Social Activists

"The most important thing is to make sure we have more community engagement, make sure that communities who are involved in this crime, as well as community and religious leaders give us a better understanding of the extent of the crime, the people who have been targeted and to respond in terms of services for the victims"

"think the biggest challenge we have is a lack of understanding about the strategies that these people use and I think that has made it extremely difficult to access them, to engage them, to understand what is driving them and what they do"

"The third trend, which seems to come in a much clearer way, is that sexual violence in conflict is being used to forcefully displace people. People are forced out of their communities and off their land because the land is rich in natural resources or because groups want to use it to grow narcotics as is the case in Colombia."

"When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it—but all that had gone before."

"If a Brahmin male/ Is known by the thread he wears, / How is a woman known? A Muslim is marked by the sign/ Of circumcision; but how should you / Mark a woman?"

"…. I conveyed to Mahatma Gandhi certain ideas which were burning in my mind for some time to know his opinion. I asked Mahatma ji as to what help I should extend to stop the communal splits and differences that happened in Malabar and restore peace and tranquility there. This question brightened his face very much. He said that he was worried and constantly thinking about his failiure in duty by not visiting Malabar and expressing his regrets, even under threat of arrest and imprisonment, in view of the ban put by the government against his entering Malabar. He also said that he will have a lot peace of mind and greatly relieved if I visited the place forthwith, personally. It was then that I could realize the limitless affection he had for the Moplahs of Malabar. Though the Moplahs had committed very heinous crimes, he instilled in me a feeling of love eradicating the hatred caused by the atrocities. Every word he spoke displayed the deep love he kept in his mind. Had the government permitted him to travel to the rebellion affected areas in the early stages itself, he would have entered those spots completely unarmed and helpless. If the Moplahs by their ignorance and unaware of the qualities of this great soul, made any attempt on his life, he would have accepted such death valiantly and with a smiling face, quite confident of the fact that his blood would have served to instill peace and tolerance in the minds of the Moplahs. On the other hand if they did understand him correctly, he would have been successful in making them lay down their arms and embrace the Hindus as their brothers as well as removing the hatred in the minds of Hindus and accepting the Muslim s as their own brothers."

"When I reached Malabar what I saw were all terrible scenes. I was convinced that forced conversions were not a concoted story and there were evidences of the terrible things the insurgents did for that. I saw with my eyes the clear evidences of a forced conversion of a Hindu youth. All his virility was lost and remained and appeared like a living corpse. Many things more were witnessed by me. I am not detailing them all here. Among all that I also saw four Muslim women and children who had become insane due to fear. I also saw a woman injured with a bayonet charge and a child with mutilated limbs. The love kindled by Mahatma Gandhi in my heart attracted me towards them. With the help of two Congress workers I could understand the extent of their sorrows. I went back to appraise Mahatma Gandhi of the facts I collected from Malabar. I met him while he was at Bardoli and conveyed him all the facts. I will never forget the expressions of love and sadness that reflected on his face when he heard the news.( Might be that after hearing this only Gandhiji wrote in Young India condemning Moplah rebellion) Since it was a Monday and Gandhiji used to observe a vow of silence on that day, He couldn’t say anything to me. But his facial expressions conveyed clearly what was in his mind. I went back to Malabar again. Later on due to other preoccupations I could not return to Malabar again. Some prominent Muslim s had written me a few days back that the witch hunting by Malabar Police continues unabated even now and the Muslim youth consider death better option than continuing living in the present situation.”"

"The truth is, that the British Empire with its Indian appendage, is also a monstrosity. If the present unnatural relation between England and India continues, it can only lead, as it has done to such a rapid pace already to a continually increasing bitterness on both sides. But if the bond of subjection is finally and ultimately unloosed, then mutual respect may succeed to mutual hate."

"I’m a fighter. I’m the kind of person that for better or worse runs towards a problem and tries to solve it even if it’s in a burning house."

"To achieve success in creating more peaceful, just and inclusive societies, we must create a world, an environment where every girl can choose her future"

"I’m not a helper. I’m not an assistant. I’m not an optional part of the story. Sleeping Giants wouldn’t be what it is today without me."

"Traditional practices that go hand in hand with gender-based violence is an issue that women human rights defenders have met with unified opposition."

"It costs nothing to make space for me. It costs nothing to cc me in. It costs nothing to empower other people to achieve their goals."

"These bad actors have made a business out of publishing increasingly extreme and hateful content because it makes them money."

"So if you want to change the world, you need to first know and search within yourself with deep humility, zero egos, and profound clarity."

"They walked so I could run, and I will run so that the next generation of Somalis can soar."

"Women human rights defenders in Somalia are reprised against, threatened, unlawfully arrested, privy to sexual and gender-based violence, kidnapped and even killed as a result of their work."

"What sets me and my organization apart is that we deeply understand how these business models work. And we have the time and patience to dismantle them, one piece at a time."

