Institute for Global Women Leaders & One Million Women- Lessons learned for the United States

One of the stark similarities I found between Australia and the United States was the lack of institutions that specifically target young girls for social change. These two organizations perfectly exemplify how to combat this are focused within Australia.

It’s common knowledge that women at the most underutilized and powerless assets in the modern day journey for social change. Women consistently are underrepresented internationally at the government, boardroom and even community levels, all areas essential to facilitating social change. Even though women take up more than half of the human population, they are not only lost human capital but lost opinions on how society can move forward.

But these two organizations exemplify just how well one can mobilize women to change the world.

Institute for Global Women Leaders
[Link]

IGWLL

I had the honor of attending the launch party for this astounding organization which I am sure will shake the education system of Australia to the core. It was fantastic to hear Rosie O’Halloran speak at the opening event and then to speak with her on a personal level again at the closing events of the G(irls)20 Summit on August 26th, 2014. But on August 22 I was able to see her alongside her business partner, Rachel Taylor launch their organization.

At the age of twenty-three Roise founded a non-profit organization based in Uganda, “Foundations AU”, which protects supports and empowers children to be catalysts for social change in their communities. Her inspiration for IGWL came from her experience with a young girl, who passed away shortly after Roise’s seventh visit after being told by a doctor “You don’t matter.” Roise found that in her attempts to found a non-profit there was very few support systems or foundations for women to implement social change and became dedicated toward the idea of proving that every single woman and girl matters.

IGWL focuses on targeting girls at every stage of development, especially women between the ages of 25 to 35. This is where IGWL is working to start global and regional summits on specialized leadership training and is to launch in 2015.  Another component of IGWL is the “Heart works” program which will combine Travel, Leadership, and Contribution to women between the ages 18 and 26. There are many other components to this organization and I honestly cannot wait to see all of it implemented.

It was also fantastic speaking with Roise. She embodies the true spirit of social change through making an impact domestically and internationally. Her involvement in G(irls)20 has been one of the most genuine I have experienced and I know for a fact I can contact her at any time to seek guidance on any issues.

One Million Women

Exemplifies how to implement social change by bringing specifically women together. They work to target women to combat climate change. As the founder, Natalie Isaac, explained there are many organizations that target the general population toward fighting against climate change but none target specially women.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *