2012 Community Solutions Leaders: Women's Issues

The distinguished 2012 Community Solutions Leaders come from 28 countries worldwide to build their capacity to lead community interventions and to share their expertise with community organizations in the U.S. Leaders build on their local experiences and forge cross-cultural bonds, becoming even more effective agents of positive change in their home countries.

Community Solutions Leaders focus on one of the following four areas: Tolerance and Conflict Resolution, Environmental Issues, Transparency and Accountability, and Women's Issues.

Women's Issues

	Rosebill Satha, Malawi Microenterprise Training & Assistance Rosebill Satha is the founder and manager of JARDS Products, an innovative social business that produces unique, eco-friendly bamboo products while empowering youth and women through job skills development and stable employment. She also trains women entrepreneurs and others on the importance of gender equality and equity in the provision of business development services. She plans to identify female operated businesses and link them with mentors.
	Martin Kailie, Sierra Leone YWCA of Genesee County As the National Coordinator for Green Africa, Martin Kailie’s work focuses on the use of community mobilization and organizing strategies to facilitate the establishment of community visions and development plans, and to set up innovative projects in sustainable agriculture. He plans to target women farmers by setting up projects to empower women with access to farmland, credit, technology, markets and other production resources and services.
	Travis Bogere, Uganda Texas Association Against Sexual Assault As the Director at FREDA-AFRICA, Travis Bogere works on projects related to women’s rights, public health, and economic development.  As a core part of Bogere’s work, he focuses on assessing health and economic needs pertinent to the local community. He works closely with the local community, providing a sense of ownership of the projects. Bogere plans to focus on shifting the social attitudes that perpetrate and condone domestic violence within Uganda.
	Penlope Kobugabe, Uganda AIDS Community Research Initiative of America As a Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission Counselor at Protecting Families against HIV/AIDS, Penlope Kobugabe works with both sexually and domestically violated women in poor communities. Her work focuses on reducing HIV/AIDS infection in children, and, more specifically, Kobugabe concentrates on counseling expectant mothers and their partners to help them access community counseling centers. Kobugabe plans to focus on reducing stigma among HIV positive women, which will greatly improve adherence to antiretroviral therapy.
	Alex Lawoko, Uganda Westchester Disabled on the Move Alex Lawoko currently works as a volunteer Chairperson with the Gulu Deaf Association, as well as Treasurer and Member of the Board of Directors at the Uganda National Association of the Deaf. He is an expert in the areas of rural deaf community mobilization, gender inclusion, and fundraising for deaf groups. He plans to concentrate his efforts on training deaf adults in economic empowerment for self-reliance by providing seed capital in the form of materials and training.
	Remmie Nambalirwa, Uganda YWCA Alaska Remmie Nambalirwa is the founder of the Women of Valor Foundation, which works to help empower women and the youth economically through mentorship, executive coaching and entrepreneurial motivational talks. Nambalirwa plans to expand the Women of Valor Foundation’s women empowerment project into the rural areas of Uganda. She also plans to officially launch the Women of Valor television program, which will act as a media mentoring tool for the region.
	Sarah Nsigaye, Uganda Media Literacy Project Sarah Nsigaye is the founding director of the Native Travel Festival, providing communities with a platform in which they can get involved in processes that affect them by using drama, film, music, storytelling performances, debates and open discussions. Nsigaye plans to mobilize support for cultural institutions, media, and other relevant organizations through the Phase Them In Project, a documentary film that she plans to produce aimed at dissuading the Ugandan government from phasing out traditional birth attendants.
	Agnes Kwenda, Zimbabwe St. John's Shelter Program for Women and Children Agnes Kwenda is the Founder and current Executive Director of Precious Life Foundation, working with vulnerable young women and teenage mothers helping them to be self-sufficient by providing vocational training, community integration and a halfway house. She looks for innovative ways in which teenage mothers and vulnerable women can be received, rehabilitated, and be made self-reliant, and aims to help vulnerable women become self-reliant entrepreneurs.
