A tribute to Margaret Thatcher, the lady who dared to change the world
Lady Thatcher, Britain’s first female prime minister and among the most influential political leaders of the country, died on Monday aged 87 after suffering a stroke.
She was a grocer’s daughter of middle class background, who became one of the strongest yet divisive leaders British modern-day politics has seen. Her qualities, among many others, included decisiveness, conviction, strong belief in individual freedom and hard work. Her leadership also reflected her strong patriotism, which was wounded when Argentina tried to reclaim the Falkland Islands, to which Thatcher fought back with vigor, and won the war as well as the popularity for winning next elections.
Thatcher’s 11-year leadership at 10 Downing Street was read more…
News: FINALLY! WOMEN LEADERSHIP AND EDUCATION TOOK THE STAGE ON THE GLOBAL SOCIAL VENTURE COMPETITION [GSVC].
BANGKOK, Thailand: Recently Thammasat University in Bangkok, Thailand held the South East Asia Regional Finals for the Global Social Venture Competition [GSVC]. Amongst 56 submissions, WEDU, a young social enterprise working in the least developed countries in South East Asia to catalyze the leadership development of young women in rural areas to inspire change in their communities, won the competition. This is the first time since inception in 2007 that GSVC South East Asia Region awarded a company that focuses on women leadership and education.
Thammasat University, partnering with Berkley University in California, organizes the annual GSVC South East Asia Regionals to provide aspiring social entrepreneurs with mentoring and access to capital to have real world impact. For the past 14 years, GSVC has supported social ventures focused on environment, agriculture or technology solutions to poverty.
This year, for the first time, a company focused on women education won. A judge commented, “Education is so, so important, Wedu needs to happen now, and scale rapidly. This company can’t grow fast enough!”
Co-Founder and Director, Mario Ferro, elaborates, “In countries like Myanmar, less than 5% of parliament is female, with less than 2% in the upper house. The situation is slightly better in Thailand, but women make up less than 16% of parliament. In business, some say it may take more than 73 years to have equality. I am not going to wait 70 years!”
Wedu started small and aims big. In less than 12-months, they’ve started operations, identified the first 3 young women from rural Cambodia and 2 from Myanmar to support, and have plans to rapidly expand to 1,200 young women in 5 years all across South East Asia.
“We are seeking the next Aung San Suu Kyi amongst our students,” states Mario, “just imagine what social impact these women will have. Endless possibilities.”
Details about the GSVC can be found here: http://www.gsvc.org/
Details about Wedu Fund can be found here: http://www.wedufund.org/
Details about the statistics quoted by Mario Ferro: http://www.businessinsider.com/number-of-women-leaders-will-equal-men-in-2085-2012-11
For more information contact us here http://www.wedufund.org/contact/
You hear the name, and you t
hink: Microsoft, and wife of the wealthiest man on earth.
But did you know Bill and Melinda Gates have given away more money than anyone in world history? Not only is the couple rich, they are generous. And much of their wealth goes to people living right here. Fortune, fame, and a successful career in the corporate world are not what make Melinda Gates one of the greatest female leaders in the world; her determination in giving out what she has to help those who are in need and help advancing equity in the world is what we always remember her of. read more…
It’s been a month sin
ce Wedu launched its crowdfunding campaign. We need your contribution because in order to truly realize our mission – to nurture the generation of female leaders by providing education to young women – we need sufficient funding to build the critical infrastructure required to support young leaders in developing countries. Until today, we have received more than US$1,200 from over 30 funders across the globe. A BIG THANKS to all of you: you are the education angels who are really going to make some changes in the world! This already equates to a degree in Cambodia but we would like to catalyze many more young leaders.
If empowering women leaders matters to you, donate for the cause and bring a friend to Wedu’s community. It is still a long way for us to reach our US$25,000 goal and we need your support. Our Indiegogo campaign lays out how we plan to use the funds raised from you. You can contribute not only by donating but also by following our Facebook and Twitter page. Your every little contribution matters a lot to us and to the potential young leaders who are ready to fulfill their potential through higher education and inspiring mentorship. Act now, and become change-makers by supporting Wedu’s crowdfunding campaign!
Angela Merkel, Dilma Rousseff, Yingluck Shinawatra, Joyce Banda… Just to name a few of the incumbent female heads of government around the world. Compared to a century ago, women are gaining importance in both international and domestic politics as they are occupying various important positions in national governments and multilateral organizations. While it seems that more and more female politicians are rising in power, let us not be contend with the status-quo: only one-fifth of the seats in the parliaments are occupied by women worldwide, and the figure in Asia, Middle East and Pacific is even lower than the world average. Women, in today’s world, are still underrepresented in the political arena.
What are the major obstacles that women face in political participation? According to studies, it is a complex issue as it can be traced back to a number of institutional, historical, socio-economic as well as cultural factors. UN Women found that in Bhutan, read more…
We wondered…if we were to explain Wedu with an infographic how would it look like?
Thanks to our friends Piktochart we now have an answer!
Do you like it?
