The Global Fund For Children

Diane von Furstenberg Awards Given to Leaders of Two GFC Grantee Partners

• By Laurel Fiorelli on March 28th, 2011
• Category: Blog, Grassroots Girls Initiative, North America

Washington, DC - On March 11, two friends of The Global Fund for Children (GFC) were honored with the DVF Award, a $50,000 prize that recognizes outstanding women leaders who are improving the lives of women around the world. Sohini Chakraborty of Kolkata Sanved and Kakenya Ntaiya of the Kakenya Center for Excellence were two of this year’s four recipients. Both are founders of organizations supported by grants given by GFC. Just as they inspired us, they continue to inspire people worldwide.

Sohini Chakraborty uses dance therapy to empower young women who are survivors of trafficking, exploitation, and abuse. Acknowledging the importance of physical expression and healing, Sohini uses cultural dance to rehabilitate victims of violence, helping them transition from victimhood to empowered members of society. Self-choreographed presentations facilitate interpersonal communication, rights education, growth in confidence, and dialogue with the community at large. Sohini’s model has impacted more than 5,000 women and girls, and it is being followed by numerous organizations and other teachers of dance movement therapy for women. Learn more about her organization, Kolkata Sanved, or watch a video on Kolkata Sanved’s programs here.

Kakenya Ntaiya is a courageous pioneer and advocate for girls’ education in Kenya. Like many girls in her village, she was promised to marry at the age of 5 and faced the possibility of ritual of female circumcision. Kakenya defied these odds by persuading her father to allow her to complete her high-school education in a nearby town. In pursuit of becoming a teacher, she convinced her village to support her in coming to the United States to earn her college degree. She is now completing a doctorate in education at the University of Pittsburgh. In her village in Kenya, she has constructed the Kakenya Center for Excellence, a school serving the most vulnerable, underprivileged Maasai girls, giving them a chance to learn and to receive a quality education. Watch the short animated film Vital Voices: Kakenya, which recently won the grand prize in the ViewChange Online Film Contest.

We are grateful to know two such inspiring women leaders, and proud to be a part of the change they are bringing to their communities through other women and girls. TELL US, who are the women in YOUR community bringing about change for girls?