As we begin a new year, we’ve been thinking about the moments from 2025 that linger – not just the milestones, but the quieter, human moments that made them possible. While our Top 10 Highlights of 2025 captured what we were most proud to achieve together, these photos hold the in-between: the preparation, the connection, the joy, and the collective care that powered our Accelerators throughout the year. They offer a different way of remembering 2025 – through presence, process, and possibility. Here are eight moments that remind us why this work matters and what we are building together.
Before It Begins
In Rajasthan, the day begins long before new leaders arrive to the Accelerator. Materials are laid out, tools are ready, and the space hums with quiet intention. This moment reflects the care and preparation that ground our Accelerators and make all that follows possible.
Leadership in Action
At our South Africa Accelerator, Rise Up Leader Tracey Malawana speaks with clarity and conviction, her words met by the focused attention of fellow cohort members. This is leadership in action – rooted in lived experience, shared learning, and the power of being heard.
Collective Power
During an advocacy planning session at our Nigeria Accelerator, leaders lean in together, exchanging ideas and shaping strategy as a group. Here, power grows through connection, collaboration, and shared purpose, showing how solutions are strongest when built collectively.
Joy
On the final evening of our Rajasthan Accelerator, leaders dance and celebrate alongside our India Country Lead, Vidhu Prabha, as the room radiated delight and energy. In work that is often demanding and high-stakes, moments of unguarded joy are indispensable – they nurture connection, strengthen trust, and replenish the spirit. These shared moments of celebration are not just pauses from the work; they are the human foundation that sustains leadership, inspires creativity, and makes transformational change possible.
One-on-One Connection
At our South Africa Accelerator, our Africa Program Manager Lwazi Mdlopane presents a completion certificate to Rise Up Leader Tlou Seopa. This moment of recognition highlights how leadership is nurtured through mentorship, personal connection, and celebrating each leader’s growth along the journey. Rise Up Together’s global team invests deeply in the people who drive change, strengthening their impact and ensuring that each leader’s potential is fully realized.
The Spaces Where Leaders Emerge
The spaces where we hold our Leadership and Advocacy Accelerators are often unadorned conference rooms. But they transform into hives of activity, thought partnership, and leadership development when occupied by our emerging leaders. In our Kenya Accelerator training room, leaders engage as Kenya Country Representative Naomi Nyaboke Monda speaks at the front, the space alive with focus and energy. This environment – the rooms, the materials, and the people holding the work – creates the conditions where learning, leadership, and collective action can truly take root.
Details that Tell a Bigger Story
At our Nigeria Accelerator, walls covered with notes, problem trees, ideas, and strategies remind us that leadership is both creative and rigorous. These details tell a bigger story: the process of building solutions is just as important as the outcomes themselves.
Looking Forward
Rise Up Leaders join hands in a gesture of unity and shared commitment at our Kenya Accelerator. This moment embodies looking ahead – toward continued impact, collective action, and a better future for women, girls, and gender-nonconforming people around the world.
Across our 2025 Accelerators – from Benoni, South Africa to Nairobi, Kenya and from Rajasthan, India to Abuja, Nigeria – we witnessed leadership, learning, and collective power taking shape in diverse contexts, yet always interconnected. These photos remind us that gender justice is built intentionally – one leader at a time – through relationships, trust, joy, and shared commitment across geographies. As we look ahead to the work that lies before us, these moments ground us in what makes lasting change possible – and in the global community we carry forward together.
