Sadiqa Basiri Saleem, 2009 Vital Voices Rising Voices Award honoree, has been awarded the 2010 Patricia Blunt Koldyke Fellowship in Social Entrepreneurship by the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations.

The fellowship was created in 2006 by Patricia Blunt and Martin J. Koldyke to recognize emerging leaders who focus on alleviating the social perils that ail children and youth. As a fellow, Sadiqa has been awarded $12,500 as well as a week’s stay in Chicago.

While in Chicago, she will meet with local organizations, businesses and government institutions, and will be given the opportunity to learn from these programs as well as provide insight from her own projects. The fellowship enables the flow of best practices and innovative ideas. Sadiqa will be honored by The Chicago Council’s Board and other leading figures from Chicago and will deliver the annual Patricia Blunt Koldyke Lecture.

Sadiqa is Co-Founder of the Oruj Learning Center. Established in 2002 by three women refugees living in Pakistan, the Oruj Learning Center is the solitary local organization operating in the Wardak province of eastern Afghanistan, located just three hours from Kabul.

The Center seeks to provide education and combat violence against women. In her current position as Co-Founder of the Oruj Learning Center, Sadiqa hopes to establish two new schools for returning Afghan citizens and Internally Displaced Persons. She also looks to establish an Afghan Women’s Leadership Institute to train high school graduates on business management and leadership skills. Sadiqa holds an undergraduate degree from Mount Holyoke College, where she enrolled as a prestigious Francis Perkins Scholar. She is an active member of the Vital Voices Global Leadership Network and was a supporter of the Vital Voices 2002 program, ‘Back to Work, Back to School Afghan Uniform Project to Support Women and Girls’.

Georgina Nakitari of Kenya is a valued member of the Vital Voices network, most recently participating in Rising Voices: Young Kenyan Women’s Leadership and Communications Training. Living as an HIV positive woman, Georgina was profiled by The Standard as a true crusader who has “taken a brave step by coming out in public about her status and reaching out to other infected women.” Georgina works as a social worker and supervisor at the Coptic Hope Center, where she is in charge of the adult clinic. Her inspiring story is featured in this article, “Crusader larger than AIDS virus,” The Standard.

On December 12, The Somaly Mam Foundation, Acting for Women in Distressing Situations (AFESIP), and world-renowned anti-human trafficking activist Somaly Mam will join the Cambodian nation in observing National Anti-Human Trafficking Day. In an effort to raise awareness of the crisis of human trafficking in Cambodia, Somaly will commemorate the day by holding a press conference with the Minister of Women’s Affairs, among other senior officials of the government.

For more information, visit AFESIP Cambodia.

Vital Voices Global Leadership Award honoree and Member of Parliament Mu Sochua of Cambodia works closely with DEVI, a coalition of women’s organizations working for social change, economic justice, and the elimination of gender-based violence. The women of DEVI recently welcomed representatives from Vital Voices in Phnom Penh, proudly showcasing products such as hand-woven silk scarves made by the women with the support of a microcredit program. DEVI recently launched a blog to inform all of the organization’s work and progress.

Read the DEVI Blog.

On November 16, Vital Voices and Diane von Furstenberg presented Vital Voices’ Global Leadership Award Honoree Chouchou Namegabe of the Democratic Republic of Congo at a luncheon in the DVF Studio in New York City. Chouchou spoke on the current crisis in the Congo, especially regarding the devastating effects of the ongoing conflict over women’s rights and security. The well-attended event included business executives, human rights advocates, and broadcast journalists including Diane Sawyer and Robin Roberts from Good Morning America; Ann Moore, President of Time Inc; fashion designer, Dana Buchman and actor, Lorraine Bracco. Several attendees, inspired by Chouchou, offered their support in the form of generous donations of time and resources, and funds, including offers to host future events and to travel with our programs as speakers, trainers, or corporate ambassadors.

