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AWID is an international, feminist, membership organisation committed to achieving gender equality, sustainable development and women’s human rights

Memory as Resistance: A Tribute to WHRDs no longer with us

AWID’s Tribute is an art exhibition honouring feminists, women’s rights and social justice activists from around the world who are no longer with us. 


In 2020, we are taking a turn

This year’s tribute tells stories and shares narratives about those who co-created feminist realities, have offered visions of alternatives to systems and actors that oppress us, and have proposed new ways of organising, mobilising, fighting, working, living, and learning.

49 new portraits of feminists and Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRDs) are added to the gallery. While many of those we honour have passed away due to old age or illness, too many have been killed as a result of their work and who they are.

This increasing violence (by states, corporations, organized crime, unknown gunmen...) is not only aimed at individual activists but at our joint work and feminist realities.

The stories of activists we honour keep their legacy alive and carry their inspiration forward into our movements’ future work.

Visit the online exhibit

The portraits of the 2020 edition are designed by award winning illustrator and animator, Louisa Bertman

AWID would like to thank the families and organizations who shared their personal stories and contributed to this memorial. We join them in continuing the remarkable work of these activists and WHRDs and forging efforts to ensure justice is achieved in cases that remain in impunity.

“They tried to bury us. They didn’t know we were seeds.” - Mexican Proverb 


The Tribute was first launched in 2012

It took shape with a physical exhibit of portraits and biographies of feminists and activists who passed away at AWID’s 12th International Forum, in Turkey. It now lives as an online gallery, updated every year.

To date, 467 feminists and WHRDs are featured.

Visit the online exhibit

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Advocating Health for Everyone

Advocating Health for Everyone

Isaac Oriafo Ejakhegbe works in the non-profit sector, primarily focusing his work on gender equality, climate change, and health promotion, including maternal and child health. He is a Women Deliver Young Leader and is currently working at the Women’s Health and Action Research Centre, a non-governmental organisation in Nigeria that advocates for women’s reproductive health and social well-being. As founder of the Youth Spotlight Initiative, Isaac also engages in specifically promoting sexual and reproductive health and rights of young people, including issues bordering on HIV infection.


Issac studied Applied Health Social Science from the School of Public Health at the University of Ghana, where he was awarded the best graduating student in his set. His thesis focused on gender equality, women’s empowerment, and contraceptive use in the Western Region of Ghana.

After graduating, Isaac volunteered as a United Nations Children's Fund Peer Educator under the National Reproductive Health HIV and AIDS Prevention and Care project in Northern Nigeria and has worked as a program officer at the Initiative for the Rehabilitation and Care for HIV and AIDS. He was involved in several projects pertaining to commercial sex workers.

Strengthening the capacities and leadership of women and youth are key to unlocking the potentials of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Part of his work in health promotion included direct community involvement. As a community health officer at the Joy Maternity Clinic based in Edo State, Nigeria Issac actively provided health education and social support to community members. During this time, he enrolled in an online program, earning a Clinical Research and Public Health Certificate from the Harvard School of Public Health and a certificate in “Challenges of Global Poverty” from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

 A successful environment/climate policy must be holistic: cutting carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases as well as promoting clean surroundings - both working towards sustainable health for everybody.

Isaac enjoys writing articles and blogs on health and climate change issues. Ahead of the recent 2015 United Nations conference on climate change COP 21, he wrote an article for ‘Climate Reports’ focusing on the impacts of unhealthy environment on health. 

 

En defensa de la salud para todas las personas

En defensa de la salud para todas las personas

Isaac Oriafo Ejakhegbe trabaja en el sector sin fines de lucro y su labor se ha centrado primordialmente en la igualdad de género, el cambio climático y la promoción de la salud, incluyendo la salud materna e infantil. Es Líder Juvenil de Women Deliver [Las mujeres dan a luz/cumplen] y en este momento trabaja en el Women’s Health and Action Research Centre [Centro de Investigación y Acción por la Salud de las Mujeres], organización no gubernamental en Nigeria que defiende la salud reproductiva y el bienestar social de las mujeres. Como fundador de la Youth Spotlight Initiative [Iniciativa Juventud en Primer Plano], Isaac también se dedica específicamente a promover la salud y los derechos sexuales y reproductivos de las personas jóvenes, abordando asimismo aspectos de la infección por VIH.


Isaac completó una Maestría en Ciencias Sociales Aplicadas a la Salud en la Facultad de Salud Pública de la Universidad de Ghana, donde se le reconoció como el mejor alumno de su promoción. Su tesis versó sobre la igualdad de género, el empoderamiento de las mujeres y el uso de anticonceptivos en la región occidental de Ghana.

Tras su graduación, Isaac trabajó como educador de pares voluntario del Fondo de las Naciones Unidas para la Infancia en el marco del Proyecto Nacional de Salud Reproductiva y de Prevención, Tratamiento y Apoyo para el VIH y el SIDA en el norte de Nigeria. También desempeña el rol de Coordinador de Programa de la Iniciativa para Rehabilitación y Tratamiento del VIH y el SIDA, además de haber estado involucrado en diversos proyectos relacionados con trabajadoras/es comerciales del sexo.

Fortalecer las capacidades y el liderazgo de las mujeres y de la juventud es fundamental para que los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS) puedan realizar todo su potencial.

Su trabajo de promoción de la salud ha incluido participación directa de las comunidades. Como Coordinador de Salud Comunitaria en la Clínica de Maternidad Joy [Alegría], ubicada en el estado de Edo, Nigeria, proporcionó activamente educación para la salud y apoyo social a personas de la comunidad. Mientras realizaba esa tarea, Isaac se inscribió en un programa virtual y obtuvo dos Certificados: uno en Investigación Clínica y Salud Pública de la Facultad de Salud Pública de Harvard y otro en Desafíos de la Pobreza Global, del Instituto de Tecnología de Massachusetts.

Toda política medioambiental/climática exitosa debe ser integral: reducir las emisiones de dióxido de carbono, metano y otros gases de efecto invernadero, promoviendo al mismo tiempo un ambiente limpio pero sin dejar de trabajar por la salud sostenible para todas las personas.

Isaac disfruta escribiendo artículos y blogs sobre temáticas de salud y cambio climático. Poco antes de la Conferencia de las Partes (COP 21) de la Convención Marco de Naciones Unidas sobre el Cambio Climático escribió un artículo para ‘Climate Reporters’ [Reporteras/os del Clima] sobre los efectos que un ambiente nocivo tiene para la salud.