Webinar Series 101 : With Mentor#2 Yohanna Alamayehu!
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(This Article is part of our Webinar Series #MentorAnswersItAll , full of guidance and knowledge received during the global lockdown. For the rest of the Webinar Series, click here.)
We were fortunate to have Yohanna Alemayehu join us in our Webinar Series!
Yohanna hails from the continent of Africa and is a well known name and a proponent of Girls’ Education.
Yohanna has been a fellow of over 5 different internationally recognised organisations including but not limited to the Mandela Washington Fellowship, the UNESCO GCED Fellowship among others. She has a passion of working in the field she does and is a great example of a leader helping her community raise over 50,000 USD for the cause she believes in.
Yohanna is amongst the select few to be working with Michelle Obama on education reforms!
“They said we don’t have the time or resources to invest in Girls’ education. Yohanna took it personally, raised USD 50,000 with her team from the community and today sits with Michelle Obama to draft education policy agendas. Opportunity comes in different shapes and sizes. Grab it!”
The Following is the Excerpt from the Webinar. You can find the whole Webinar below.
Our Chief of Business Development and Fellow of Various Conferences himself, Mr. Desh Deepak Dwivedi was the facilitator of the Webinar.
Desh : I would like to introduce Yohanna to you all! Yohanna is from Ethiopia. She is a Mandela Washington Fellow and a Global Youth Leader. She has focused her work on the lives of young women and girls.She has been a big inspiration for me. I met her during the UNESCO APCEIU Conference. Some of her Outstanding Accomplishments include Attending 5 International Conferences , Fundraising US $50,000 through community efforts and has worked with Michelle Obama, who needs no introduction :))
Desh : What led you towards working for the betterment of the Education System?Why Education?
Yohanna : Firstly thanks Desh, for organizing this Webinar.
As for your question , the simple answer is ‘Education is quite important’. Women are lagging behind in opportunity.
When I joined school , the first class was law. We had a joint class. We had 70 students. Only 10 were girls, and were from urban areas. I asked myself ‘Where are the rural girls ? They are lagging way behind their male counterparts.’
I started working to help disadvantaged students to stay in school and support them economically so that they don’t drop out. Since 2016, I worked with an organisation on various issues such as sexual reproductive health ,saving them from genital mutilation and child brides,teenage pregnancies among others.
Education is important and Educating women will benefit the world. It’s a huge motivation for me.
Desh : Do you need the govt working in the govt sector?
Yohanna : So it’s a mix of both organisations and govt. There are also other offices that are not helping. Corruption. But i can’t deny the support i have received from the govt.
Desh : You’re currently working as a Mandela Washington Fellow.
What all hardships you faced while working to achieve this position? Could you give us a brief view of your journey?
Yohanna : Since our context is very different from the rural areas as we are living in the urban area. We need to understand the context of rural areas to work with them.
We invite a group from rural places and we help to shape their mindset , and then they advocate it in their community.
Yes,my Organisation has raised 50,000 US dollars. We needed a lot of networking and work with the Obama Foundation.
It’s about creating networks and making the networks work.
Understand context,understand the problems . This will make the job much much easier.
The Mandela Fellowship was founded by Obama , and is a good program and selects African leaders from different sectors. And they take them to various universities , and learn different life changing skills.
I attended it in 2018, and it was life changing. One of the perks is that it gives you a good network with the US Embassy. So having these things by your side, are a good opportunity for itself.
From a Personal Perspective : The hardship was coming from me , telling me I’m not good enough to be in the program.But the other part of me , tells me and tries to convince me that i am good enough for it, and that I deserve it.And I’m still facing this hardship, whenever i am applying to a very great program.
So most of the problems come really from me (laughs).
Desh : What are your suggestions for people who wish to follow in your footsteps and work for the betterment of society either by empowering a section of society or working to improve the quality of life in some part of the world?
Yohanna : Find your passion. It can be education ,music ..arts, engineering. Anything.Find your passion otherwise you won’t give it your all.
See what you like to do without any pay. If you still do it without any pay, most probably it’s your passion,
Start taking action on your own, don’t wait for others. Take your time. Others will join too, but don’t count on them.
And then try to upgrade yourself every time. Find those opportunities and grab them. The network , skills and knowledge are priceless and help your work immensely.
Desh : Can you share some details about Opportunities that can improve Education Quality?
Yohanna : There are a lot of programs that help.. On many websites.
GCED program , Mandela Fellowship. Chevening Scholarship.. so many!
If you are looking to pursue education .. check it out.
What kind of opportunity help in your skill and work. If it benefits you, then go for it. Find and look them up.
Check out Precisely , Opportunity desk , Youthop for such Opportunities haha (honest promotion → wasnt scripted :p)
Desh : What are some of the tools you use to be productive in the lockdown?
Yohanna : First thing that you need to realise is :
‘You don’t have to be productive all day everyday’.
Some days I’m very proud of myself of the work that I have done. Other days I’m just plain lazy.
We are navigating a new process in our life. When I’m on my productive days, I do yoga, I read books . I connect with a lot of people. … movies exercise , rekindling my network.
Take online courses. I’m taking a course at Erasmus university in Netherlands!
Desh : Can you suggest some Opportunities for our viewers?
Yohanna : There is the One Young World Program in October in Germany. But, be aware of how it will be affected due to Covid19. Try to apply for this. Stamford has scholarship program called Hennessy. Check it out!
Desh : Any Tips for Startup Founders as to how to go for a fund raising ?
Yohanna : Now more than ever, Our World is very much connected. You can fundraise locally and Internationally through Gofundme accounts . Support families , programs.. its an amazing tool to fundraise. You can directly contact people who will donate.
People are very generous. We don’t think, but people give if your goals are good.
As for people with good ideas, Entrepreneurship is important. Take up Online Courses and work on your skill, and develop a good Startup :))
Audience Question : I wish to use technology to make a difference for communities. How can I work on my less knowledge in Humanities area to help out?
Yohanna : You can try , but you can’t do everything on your own. There comes teamwork. We all understand how working in a team can be. One can be tech savvy, other can have rural development organisation, who has knowledge about community mobilization. You have to make a good team and join forces.
Team work is important.
The Session ended with a vote of thanks and freebies given to every participant!
(Webinar Sessions are LIVE, follow us on LinkedIn to know when the next webinar is!)
