Higher Education & Youth Activism: Stories and Strategies for Collective Action

What role does higher education play in developing personal agency, resilience, and efficacy of youth activists?  How can higher education strengthen and support collective action and civic engagement?  Learn directly from youth activists how higher education inspired and prepared them to engage in social change. This event was sponsored by the USAID Higher Education Learning Network (HELN) in partnership with Powered by the People. Participants shared their perspectives on ways to strengthen higher education to support youth activism and help contribute to new research on the intersection between higher education and student activism. 
 
Welcome by: LeAnna Marr, Deputy Assistant Administrator USAID
 
Facilitators:
Dr. Samantha Alvis, Senior Advisor for Higher Education
Center for Education, USAID
 
Neetha Tangirala, Senior Advisor for Youth, Civic Education, and Engagement
Center for Democracy Rights and Governance, USAID
 
Youth Speakers:
Ayobami Borisade (Nigeria), Youth Activist and Founder, Girls Pride Initiatives for Sustainable Development, which focuses on capacity building, menstruation education, and other support for the girl child.
 
Dayana Blanco (Bolivia), Youth Activist and Founder, Warmi Shining, an organization dedicated to supporting indigenous women’s access to education.
 
Josephine Chinake (South Africa), Youth Activist and chapter leader for Girls for Girls Zimbabwe which supports women in tech.