From Classrooms to Communities: Harnessing Girls’ Education for Lasting Peace
Wednesday March 12, 2025 at 8:30 –9:45 AM / ET
Wednesday March 12, 2025 at
8:30 –9:45 AM / ET
Event Speakers
Angelina Neira
Angelina, 18, is a passionate advocate for girls’ education and gender equality. Her journey began at age 12 when she led community efforts to address gender-based violence and fight for equal access to education. As a spokesperson for the Because I Am a Girl movement, she proudly represents Ecuador on the global stage, advocating for policies that improve girls’ health and education. For Angelina, this work is more than a mission: it’s a reflection of her unwavering hope for a future where every girl can reach her full potential.
Adeyinka Onabolu
Adeyinka is a Protection, Gender and Inclusion Specialist with over 12 years of experience in human rights, humanitarian aid and development, across Africa, Asia and Latin America. Her work in World Vision has focused on Child protection, Sexual and Gender Based Violence, Gender transformative programming and disability inclusion.
Elisha Byalungwe
Elisha Byalungwe is committed to inclusive education, ensuring that marginalized groups, particularly persons with disabilities, have access to quality learning and healthcare. With a background in special needs education and experience working in refugee settings, he has developed strategies to support diverse learner needs and promote continuity in education despite crises.
As the Inclusion Specialist at the Refugee Education Council (REC) and Capacity Building Technical Officer at Humanity & Inclusion (HI), Elisha works to advance disability inclusion, sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), and social behavior change. He also serves as Vice-Chairperson of the Association of Refugees with Disabilities (ARD), advocating for policies that improve access to services and economic opportunities for refugees with disabilities. His work spans training, stakeholder engagement, and strengthening inclusive service delivery in humanitarian programs.
Hawa Abdiaziz
Hawa is a Somali refugee, born in the Marafa refugee camp in Kenya’s coastal region. Hawa was raised in a family of 10 children: eight girls and two boys. Despite growing up in a patriarchal community, she witnessed her mother’s commitment to ensuring that she and her sisters had access to education. Inspired by her mother, Hawa dreamed of becoming a journalist and a story teller to tell stories that fight patriarchy in her community and promote girls’ education. In 2019, she was admitted into Nişantaşı Üniversitesi in Istanbul, Türkiye, where she graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Media and Journalism.
Hawa is a member of Secondary Education Working Group and UNGEI’s Transform Education Coalition and the Refugee Education Council (2023). She has also co-led the Girls’ Education in Emergencies Working Group and SheLeads Kakuma, a project that facilitates leadership and mentorship programming for young girls in Kakuma Refugee Camp.
Nailyah Ramadhani Abdallah
My name is Nailyah Ramadhani Abdallah, I’m 21 years old. I live with my grandmother in Kinondoni, Dar es Salaam. I have a passion for learning and developing new skills. I also love to help my community and make a positive impact.
Sally Gear
Sally is head of the Gender Equality and Inclusion practice within the Secretariat of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). She has worked in gender, education, and development for over twenty-five years in academia and for both government and non-governmental organizations. After completing her master’s degree, she lectured in Social Development and Gender at the International Development and Policy Management (IDPM) institute at the University of Manchester.
From 2017-2022, Sally was a Senior Education Adviser then the Education, Head of Profession for the UK Department of International Development (DFID) now the FCDO. She was the Department’s technical lead on Gender and Education for several years. During this period, she designed and lead the £335mn Girls’ Education Challenge (GEC) programme (first stage) which was the largest global fund focusing specifically on the most marginalized girls in low income and fragile affected countries.
Tara Painter
Tara has spent the over 18+ years at the Canadian International Development Agency/Global Affairs Canada, where she has focused on education issues across various policy and programming branches and geographic regions. Notably, supporting the development of Canada’s policy and programming framework for the 2018 G7 $400M commitment to girls’ education in conflict and fragile situations. Tara also had the opportunity to be the Global Head of Education Programming at Save the Children International, where she had the opportunity to lead the technical component of the organization’s Safe Back to School initiative—one of its top priorities during the pandemic. Tara’s passion for education stems from her diverse teaching experience in Canada, South Korea, and Tanzania. It is through this hands-on teaching background that she continues to shape her approach to education programming.
Vongaishe Changamire
Vongaishe is a seasoned specialist in education, gender, and child protection with over 14 years of experience in supporting and leading education programs. She is an expert in education social justice, education financing, education in emergencies, youth empowerment, non-formal education program and curriculum development. Currently, Vongaishe holds the position of Education Technical Specialist at World Vision Canada, where she provides technical advice and direction for education programs across WV’s programming countries in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Vongaishe is also pursuing an Ed.D. in Social Justice Education at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on understanding the historical participation of women in education policy formulation, framed by concepts of gender, intersectionality and empowerment in contemporary and neoliberal contexts.
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