Celebrating African Women’s Day with Joy Kakenya Barta

In celebration of Africa’s Women’s Day on July 31st, we’re releasing a video with Joy Kakenya Barta, a participant of Brighter Green’s East African Young Women’s Leadership Initiative. Joy speaks about becoming a leader in her community as an advocate for gender equality and environmentalism. She relates her upbringing and involvement with social justice as a youth, and considers how her community projects have helped her define “leadership.” She also describes the experiences with gender inequality that led her to become a mentor for other young women and girls.

Joy is one of five young Maasai women who participated in the program, which is a joint project of Brighter Green and Tribal Link, in partnership with three indigenous non-governmental organizations: Parakuiyo Pastoralists Indigenous Community Development Organization (PAICODEO) in Tanzania, Simba Maasai Outreach Organization (SIMOO), and the Indigenous Information Network (IIN) in Kenya. Wangari Maathai inspired the program’s creation.

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