did not give up. Instead they started again from the very beginning. It was a difficult decision to make when you have to give up your office space, let part of the staff go, ask the others to work without salaries, and when you don’t know what the future will bring. When a war touches every fiber of your being. Natalia, who was the Chair of the Board at that time, saw two options – close the organization or start from scratch. Courageously, she opted to start from scratch.
The UFW 15th anniversary became a incalculably symbolic date – this was the year when UFW proved to themselves and to all their stakeholders that the UWF is, indeed, sturdily strong, robustly resilient, and that UFW would always have colleagues, supporters and friends from all over the world who are ready to assist UWF in a difficult situation – even war. Natalia said that, “if you have the mission and courage, if you believe in what you do – nothing can stop you.” For Natalia, these beliefs are her wings.
Ms. Natalia Karbowska has been working tirelessly for nearly 20 years to improve the lives of her fellow citizens, first through information and awareness-raising, and then during the worst outbreak of the war through direct, hands-on interaction. For these almost 20 years, she has advocated for the rights of women as full citizens. She radiates humanitarian courage, social innovation and an unflagging commitment to establish a just, democratic, self-reliant civil society. In spite of Ukraine’s current confusing, chaotic, conflict-ridden trajectory, she persists.