One month after the 15-year-old Pakistani education activist, Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head by the Taliban, the United Nations called upon the international community to observe November 10 as the International Malala Day. The UN special envoy for Global Education Gordon Brown marked the significance of this event that “country after country is adopting Malala as its symbol for a girl’s right to school [as the] Malala Day is being celebrated with events in more than 100 countries”. It has symbolized that the fight of Malala and 32 million girls more for their basic rights of education will go on, and the world is in solidarity with ensuring education for every single child across the globe.
Malala’s story has touched millions of people. She started writing a blog for the BBC describing people’s lives in her community under the Taliban’s rule – where girls are prevented from going to school because the regime believes girls’ education is an obscenity – and read more…
Start the Change for Better Women Leadership Opportunities! Wedu Crowdfunding Campaign, 2012
Be part of Wedu’s crowdfunding campaign starting TODAY!
Why is Wedu crowdfunding, you ask?
Wedu has grown strong, started having impact and with you we can do more!
For more than a year now, Wedu has been supporting the development of Cambodia’s future female leaders by investing in their university education. The specific focus is on women leadership because they are a great investment for development: they invest more in the households, in children, healthcare; and they are often the first to miss out on opportunities across the world! In Afghanistan, for example, the university enrollment ratio is as low as 1:5 (female:male). To date, Wedu has invested in three Cambodian women to go to university and we are in the process of selecting a few more from Myanmar.
Join Wedu on the Indiegogo Crowdfunding Campaign!
To continue this growth, Wedu needs you! Join Wedu’s Crowdfunding Campaign on Indiegogo
“At the beginning I thought we were going to go in these remote areas of the world and bring hope and inspiration. What I have learned is that I have been inspired by these powerful young women, I just can’t believe I didn’t start ten years ago working on this!”
Mario, Co-Founder of Wedu
Why is crowdfunding crucial for Wedu?
In order to support our educational and leadership projects, Wedu has raised funds in a variety of ways, including individual donations (thank you all!), private investors, partnerships and business plan competitions. Wedu won the D2D Development Award this year as well as earned the title of Social Enterprise Start-Up of the year 2012 at Cambridge University. We have been focusing a great deal on increasing our financial resources, resulting in the recent expansion of our Business Development Team. To continue to build the organization, we believe that crowdfunding will allow us to create a wider community to make critical investments to grow faster, reach more leaders, and implement projects. It is a direct way to support Wedu.
Wedu doesn’t need super heroes, royalty, or movies stars… Wedu needs YOU to become a sponsorship partner! Your involvement (in-kind donations, financial support, mentorship, etc) is the key to making our dream of sponsoring and mentoring future South East Asian female leaders a reality.
Our goal is to raise $25,000 USD to support the South East Asian women’s leadership programme through our crowdfunding campaign launched TODAY on Indiegogo.
Why $25,000 USD? $10,000 will go towards our loan program, providing as many as 25 small student loans for a pilot project. The remaining $15,000 is to develop Wedu’s mentorship and fundraising platforms as well as the research and development for our internal risk management system. With Wedu’s website and social media outreach, the goal is to create an engaging online platform for you to interact!
What do you receive in return for your generous donation and support? The most obvious benefit is that you will provide a young woman with the opportunity to study at university, and benefit from an experienced mentor, giving her the chance to learn and build a brighter future for her and her community. In addition, you will have a variety of perks to choose from, such as…immortality 2.0 (not joking!).
How Can You Get Involved?
- DONATE! We plan to raise $25,000 USD to support the South East Asian women’s leadership programme and we just launched our campaign today on Indiegogo
- Follow Wedu, spread the word to your families and friends through Facebook, Causes, Twitter and LinkedIn. Bring public attention on the importance of having more women in leadership positions in developing countries.
- Give us your valuable feedback and suggestions.
Thank you and see you all at the Indiegogo Crowdfunding Campaign!
What makes a good leader? Leadership is about confidence and decision-making. It is about speaking out, but also doing the important work behind the scene. A great leader will inspire people for generations to come, and bring hope regardless of time in history. In today’s world, more and more female figures are emerging. This blog is the first of a series of entries to feature such inspiring women leaders and sharing their stories…
This week, in
the midst of the American elections, Michelle Obama has been the insatiable supporter of Barack Obama behind the scenes. She juggles between being the wife of U.S. president Barack Obama, mother of two, the 44th first lady of the states, lawyer, community activist and social rights advocate. Michelle sees part of her leadership role as being a good example to others across the country and that is how she continues to inspire her fellow American citizens as well the wider world.
What makes Michelle a strong leader? She has always held read more…
Breaking the Glass Ceiling: What are the challenges faced by European women in their career advancement?
Gender equality has been one of the founding principles of the European Union, and the principle has been successfully upheld as believed by many: men and women seem to enjoy equal fundamental rights in their daily lives, and nine out of ten highest ranked countries in terms of gender equality are in Europe, according to the United Nations Development Programme. The European women are apparently better off than their counterparts in other parts of the world, but the recent developing in the EU might have suggested that women still face invisible barriers to their advancement in the workplace.
A week ago, the EU decided in the last minute to postpone the vote on a plan to oblige companies to reach a 40 percent female boardroom quota by 2020 as it was deeply unpopular with many of its member countries (CNBC news). read more…