2008 — Betty Makoni, Zimbabwe

© Marcel Molle

Unless we start challenging the systems that are currently in existence and come up with an activist development organization that supports and helps young girls to develop, there is going to be continuous gender imbalance in our society.
- Betty Makoni at the Global Philanthropy Forum, June 2003

Betty Makoni is one of Africa’s most important new voices for gender justice. Since 1999, Ms. Makoni has been building the Girl Child Network (GCN), a loose network of organization that trains girls to succeed in school, thrive in the home and society and resist sexual abuse and rape – or, if they have become victims, to survive with pride. The Network today serves over 30,000 girls in 45 districts across Zimbabwe.
Ms. Makoni’s work has won supporters in Zimbabwe and internationally, including the 2007 World Children’s Prize for the Rights of the Child.

Nevertheless, Ms. Makoni repeatedly has been threatened, arrested, and imprisoned. In 2007, she was jailed twice: for allegedly “sneaking” foreign journalists into Zimbabwe, and for allegedly violating child protection laws by helping arrange to televise the testimonies of young rape victims.

More updates to come on Betty Makoni’s Ginetta Sagan Fund United States tour throughout April & May 2008. Please check back to this site or email gsf@aiusa.org for further information. Full Biography » | Read the press release » (PDF) | Take Action! (PDF) | Read the Winter 2008 Ginetta Fund Newsletter (PDF)

2007 — Lydia Cacho Ribeiro, Mexico

Ms. Lydia Cacho Ribeiro is one of Mexico's leading defenders of children's and women's rights. An investigative journalist and a specialist on gender-based violence, Ms. Cacho founded and directs the Centro Integral de Atención a las Mujeres (CIAM) in Cancún, a crisis center and shelter for victims of sex crimes, gender-based violence, and trafficking. CIAM provides free services to anyone seeking assistance and protection. To expose the sexual assault on children in Mexico, Ms. Cacho published a book entitled Los Demonios del Eden: El poder detrás de la pornografía infantil- 2004 (The Demons of Eden: The power behind child pornography). Throughout the course of her advocacy work, Ms. Cacho has received numerous death threats, and in 1999, was raped in an attempt to intimidate her. This particular incident emboldened her even further to protect and advance the rights of women and children in a country where impunity is widespread and commonly accepted as a part of daily life. On December 16, 2005, Ms. Cacho was arrested and denied access to her lawyer and medicine. In response to these intimidating tactics, Ms. Cacho filed a successful counter-suit for corruption and for violation of her human rights. In this regard, Ms. Cacho is the first woman in Mexico who has ever filed a federal suit against a Governor, a District Attorney, and a judge for corruption and attempted rape in prison. Furthermore, in May 2007, she will be the first woman in Mexican history to take a woman's rights case to the Mexican Supreme Court.

2006 — Ljiljana Raicevic, Serbia and Montenegro

Raicevic was one of the first human rights defenders in her country to raise the issue of human trafficking and its negative consequences on women's human rights.In 1999, she founded the Women's Safe House, the firstshelter for women in Montenegro. The shelter serves asthe focal point of service delivery and advocacy workfor women who are victims of family violence and humantrafficking. Recognizing the need for a better protection program for female victims, Raicevic and the Women's Safe House successfully lobbied for theadoption of the Witness Protection Law by the Montenegrin Parliament.

2005 – Hawa Aden Mohamed, Somalia

Hawa Aden Mohamed has devoted her life to the betterment of Somali women in a country torn apart by civil war. Ms Mohamed is the founder of the Galkayo Education Center for Peace and Development (GECPD). The centre serves over 500 women and children in many towns and villages with medical care, vocational and income-generating trainings, support for more than 50 orphans, and the only public school for girls in the area. Since its establishment GECPD has worked for the total elimination of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), which is widely practiced in Somalia.

2004 – Nebahat Akkoc, Turkey

A Kurdish teacher from Diyarbakir in Eastern Turkey, Ms Akkoc responded to her own experience of political and sexual abuse, including the murder of her husband and her arrest and torture, by founding the organization Ka-Mer (Women's Center) to advance women's rights in southeast Anatolia, Turkey. Today there are branches of Ka-Mer in five other Anatolian cities providing legal and psychological counseling for abused women.Recently Ka-Mer is offerring crisis line help, direct assistance, and intervention for women and family members impacted by Honor Killings.