"Over the years it has become very clear to me that a range of actors in Somali society want to sweep sexual and gender-based violence issues under the rug."

"Human rights, now more than ever, are very much on the political agenda in Somalia. However moving beyond the proverbial international commitments and declarations has not yet been realized."

"Peace is Possible when women have a Power"

"Instead, people are encouraged to be thankful to have survived and are expected to simply move on"

"It's encouraging to see that women are fighting against so many different barriers to participate because they know what their participation means for other girls that are marginalised."

"[In Somalia] it’s considered weak or even ungrateful to ‘complain’ or speak of the trauma that one has encountered."

"When considering how to engage and empower women for countering violent extremism, policy makers must understand the varied roles women play in this space."

"There are a lot of young women now occupying spaces and challenging stereotypes every single day, from sport to technology to business to leadership, and all of this is necessary."

"And with more and more women present in these spaces, it is creating an atmosphere and acceptance for more to join as well."

"The concept of mental health and wellbeing are not ones that are mainstreamed, and that's what we are trying to make a culture around – not just for beneficiaries of the different services and programmes that we offer but also for frontline workers"

"Peacebuilding is a long-term investment, and we’re just at the beginning"

"A society that holds governments to account, and preaches and advocates for its own peace, is what gives me the most hope, and we're starting to see that."

"Acting is the only profession where equal opportunities do not count and where discrimination is part of the process of getting the job."

"The literal meaning of immortality is to be a god and immortality is to have your story told again and again and again, forever."

"I think whatever race, age or background that you are from you can understand the torment of love and the sacrifice of love and the competitiveness of love and the absolute agony and despair when someone chooses their own ambition and destiny over being with you which is sort of a greater betrayal as it’s not even another person that they have chosen it’s themselves that they are choosing over you."

"Doing the classics is a very muscular, a very athletic undertaking, you have to be very fit for it."

"I think that you have to differentiate between talent and casting and not let the fact that you’re not cast for something make that mean a judgment on your talent because it isn’t. You have to separate them."

"Canadian theatre artists like Donna Michelle St Bernard and Djanet Sears also inspire me. Donald Leungo Molosi is a bright star and light."

"I have a few artists that inspired me at very pivotal points in my life. John Kani was my inspiration to become an actor in the first place."

"They taught me so much and had more confidence in me than I had in myself."

"“Driving our economy through knowledge will replace our dependence on a mineral-driven endowment”"

""Libraries will remain critical in this journey to the milestone years of 2030 and 2063”"

"I’m extremely excited and confident because, like other African countries, Botswana has a very youthful population. The younger generation is less inhibited in their use of technology and are willing to take risks in experimental areas of their lives. They are breaking barriers that were there before in terms of access to new knowledge, innovative technologies, and markets. They are able to hybridize what they know and create new fusions that are becoming beneficial. For example, the fusion between music, clothing, and film allows young artists to move between different workspaces. They can hold multiple jobs as DJs, fashion designers, voiceover artists, filmmakers, and product developers, multiplying their skills and income opportunities."

"Community-based natural resource management has also been important, especially in the Okavango Delta, where indigenous skills like mokoro poling are being brought into the tourism market. We’ve seen young people venture into using indigenous products like leather and the palm tree to make products that are now going into a more global space through online marketing platforms."

"However, their biggest challenge is protecting their products, as there are many perils that make them extremely vulnerable. We need a regulatory framework to ensure they can continue protecting their resources and knowledge."

"It’s important that whatever innovation we are developing is done ethically and sustainably so that it can continue benefiting communities positively. This is especially critical when dealing with challenges like access to clean water and safe birth technologies, which can transform the lives of women and children."

"In terms of land management, Botswana has an interesting system where people have access to both rural agrarian land and urban land. The government has ensured that young people who have inherited land can use it as capital for agribusiness and tourism. They can have a traditional cattle post on part of the land and develop the other part into cultural villages or eco-villages."

"There has been an explosion of new talent and creativity, taking what has been the traditional marketplace and moving it into a global export platform. In the music scene, young people have used indigenous languages to create new music genres like Amapiano, gaining global visibility."

"“Libraries have come a long way from the village community hub centered on the baobab tree and the European-style buildings of colonialism,”"

"In the culinary world, Botswana chefs are promoting the country’s cuisine globally. Young entrepreneurs are manufacturing beauty products for black skin that are entering global markets. They are becoming boundary less in their innovation, enterprising, and partnering to ensure their products reach beyond Botswana’s borders."

"Innovation involves bringing together ideas, research, development, financing, and commercialisation. It looks good when it has a positive impact on people’s lives. In Botswana, which has been driven mainly by the diamond mining sector, innovation means ensuring that key value chain beneficiaries are the communities in and around where the resources come from, and that these technical solutions are sustainable and won’t bring negative impacts on the environment and livelihoods."

"A transformative investment has been the digitalization of the education sector during and post-COVID, ensuring all young people have access to technology, including electrification and Wi-Fi in villages."