Global Youth Ambassadors S/Hero Week: meet our #RewritingTheCode champion Clareine

• We have over 900 passionate young education advocates from across 90 countries, working tirelessly to ensure every child and young person has access to inclusive quality education and training to get the best start in life.
• They are the Global Youth Ambassadors for Theirworld and our A World at School movement. Every day they are doing truly inspiring work, often at the forefront of Theirworld’s campaigns and key focus areas, from early childhood development to inclusive education – both globally and locally. 
• Global Youth Ambassadors S/Hero Week is a celebration of their exceptional work both as a network and in recognition of key outstanding individuals as voted by their peers. Each day this week in our Their News channel we will be highlighting how integral our Global Youth Ambassadors have been in each campaign or focus area and announcing the 2018 Global Youth Ambassadors Campaign S/Heroes.

Today the #RewritingTheCode S/Hero award goes to a Global Youth Ambassador who has shown “outstanding work to enable girls to learn technical subjects like STEM and coding”.

She is…

As well as being a Global Youth Ambassador, Clareine is involved with REPER Asbl (Réalités et Perspectives) and KPossible Leadership Academia. 

She said: “It’s an honour to be recognised by my peers for my work with REPER. Winning this award mean that I have an obligation to continue empowering girls and women through education and information and communication technology. 

“We need to stop thinking that technical skills like computer technology, engineering, agriculture etc are the exclusive domains of the male. Women are a driving force that moves the world forward.”

Her fellow Global Youth Ambassadors described Clareine as “committed to improving the lives of children”, “able to simplify complicated subjects for everyone” and “extraordinary – she works very hard to ensure children get an education”.

Theirworld’s #RewritingTheCode campaign aims to change the attitudes and behaviours that prevent girls and women from succeeding and leading. We believe every girl deserves the opportunity to become all that they can be and to have that code rewritten. 

The campaign was launched in 2016 during International Women’s Day and, along with fellow Global Youth Ambassadors, Daniella Akellot (Kenya) and Taha Fathima Khan (Canada) took action by sharing their picture to change gender codes on social media. 

Theirworld has been rewriting the code for girls since 2016 through our Code Clubs, reinforcing the importance of girls and women’s education by providing them with safe and supportive education environments to learn valuable skills.

Our first ever Code Clubs were launched in Kenya, where we were able to target some of the most marginalised girls in Nairobi’s Kibera slum. We now have clubs in Uganda, Nigeria, Tanzania and Lebanon. 

Like us, our campaigners have been advocating on the ground for changes to girls’ education at key United Nations days. International Women’s Day this year saw our Global Youth Ambassadors write about why they thought it was important to change the culture of violence against women and girls. 

We featured Nitisha Pandey (India), Shakiib Mustafe Ahmed (Somalia), Gift Mbewe (Zambia), Javnyuy Joybert (Cameroon), Mary Mam Degen Fye (Gambia), ASM Pavel Sarwar (Malaysia), Angela Ehi Ekwu (Nigeria), Mudassir Hassan Khan (Pakistan), Eyabi Majorie Tabi (Cameroon), Ebenezer Okoidigun (Nigeria), Scolastica Mwanyika (Tanzania), Umair Asif (Pakistan), Dea Salsabila Amira (Indonesia), Petrider Paul (Tanzania) and Razoana Moslam (Australia).

On May 28 this year – Menstrual Hygiene Day – our passionate Global Youth Ambassadors took over Theirworld’s Twitter, Instagram and Facebook pages to highlight why raising awareness of menstrual hygiene is so important. Shomy Chowdhury (Malaysia) and Rijve Arefin (Malaysia) recorded videos telling the world why they’re raising awareness of menstrual hygiene. 

Our resourceful Global Youth Ambassador Louise Kongolo Kanza (South Africa) and her sister started their campaign “Fabulous Female” to raise awareness about the lack of sanitary health for girls. They found girls can miss up to seven school days a month due to lack of sanitary pads.

The campaign has reached over 2000 girls in Gauteng, KwaZulu Natal (South Africa), Malawi and the Democratic Republic of Congo in partnership with other youth-led organisations. 

As Project Coordinator for CLISSD Cameroon (Center for Livelihood and Support to Sustainable Development) – a non-governmental organisation created in 2012 to help young girls and women gain access to education, sexual reproductive health and menstrual hygiene management – Eyabi Marjorie Tabi (Cameroon) has been helping thousands of girls in Cameroon to end the shame surrounding menstruation.