	Nyaradzo Mashayamombe, Zimbabwe Women's Crisis Support Team As the Executive Director and core founder of Tag a Life International Trust, Nyaradzo Mashayamombe established the organization to make the world a safer place for girl children. She engages in advocacy and lobbying on behalf of girls; mentors and builds capacity in young girls; and holds workshops on reproductive health rights for youth. She plans to start a justice delivery system campaign, which will challenge the current enforcement mechanisms against perpetrators of rape.
	Shahinaz El Hennawi, Egypt Hollaback! Shahinaz El Hennawi is a founding member of the Mediation for Community Development Organization, an organization that focuses on women’s empowerment and peace building. As lead trainer she teaches courses on gender and peace building, with a special focus on self-actualization and assertiveness, leadership, interfaith harmony and nonviolent communication. She plans to focus her work on women’s empowerment and capacity building, to ensure active participation and fair representation of women after the Egyptian revolution.
	Yasmine Ibrahim, Egypt International Museum of Women Yasmine Ibrahim is a founding partner at Madarek for the Right to Knowledge, a local non-profit organization that works on issues of freedom of expression for women and youth. She is also a voluntary member of the “Right to Speech” and “Right to Organize” campaigns. She plans to launch an online forum to document, discuss and debate women’s participation in the public sphere and challenges that confront women’s advancement in the region.
	Ra'ed Al-Mickawi, Israel YWCA Alaska As the Director of Bustan, a non-profit that works with the Bedouin and Jewish communities, Ra’ed Al-Mickawi leads the organization’s initiatives, including a Bedouin women’s empowerment project, eco-tourism and permaculture initiatives, and educational tours. He established the internet-based TV station Naqab.tv, and merges his expertise in film and journalism with community building and social justice activism. He works toward creating a local sustainable economy that includes full community participation, especially of women.
	Nisreen Rammal, Lebanon Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services As the Project and Field Coordinator of the Gender Program at the Amel Association-International, Nisreen Rammal focuses on discrimination in the health sector through the improvement of working conditions and empowerment of female health staff. She conducts grassroots sensitization and advocacy campaigns to build capacity and encourage the targeted medical structures to improve working conditions. Rammal plans to establish safe houses which would provide legal, medical and social assistance to female migrant domestic workers and their children.
	Shusmita Khan, Bangladesh Community Cradle Shusmita Khan works at Eminence, an evidence-based Bangladeshi organization working with special emphasis on community based approaches to maternal and reproductive health, where she conducts research, implements projects and organizes scientific seminars and conferences on chronic diseases as they relate to women. Khan plans to focus her work on health issues among women living in low and middle income urban areas.
	Gulzira Amanturlina, Kazakhstan Access to Independence Gulzira Amanturlina is the Director of the Eldany Charitable Foundation, a non-profit organization that defends the civil rights and human interests of persons with disabilities and their families, specifically mothers. All of the foundation’s projects address the issue of finding alternative livelihoods for persons with disabilities. Amanturlina plans to provide a series of trainings for mothers of disabled children in order to improve their self-esteem and self-respect.
	Smirta Khadka, Nepal YMCA International Services, Coalition against Human Trafficking As the Country Program Coordinator of Asha Nepal, Smirta Khadka works in the area of human trafficking by managing a hostel for children of trafficking survivors and educating young girls about human trafficking and their role in helping survivors reintegrate into the community by providing vocational training. Khadka wants to break the cycle of discrimination, illiteracy and poverty experienced by the children of human trafficking survivors through education and service initiates.
	Anupa Thapa, Nepal Community Cradle As the Health Program Coordinator at the Center for Community Development Nepal, Anupa Thapa manages the reproductive health and disability support project. She regularly organizes health promotions and mass media campaigns to raise awareness in communities about their rights to health. Thapa plans to continue to address women's health issues until every mother and child has a healthy and safe life.
	Nigora Davlyatova, Tajikistan Youth Chamber of Commerce As Program Manager for the National Association of Business Women in Tajikistan, Nigora Davlyatova works on the development of small and medium businesses for women, including business start up training, vocational training, sector development, safety of women at work and legal lobbying. She also works as a social business promoter, supplying export trade customers with home furnishings and handicrafts. Davlyatova plans to create a business network for women entrepreneurs where they can share their ideas, achievements and issues.