CNN, 2022 | Article
“Empowering African youth through education”
Join Angeline Murimirwa on a visit to Malawi for insight into the work of a sisterhood that transcends geography. She connects with colleagues, students and fellow graduates in the CAMFED Association who are running businesses, building their communities’ resilience to climate change and supporting the next generation of girls through school.
Farai Shawn Matiashe, Tafadzwa Ufumeli | The Optimist, 2023 | Article
“In Zambia, an all-female farm nurtures the climate leaders of the future”
This immersive documentary shows the power of sisterhood in transforming lives and livelihoods while protecting the planet. Naomi and her sisters join forces with families and local officials to bring climate education to disadvantaged farmers and students, including via their unique teaching farm, created on land bequeathed by the senior chief, a passionate advocate for girls’ education.
David Moinina Sengeh | Flatiron Books, 2023 | Book
Radical Inclusion: Seven Steps to Help You Create a More Just Workplace, Home, and World
This book by David Sengeh, Sierra Leone’s Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education and a TED Fellow, represents a radical drive for inclusion and responsible leadership. Based on his personal experience, it’s inclusive in the accessible language it uses and removes any excuses for not acting. He argues that the role of public servants is to be stewards of inclusion, and that quality education is the right of every child. We should not ask “Can we?” but rather “How do we?” Sengeh gives us actionable examples, making it impossible to walk away.
Amartya Sen | Anchor, 2000 | Book
Development as Freedom
This was the first book used by Murimirwa and her colleagues to frame their work with young women from disadvantaged backgrounds who had received support to go to school — tackling issues like rights and entitlements, and removing any sense of indebtedness for support received. Sen sees development as a widening of choices, autonomy and opportunity for people to shape their identity. Without development, life trajectories are predetermined. It’s about looking beyond financial metrics to life trajectories, and seeing success not as personal or competitive, but as collectively making change in society. Freedom is not exercisable with others in chains.
Maya Angelou | Ballantine Books, 2009 | Book
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Angelou’s book tackles identity and self-expression against all odds; a refusal to be caged and constrained by circumstances and systems; and a determination to transcend expectations based on background, race or gender. It’s about being the best that you can be with the cards you have been dealt, and not being apologetic about it. With its fierce gentleness, this book is an outlet for Angelou’s fire and says that there is power in diversity and in how we wear our scars. Together, we can make the world more beautiful.
Nicholas Kristof, Sheryl WuDunn | Vintage, 2010 | Book
Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide
This book elevates the voices of people many of us would never have encountered and raises topical issues through personal stories. Kristof and WuDunn have continued to tackle issues of global concern through the stories of real people, using their platform to humanize and make them relatable. They challenge readers to stop “othering,” instead encouraging us to recognize issues like poverty, inequality, racism and abuse as our collective responsibility. The book breaks down myths that blame the victims of injustices, rather than the structures that perpetuate them. Half the Sky makes you want to stand up to make others’ lives better, because we’re all connected.
Julia Gillard, Ngozi Okonjo Iweala | Corgi, 2021 | Book
Women and Leadership: Lessons from some of the world’s most powerful women
In this book, two equally powerful women from two very different backgrounds and continents join in sisterhood and create a bridge for other sisters. The authors share their personal stories of slaying dragons within their regions while using their platform to shine a spotlight on leaders around the world. It’s clear to see that neither geography, privilege nor race make you immune to struggle: that, as sisters, our stories share a common thread, common challenges and aspirations, in spite of our differing contexts.