Vital Voices honoree Chouchou Namegabe of the Democratic Republic of Congo spoke at the Westport Arts Center in Connecticut on November 17. Photos and a summary of the evening are featured in WestportNow.com

Playwright Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer-Prize winning work, “Ruined,” was staged on the evening of November 9 at The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC with the cooperation of The Enough Project. A powerful depiction of the plight of Congolese women during ongoing war, “Ruined” is the product of Nottage’s conversations with various women in the Democratic Republic of Congo during her travels to the state. Told in a bar in a remote mining town, the stories of Mama Nadi, Sophie, Salima and others illustrate the effects of a war waged largely upon women’s bodies. Sophie, portrayed by Condola Rashad, is damaged, the mark of war left on her body, she has been cast out from her family and community –she is “ruined.” Mama Nadi, read by Portia, agrees to take Sophie in as one of the many girls who work her bar, presenting a unique dialectic and provoking all to consider instances in which the oppressed might become an oppressor. As Nottage explained in a panel discussion following the staging, she intended to provide an accurate representation of the reality in Congo, of ethics blurred by conflict and the remarkable resilience of the women she has encountered there.

Chouchou Namegabe of the Democratic Republic of Congo

Vital Voices honoree and internationally-recognized journalist Chouchou Namegabe was also featured in the panel discussion, alongside Enough Project Co-founder John Prendergast. Chouchou shared her perspective of the war and ongoing violence, speaking on the use of rape and sexual violence as a tool of war. Chouchou is the 2009 Knight International Journalism Award Winner, recognized by the International Center for Journalists, she called for the guarantee of freedom of the press in Congo. She went on to insist:

“Our voices must be heard. Silence must come to an end…Change must come from the women. Change can come to Congo, and it must come from the women of Congo.”

John Prendergast spoke on the role of conflict minerals such as coltan, used widely in the production of electronics including cell phones, in fueling and perpetuating the war in Congo. Prendergast urged that American consumers voice their concerns to corporations that benefit from “the human misery” that results from the illegal mineral trade.

To take action on Congo, visit: Raise HOPE for Congo –The Enough Project

To support Chouchou Namegabe, visit: Vital Voices Women of the Congo Training Fund

Today, October 20, 2009, IPS caught up with Mu Sochua, Cambodian opposition lawmaker, as she traveled to Bangkok to discuss the freedom of expression in Southeast Asia.

Recently, the Cambodian National Assembly approved a new set of penal codes, which Sochua feels may not sufficiently protect free speech. She explained to IPS, “The goal of some of the articles is to restrict people making critical comment about civil servants, the police, politicians failing in their duty. It will make it more difficult even for me, for example, as a parliamentarian, to say that a minister is corrupt, because the minister can sue me since my exposure would be an offence under the penal code.”

Sochua was also asked about the possibility that she would one day run for prime minster of Cambodia. She replied, “It will be feasible within my party because we are promoting democratic ideas. I could be one of the candidates, but there are other women who are good to qualify.”

Read the full interview

Myanmar pro-democracy activist and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi lost her latest appeal for freedom Friday, October 2.

A divisional court found that Suu Kyi breached the terms of her house arrest when an uninvited guest stayed at her home in August. She was sentenced to 18 additional months of confinement in her home.

Suu Kyi has now been under house arrest for 14 of the past 20 years.

To learn about her campaign for freedom, visit the website 64 Words for Aung San Suu Kyi.

Court rejects Suu Kyi’s appeal- CNN

In 2008, entrepreneur Taniesha Burke of Jamaica participated in the Vital Voices of the Americas: Women as a Bridge to a More Prosperous Future Summit, where she met leadership expert and Vital Voices Board Member Dr. Karen Otazo Hofmeister. The two women have since formed a mentoring relationship and recently took part in a leadership forum organized by Ms. Burke in Kingston. In the article below, the women share their experience and the story of their mentor and mentee bond.

‘The Vital Voices Global Partnership Connection from Buenos Aires to Kingston’

Vital Voices Global Partnership’s mandate of identifying, training and empowering emerging women leaders and social entrepreneurs around the globe, enabling them to create a better world for all through the provision of the capacity, connections, and credibility they need to unlock their leadership potential has reached the beautiful Caribbean island of Jamaica. Vital Voices’ commitment to networking and mentoring in particular were among many of its core areas of focus during the Caribbean and Latin American Summit in Buenos Aires in October 2008.

During this fantastic, bonding experience Dr. Karen Otazo Hofmeister, leadership expert and a committed Vital Voices facilitator from Houston, Texas, and Taniesha Burke, an enthusiastic entrepreneur from Kingston, Jamaica met. The networking between the two developed and matured into a mentoring relationship which led to the publication of Taniesha’s first book: Raising the Next Barack Obama: A Guide in How to Develop Core Principles for Success in Your Child.

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