Meet We Encourage you to #takeaction panelists
We Encourage is hosting a launch event for action takers in March 26th in Helsinki.
In our event, we want to lift the cat on the table as we Finnish use to say, by hosting a panel discussion about the issues girls and women are facing, such as honor-based violence, forced marriages, gender discrimination to name but a few.
The aim is to inspire people to take action on these discussed problems on our idea generation workshop that follows the panel. Our mission is, instead of just stating the problems and speaking about them, to take action and start brainstorming what to do to solve those problems. We encourage others to start their own solutions and ventures to accompany ours. We have too many conferences, events and meetings, just for talking, and we believe now it’s time to start working on solutions.
Meet our action taker panelists
Nils Adler
A British-Swedish Journalist. Since 2017, he has been working with a team on a project about so-called honour-based violence.
Nils has written for a wide range of publications and his photographs have been featured in the Guardian and El País.
He has reported from a number of regions including the UK, Turkey, Ukraine, Malta, Iraq, Mozambique, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Belarus and Iraqi Kurdistan.
Elaf Ali
Elaf Ali is a Swedish journalist and news presenter with roots in Iraq. She is currently writing her debut novel about her upbringing in the honor culture. She lectures around Sweden about Honor-Based Violence, mainly in schools but also for authorities.
Sanna Heikkinen
Sanna Heikkinen is an experienced NGO professional and youth worker with over 22 years of work experience from Finland and abroad. Her international experience has been based in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Switzerland, France and the United States of America.
For the past 7 years she has been managing community meeting centers for girls and young women at Nicehearts in Finland. Issues they deal with are often linked to gender based violence, social exclusion, and loneliness. Nichehearts supports each individual to find their voice and provide opportunities for becoming an active member of the community and feel included and integrated in the society.
Mervi Patosalmi
Mervi Patosalmi is a gender expert who has diverse experience of advancing gender equality and women’s and girls’ rights in Finland and internationally. She has worked for example in Africa and the Caucasus. Her specialties include among other things, methods and practices of gender mainstreaming and gender responsive budgeting. She has a PhD in Gender Studies from the University of Helsinki, Finland and she has worked several years as a researcher.
Binita Lamichhane
Binita Lamichhane, originally from Nepal, has experience working in WOFOWON (Women forum for women in Nepal), an NGO, continuously working to ensure the rights of women working in informal and entertainment sectors in Nepal.
Come and join us at our free launch event at 26th of March, register here!
