empowerment

We are delighted to announce that Aya Chebbi has won this year’s Excellence in Leadership award from the African Viewpoint Journal. This was granted on 19 January 2015, and is part of their Africa Youth Awards.

IESA was barely formed when WELDD’s peace building training helped them to jump start activities in Sri Lanka. IESA is a coalition of six organisations. Four of these are women-led and focus on women’s rights, one is for men and women working on fishermans’ rights, while the other is a trade union promoting workers’ rights with a focus on women’s leadership. IESA’s approach is based on rights, justice and peace. Since we believe that peace cannot be built in a vacuum; we strive to locate people’s problems at the centre of our work.

Chithrani is an illiterate union worker who told her bosses that they should not underestimate workers’ ability to see abuses of power. She represented the Red Flag Union at negotiations with the Industrial Dispute Resolution Commissioner in October 2014. The Union is affiliated to IESA under the banner of Citizens for Justice and Peace. Chithrani is a militant grassroots leader from the upcountry plantations of Sri Lanka, who has been actively engaged in fighting against injustice. Her plantation estate, Hare Park, is managed by the government, but it has been deliberately neglected.

Somali girls suffer unique difficulties in their early childhoods. More than two decades of chaos and political instability have made their lives difficult. Sexual violence and harmful traditional practices have made their situation even more miserable. However, despite the challenges, Somali girls play an active role in their communities in general and in their families in particular.

Codou Bop, the GREFELS Coordinator, seized the opportunity offered by a WELDD training to interview a young woman leader whose experience could serve as a model for young Senegalese and Africans. This young woman, Sokhna Seynabou Mbacké, became councilor following the mayoral elections in June 2014