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Voices of Our Future

DR CONGO: Fighting Evil from Inside Hell

by CongoLeezza

“I remember when we didn’t have a word for rape in Swahili.”

In one of the world’s worst regions to be a woman, radio personality Chouchou Namegabe is inspiring a revolution of strength and healing. She speaks with local World Pulse correspondent CongoLeezza on what it will take for women to break the silence on Congo's rape epidemic. Read More »

Voices of Our Future

NIGERIA: Think Outside the Oil

by Simi Lawoyin

Dependence on oil wealth has led to violence, corruption, and widespread poverty in Nigeria. Simi Lawoyin hopes to shift investment to another of Nigeria's natural resources: its youth. Read More »

"Enterprise must become a weapon with which we fight, a tool with which we rebuild our nation, and a bridge with which we connect with the world."

Voices of Our Future

BRAZIL: Time to Break the Silence on Abortion

by Thais Moraes

When her father was excommunicated from the Catholic Church for performing a potentially life-saving abortion on a 9-year-old girl, Thais Moraes recognized the need to open up discussion on abortion in Brazil. Read More »

"The archbishop affirmed that rape was a dreadful sin. But abortion, he said, was even worse."

Community Voices

NIGERIA: Access to the Internet Is Access to Life

by Obisakin Christianah Busayo

Through her own empowerment story, counselor and social entrepreneur Obisakin Christianah Busayo illustrates the impact of women's Internet access in her country. Read More »

"My dream is to provide a safe place for women to access the Internet without fear of attack or being molested."

Voices of Our Future

AFGHANISTAN: Saffron in the Opium Fields

by Marvah Shakib

Opium produced in Afghanistan for international markets has wreaked havoc at home. Marvah Shakib explores how a common kitchen spice could provide one possible solution. Read More »

“[Opium] is the only means of survival for thousands of women-headed households."

Visionary Leaders

Leaping into the Whirlwind

by Valarie Kaur

For Sikh-American activist and filmmaker Valarie Kaur, healing her divided nation begins with taking divine risks. Read More »

"We have a choice: to continue supporting the status quo, or to follow our moral compass—and leap."

Voices of Our Future

CAMEROON: Lessons from the Kitchen

by Sharon Ajongakoh Asonganyi

The kitchen is all too often a symbol of women's exclusion from public space, but Sharon Ajongakoh Asonganyi believes it can also be a source of strength and innovation for women. Read More »

"The kitchen may just be the right place to develop creative strategies that promote the African woman’s emancipation."

Voices of Our Future

PAKISTAN: Dangerous Texting

by Iffat Gill

Youth activist Iffat Gill warns that the culture in Pakistan needs to catch up with technological freedoms of the digital age—or young lives will be at risk. Read More »

"There is now a sharp contrast between the empowerment modern technology has granted women, and the rights our male-dominated society allows them to enjoy."

Community Voices

NIGERIA: What Women Are Worth

by Olutosin Oladosu Adebowale

In her letter to UN Women executive director Michelle Bachelet, Nigerian women’s rights advocate Olutosin Oladosu Adebowale decries practices that rob girls and women around the world of equal opportunities. Read More »

"My womb can only carry daughters and I would never trade them for any boys."

Community Voices

ZIMBABWE: Middle Class Women Have Needs Too

by Fungai Machirori

Zimbabwean writer Fungai Machirori makes the case that gender development isn't just for the poor. She challenges new UN Women executive director Michelle Bachelet to support leadership opportunities for women at all income levels. Read More »

"By nurturing positive examples of women in the developing world, we debunk negative stereotypes and give women and girls hope that they too may rise up one day to assume positions of authority."