2003 – Sonia Pierre, Dominican Republic

As Executive Director of Movimiento de Mujeres de Dominico-Hatianas, Inc(MUDHA), Sonia Pierre works to promote greater awareness of the deep-rootedchallenges facing women and children of Haitian descent in the DominicanRepublic. MUDHA challenges both gender discrimination and racism in theDominican Republic by empowering women, providing access to basic socialservices, and also challenging racist laws and practices that maintainpeople of Haitian descent in conditions of poverty.

2002 – Jeannine Mukanirwa, Democratic Republic of Congo / Canada

Jeannine Mukanirwa worked for the Promotion et Appui aux InitiativesFeminines (PAIF), a women's human rights organization in Goma to informwomen of their rights, and provide concrete assistance through self-fundedcommunity-based projects. As one of the few voices in eastern Congo willingto speak out against rape and other highly sensitive issues by directlyconfronting military and civilian authorities, Ms Mukanirwa was threatenedwith death and arrested many times. In 2001 she fled to Canada, where shecontinues to work on behalf of PAIF.

2000 – Helen Akongo, Uganda

Former child soldiers, children who have been seized, tortured, and forcedat gunpoint to become rebels in the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in northernUganda, have become the life's work of Helen Akongo, who worked with GUSCO, the Gulu Support the Children Organization. Ms. Akongo's special concern is the support -- physically, emotionally and spiritually -- of the girls who have escaped and come to GUSCO from the bush, especially those who are pregnant or with children.

2000 – Giulia Tamayo Leon, Peru / Spain

Since 1997, Giulia Tamayo Leon, a prominent women's rights activist andhuman rights lawyer from Lima, Peru, has documented human rights abusesagainst low-income women in both rural and urban communities. Whilecampaigning against cases of forced sterilization of women in Peru, MsTamayo and her family received death threats. Now living in exile in Spain,Ms Tamayo works for the Mardrid office of Amnesty International.

2000 – Hina Jilani, Pakistan

In 1981 Hina Jilani co-founded the first all-female law firm in Pakistan andlater established a women's legal aid program for Pakistani women, includingthose seeking to divorce abusive husbands. As a result Ms Jilani has beenthe target of violent attacks, including the "honor killing" of a client inher office. In recognition of her work, she has been appointed the SpecialRepresentative of the UN Secretary-General on the situation of human rightsdefenders.

1999 – Sima Wali, Afghanistan / USA

Sima Wali, President of Refugee Women in Development, Inc., has beenadvocating for Afghan women and men for over 20 years, when she narrowlyescaped from Afghanistan to resettle in Washington, DC. Since the fall ofthe Taliban, Ms. Wali has returned periodically to Afghanistan to carry outneeds assessments and lead capacity-building trainings for local nonprofits.She also served as one of only three women delegates to the Bonn peaceprocess in December 2001.

1999 – Adriana Portillo-Bartow, El Salvador / Guatemala / USA

Adriana Portillo-Bartow has paid dearly for her political commitment, firstwhen she was forced to flee from El Salvador to Guatemala and then when herfather, stepmother, sister, sister-in-law, and two daughters, then aged nineand eleven, were "disappeared" in 1981. Fleeing to the USA in 1985, MsPortillo-Bartow founded the "Where Are the Children?" Project which pursuesthe truth about the disappeared children of Guatemala like her owndaughters. Ms Portillo-Bartow currently works for Amnesty International USAin its Mid-West Office.

1998 – Beatrice Mukansinga, Rwanda

Beatrice Mukansinga founded MBWIRANDUMVA ("Speak, I am Listening") to aid women disabled, traumatized, and left without either homes or familiesfollowing the genocide that killed thousands in Rwanda. MBWIRANDUMVAprovides counseling, medical assistance, shelter, food, and skills to helpthese women heal emotionally and physically and become economicallyself-sufficient.

1997 – Mangala Sharma, Bhutan / Nepal / USA

To assist the thousands of refugee Bhutanese women who had been raped,tortured, and also often shunned by their families, Mangala Sharma createdBhutanese Refugees Aiding Victims of Violence (BRAVVE), which now providescounseling and training in income-producing skills in all eight Bhutaneserefugee camps in Nepal. In 2001 Ms Sharma was granted political asylum inthe USA and now works for Refugee Women's Network in Decatur, GA.