Our Project
The 4W-YALI Circle emerged from the vision and leadership of Kalkidan Lakew, a 2018 UW-Madison Mandela Washington Fellow who returned in summer 2019 to help launch this network. This group consists of over 40 young scholars from across Africa, many of whom engaged with 4W during their Mandela Washington Fellowship at UW-Madison (2016 to current). The goal of this group is to foster gender equity and wellbeing and to provide peer support and leadership development. We engage regularly through online discussion via our 4W-YALI Facebook Group, as well as monthly webinars in which YALI fellows and 4W leaders rotate in sharing their work. PDFs, PowerPoints, and recordings from each webinar will be made available to the public soon.
4W-YALI Circle Webinar Series
Please stay tuned for updates, and email 4w@sohe.wisc.edu if you are interested in attending one of these webinars!
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June - Whose Stories Will We Hear - Mpho Seipubi, 2019 Mandela Washington Fellow and Kathi Seiden-Thomas, Madison Community Member
Whose Stories Will We Hear
Friday, June 25th, 9:00-10:30am CST
Zoom link: https://uwmadison.zoom.us/j/9069479801
Mpho Seipubi, 2019 Mandela Washington Fellow and Kathi Seiden-Thomas, Madison Community Member, will discuss “Whose Stories Will We Hear,” the project they co-created to provide a platform for Africans to tell their own stories and be at the forefront of how history views Africa and its people. They will be joined by Gail Maluga and Lily Mugane, two women whose stories are published on the project’s website.
Recognized by the Mail & Guardian as one of 2020’s Top 200 Young South Africans, Mpho Seipubi has over 7 years of experience in the public sector in South Africa and international experience that includes the YALI RLC Southern Africa, the United Nations Economic and Social Council, and project-based work in Lesotho.
Kathi Seiden-Thomas is a strategic partnership specialist with over twenty years of experience co-creating with multi-sector partners in the areas of health and wellness, racial justice, education, women’s rights, and community development in the U.S. and throughout the world.
Gail Maluga (South Africa) is the founder of Girl with a Purpose Foundation, a non-profit that supports young women by providing skills, training and mentorship. Gail also runs a publication and image consultation company.
Lily Mugane (Kenya) is a homeschooling mother of three, engineer and volunteer leader of T21 Families Support Organisation, which empowers people living with Down Syndrome and their families.
July - An Introspective Conversation Towards Empowerment - Rose Mary Nakame, 2018 Mandela Washington Fellow
An Introspective Conversation Towards Empowerment – Rose Mary Nakame
Friday, July 23rd, 9:00-10:00am CST
Zoom link: https://uwmadison.zoom.us/j/93471045084
Rose Mary Nakame is a multi-award winning public health specialist with a special bias in pro-poor health and gender programming that can lead to sustainable development and improvement in the quality of life. This bias arises from a lived and professional experience serving the poorest that has enabled her to understand first-hand the bottlenecks faced by women and girls living in those conditions in daring or striving to attain one’s full potential, a dignified and productive life. It is this unique experience that she brings to all her work.
She is the founder and executive director of REMI East Africa, a health equity organization that works to increase access to quality health care by influencing health policies, implementing innovative approaches that strengthen the health system and address the social determinants of health to create long-lasting impact among the poorest of the poor. Rose has over 10 years of experience in reproductive health ranging from improving clinical outcomes to evidence-based population approaches that lead to social change, including public health programming, policy, and advocacy. She is well traveled and able to work with professionals of diverse backgrounds; race, religion, ethnicity and gender. She is mentor at UNICEF-DUKE University accelerator for East African social innovators and holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, training in Advanced Nursing Care from Lapin AMK, Finland, and an Equity & Merit scholar – Master in Public Health from the University of Manchester, UK.
August - TBD
Friday, August 27th, 9:00-10:30am CST
Please stay tuned to learn which 4W YALI Circle Member will share their wisdom with us in August!
2019 Mandela Washington Fellows pose for a photo outside the Madison City Hall building ahead of a meeting with Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway and staff. (Photo by Meagan Doll / UW-Madison)
Next Steps
- Finalize monthly schedule for engagement during the 2020-21 academic year, which will include regular webinar presentations and Facebook discussion chats. Webinars will rotate between 4W leaders and YALI alumni in order to share a range of work and to connect UW scholars and YALI fellows with related interests and expertise.
- Integrate 4W partners from around the world into the 4W-YALI Circle so that YALI alumni have opportunities to connect with leaders who may be working in their home counties. Such 4W partners include those leading education and development work in Malawi; local leaders of our Health by All Means project in Kenya; those supporting menstrual hygiene management in Ghana; mental health experts in Nigeria and Ethiopia; and those exploring gender and climate change in the Ivory Coast.
- Condense webinar materials into 20 minute public talks, PowerPoints, and other resources that can be shared widely online.
- Support continuous engagement by providing modest travel grants to allow YALI alumni to connect with one another and collaborate on shared work.
Past Webinar Presentations
- “#HearMeToo Movement” by Kalkidan Lakew (2018 fellow) about harassment experienced by Mandela Ethiopian doctors
- “Culture of Safety” discussion on the 4 Es for addressing traffic and household accidents (engineering, education, enforcement, and emergency response), led by 4W-YALI Leader Rahel Desalegne
- Discussion of Stolen Paradise, a book written by Folajogun Akinlami (2019 fellow) about her journey through life, love, and living with a disability
- Discussion of youth engagement in South Sudan by Zaida Ibrahim (2019 fellow), including her work with the Okay Africa Foundation on menstrual health management and sexual health advocacy, as well as radio talks on COVID19 awareness and youth’s distribution of hand-washing containers and sanitary pads to vulnerable communities
- Presentation of “Road Without Beckons” grant to combat sex trafficking in Nigeria by Ako Eyo Oku (2019 fellow), a collaboration with leaders from the 4W-STREETS Project.
