Gloria has taken her vision of being a leader to her community, having started a cooperative farming initiative and multiple small-scale start-up businesses.
Gloria Akite, 15
Kampala, Uganda
This week, Let Girls Lead’s video blog features Gloria Akite from Uganda. At 15, Gloria is a confident, courageous, and a highly motivated self-starter who has taken her vision of being a leader to the streets of her community. In just under a year, Gloria has achieved concrete results and has helped several girls attain very specific goals. By taking targeted action, she helped several girls and young mothers finish their education and raise funds for their school fees. Gloria has started several economic empowerment programs including a cooperative farming initiative and multiple small-scale startup businesses. Gloria has found innovative ways to pay the start-up fees for these businesses and has helped to motivate and teach her community important self-reliance skills. Gloria is a visionary leader for her community and the world.
Gloria’s Story:
Hi, my name is Akite, Gloria. I’m a Ugandan by nationality, found in the northern part of Uganda. I’m 15 years old. I decided to participate in leadership in my community because it was lacking a person with the vision in young female leadership skill. My vision was to guide young children to be educated; I guided 10 child mothers who dropped out of school to continue in their studies. Also I encouraged 30 women to participate in income-generation like farming, forming groups to motivate their self-reliance.
Problems which I’ve faced: As a girl leader I had to give them capital for a start-up business and to pay school fees for child mothers who dropped out from school. The solution to my problem: I advise agricultural group leaders to give farmers sunflower seeds. My leadership is based on courage; I have the courage to motivate the development of others. I also have confidence which helps me to meet any challenges that come my way. I also have a vision for future programs. The results of my leadership after one year include: 10 child mothers who had dropped out of school are continuing their education, 20 women have a very effective business, 10 women have formed group savings.
The reason why my story should be made into a film is to keep the record about girl leadership in the community. That is what I can say about girl leadership in my community. Have a good time.
Let Girls Lead empowers girls and their allies to lead social change through advocacy, education, economic empowerment, storytelling and strategic partnerships, contributing to improved health, education and livelihoods for more than 3 million girls globally.
Let Girls Lead’s Global Girls’ Conversation video contest highlights girls’ power to create change by sharing their own solutions through short videos. The video contest has been an exciting opportunity for girls, organizations working with girls and girls’ allies to submit one to two-minute videos capturing girls’ solutions and successes. In partnership with The Huffington Post, Let Girls Lead will continue to feature these compelling videos on the Global Girls’ Conversation interactive platform and on Huffington Post’s Global Motherhood column, sharing girls’ power to lead change with a global audience. Contest winners will receive $10,000 in cash, equipment and training to create their own short films.
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