Many YES alumni are joining the movement to empower girls and women in communities around the world. In celebration of International Day of the Girl, the YES Alumni YES SHE CAN: Projects for the Empowerment of Girls and Women webinar effectively organized projects and activities pertaining to the advancement of girls around the globe, gave insight into inspirational projects and activities YES alumni have accomplished in the past, and informed the YES community about United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.

This webinar was open to all YES and YES Abroad alumni as well as on-program students. 

If you missed the webinar, you can still be inspired to empower women and girls in your community by watching the recording of this webinar on the YES YouTube channel and Vimeo!

Meet The Panel: 

Tasneem Kibria (YES 2013-2014, Bangladesh, hosted by AYUSA in Houston, TX) is the treasurer of YES Alumni Bangladesh and the former 'Shadow' Ambassador for Her Excellency, Marcia Bernicat, to promote young women's leadership, an initiative by the Dutch Ambassador of Bangladesh. As a member of YES Alumni Bangladesh, Tasneem has helped organize and implement alumni projects for the advancement of girls such as, "3.5 Billion Reasons" and "Self Defense 101".

Portia Akua Yeboaa (YES '17) is the founder of the "Red Elephant Project" which provides feminine hygiene supplies to girls in Ghana. As part of this much-needed project in her community, Portia translates information pertaining to menstruation in her native language in order for girls to gain education pertaining to this topic. Portia also helps create sanitary kits for girls which includes reusable sanitary pads and a guidebook to educate girls about menstruation.