background preloader

Malala and Girls Education Set

Facebook Twitter

Malala the Brave. Women's Rights and Education Activist Malala Yousafzai is a Glamour Woman of the Year for 2013: Glamour.com. Malala Yousafzai is a Woman of the Year because...

Women's Rights and Education Activist Malala Yousafzai is a Glamour Woman of the Year for 2013: Glamour.com

"By targeting her, extremists showed what they feared most: a girl with a book. Malala embodies the power of education to build peace. She is truly a role model for the world. "—Ban Ki-moon, secretary general of the United Nations Update: Malala wins the Nobel Peace Prize » Star pupil: Malala at Girls Prep in the Bronx, New York, which has a classroom named in her honor. For most of us, her story began on October 9, 2012, the day a young man with a handkerchief over his face boarded a bus filled with 20 singing, chatting girls on their way home from school in the lush Swat Valley of northern Pakistan. But who is Malala? Malala's valley had always been conservative; she remembers disliking having to cover her face, and bristling at the fact that while boys and men could walk freely around town, her mother could not go out without a male relative, "even if it was a five-year-old boy!

" Malala Receives Europe's Biggest Human Rights Prize "Sakharov" ~ Malala Yousafzai. The news is that, Malala Yousafzai who was shot by the Taliban in the head has received another yet the biggest European human rights prize called "Sakharov" which is one of the major prizes got by many other international personalities such as South Africa's Nelson Mandela and Aung San Suu Kyi from Burma, while Malala is the first Pakistani who got this prize.

Malala Receives Europe's Biggest Human Rights Prize "Sakharov" ~ Malala Yousafzai

She is the youngest person who got this prize. The European Parliament President, Martin Schulz, presented the award to the 16-year-old activist who already got many awards in the past. Here is the picture of the moment when Malala got the award in Strasbourg, France today. On the occasion the smart lady said that, it courges her more to have such great honors. She said, the importance of this prize is very closer to my heart because I am now in the row with Nelson Mandela, a great human activist. Girl Up Teens Make a Difference: Exclusive Interview with Annie Gersh  Annie Gersh (third from left) with some of her fellow Girl Up Teen Advisors at the "Unite for Girls Tour" in San Francisco.

Girl Up Teens Make a Difference: Exclusive Interview with Annie Gersh 

Photo courtesy of Annie Gersh. The other Malalas: girl activists in the developing world - interactive. Global Development Professionals Network. In Rwanda, we have one of the most encouraging governments when it comes to empowering women.

Global Development Professionals Network

However, the ties that keep women down are mostly cultural. There isn't a lack of opportunities for women in Rwanda; there is a lack of will among Rwandan women to use those opportunities. That's what I fight to change. I started getting interested in women's rights when I realised that I was facing cultural stereotypes about my inability to work in the sciences. The government does a lot to change that, but traditions that have held on for years can't be changed overnight.

Biggest challenge: I knew something needed to be done but nothing I could do seemed meaningful enough to change anything. Then I heard of the UN foundation Girl Up. Proudest moment: After that time, with the help of a friend, I opened a girl empowerment organisation. Global Development Professionals Network. Being a young woman growing up in a rural community in Fiji has always been a challenge.

Global Development Professionals Network

How I view this challenge has changed since I became a part of Roshika Deo – Be the Change, a campaign for equal representation, equal rights and treatment, equal access to basic necessities. Since we women, youth and children represent more than half of the country's population, we believe we have the right to be heard and have a say in everything that concerns us. That is what I am fighting for. In my community girls are seen as fragile and we do not have a say in village meetings. When we speak, we are growled at for speaking up and told to be a "girl" and to sit quietly and listen to elders. The main challenges faced by girls in my community is that they don't have options or second chances. I want to change the mindset of young girls to help them see that they can achieve so much, even after they drop out of school.

Proudest moment: Seeing young men join our group to fight for equality. Girl Rising. I was born in Fiji and I know firsthand what it is like having an extremely humble background, coming from a rural area and a minority community.

Girl Rising

My only “luck” was having an opportunity to go to school, and I absolutely loved it. Let Girls Lead. Global Girls’ Conversation Video Contest Let Girls Lead's Global Girls' Conversation video contest highlights girls' power to create change by sharing their own solutions through short videos.

Let Girls Lead

The video contest has been an exciting opportunity for girls, organizations working with girls and girls' allies to submit one to two-minute videos capturing girls' solutions and successes. ANNOUNCING THE CONTEST WINNERS! 1ST PLACE PRIZE WINNER: Harriet Kamashanyu, Uganda (video to the left)2ND PLACE PRIZE WINNER: Somtochukwu Obinna-Njoku, Nigeria3RD PLACE PRIZE WINNER: Grace Mwase, Malawi Our 10 finalists can be found below. Mentor Text Digital Slide Show on Girls and Education[4]