Youth Leadership in Times of Democratic Crises

7 April 2022  12:00 - 02:30

In Person Event | Organised by Accountability Lab | Held in Washington DC in English
Contact details: alawi@accountabilitylab.org
Advancing respect for human rights
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Presenters

Mantate Queeneth Mlotshwa, Zimbabwe

Mantate is the program lead for Arts4Change at Magamba Network, a youth-led, youth-focused program that combines creative activism, popular culture and digital media to facilitate dialogue around grassroots accountability and support advocacy around critical governance issues. Mantate is also a producer and co-host of The Resistance Bureau Show, a global discussion that spotlights pressing issues that confront Africa today and brings together leading activists, civil society representatives, lawyers, journalists and political leaders from all parts of the continent to share perspectives and strategies on how to effectively resist authoritarianism and repression. Lastly, Mantate is a published author of Turquoise Dreams, an anthology of short stories about the experiences of Zimbabwean women.

 

Kateryna Dvornichenko, Ukraine

Kateryna was an active participant of the Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine, co-founding a women’s volunteer organization with the mission of supporting Ukrainian soldiers. She was a trainer for the civil society organization Centre for Democracy and Rule of Law’s (CEDEM) Anti-Corruption School Lab of Active Citizens. At the same time, she served as a monitor for the project Platform Ombudsman Plus, which was aimed at observing the state of compliance with the legislation on access to public information in City Councils, Regional Councils and Regional State Administrations. She was subsequently appointed a Regional Coordinator for the campaign CHESNO.Filter the Judiciary!, the purpose of which is to monitor the process of quality changes in the judiciary, while mobilizing Ukrainian citizens to exercise public control over judicial reform.

 

Khadija Amahal, Morocco

Throughout her experiences collaborating with local, national and international organizations on sustainable development goals, youth empowerment, sustainability and intercultural understanding, Khadija has acquired a unique set of skills she employs in her teaching and facilitation style she has adapted to both online and in-person learning. She is currently working with World Merit as the Operations Director of the Global Action Impact Accelerator (GAIA) and as the project coordinator of Youth Advocacy Local Action (YALA). Khadija also has a Master of Applied Linguistics and an English Language Teaching degree._

 

Lourdes Maria Argueta Vides, El Salvador

Lourdes (Lu) has been driven to contribute to the strengthening of democracy and advocating for human rights through project initiatives in LAC and as the Executive Secretary for the Latin American Youth Network for Democracy (Juventud LAC). In 2019, she co-founded the establishment of Nuestro Tiempo (Our Time), El Salvador’s youngest political party that seeks to defend human dignity and political integrity. Through Nuestro Tiempo, Lu led the design and implementation of the first working model for institutional and financial Transparency for political parties in the country. The following year, she was voted in as the first Director for Transparency within the political party– a position that was also the first of its kind in any political party in the country. Lu also serves as a professor at a local university teaching politics and history courses. She is an active member of the Global Shapers Community (a World Economic Forum Initiative) and a Youth Lead for the Community of Democracies.

 

Cheri-Leigh Erasmus, USA

Cheri-Leigh Erasmus serves as the Global Director of Learning at the Accountability Lab. She has spent more than a decade in the international higher education and international development arenas. Through her work in leadership development, she’s conceptualized and implemented leadership and skills development curricula for emerging leaders geared for careers in both the private and public sectors. She oversees Accountability Lab’s learning and impact in her current position as part of a team working with young leaders to find innovative ways to hold governments accountable in 12 countries across Africa and South Asia. Cheri-Leigh is committed to finding new ways of using citizen-generated data to strengthen civic participation, especially related to the increased inclusion of traditionally marginalized groups. She serves as Co-Chair of the Board of Berrett-Koehler Foundation, is an Advisory Board Member for Auburn University’s Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Organizations and Community Governance, and is a Board Member at Embracing Diversity.