Mission: To amplify the voices of indigenous women who have been displaced by the Porgera mine and experienced sexual violence at the hands of employees of the mine.

Profile: Cressida grew up in Porgera, a world-class gold mining area located in the center of Papua New Guinea. In this land monopolized by Canadian and Chinese mining companies, assaults and violence against local residents, especially women, by the mining companies are rampant, and numerous human rights violations have been reported. Her brother was also a victim of violence and murdered by a mining company employee. Cressida herself has been sexually assaulted multiple times.

 In response to these horrific experiences, Cressida established the Porgera Red Women’s Association in 2014 to protect the lives, heritage, and culture of the indigenous people, especially women who have become victims of sexual violence. She is a community leader of 5,000 women victims, and her organization works to raise awareness of the situation in the region to the world, advocate for change with governments and mining companies, and improve the lives of victims through education and job training.

Mission: To strengthen local actors fighting against impunity, building cultures based on accountability, justice, equality, willingness to learn from past violations.

Profile: Galuh has worked on gender, peace, and conflict issues since the 1990s. Together with individuals from Timor Leste, she co-founded the country’s first NGO to support women victims of rape in Dili, in 1996. Since then, she has specialized in human rights issues, working at the international human rights NGO Oxfam and the United Nations Human Rights Committee.

In 2012, she returned to Indonesia and co-founded Asia Justice and Rights, and has continuously managed support programs in Indonesia, Timor Leste, and Myanmar, providing rehabilitation training for victims of human rights. Galuh continues to pursue change for peace and justice across the region and beyond.

Mission: To work with local farmers, especially women, to give them a chance to improve their incomes and climate resilience through value chain integration

Profile: After graduating from college, Lastiana started her career working in various international NGOs. Falling in love with the agro-forestry industry, and learning about the issues of poverty among farmers and women at the age of 23, she founded ALIET GREEN – a social enterprise aiming to empower women through agricultural business.

ALIET GREEN provides training in organic farming to smallholder farmers, buys their crops at above-market prices, and sells them to markets in the US and EU. ALIET GREEN partners with 1539 smallholder farmers, of which 96% are women and 1% are people with disabilities, with an aim of promoting gender equality and inclusivity in society through agriculture.

Additionally, they are working to restore 500 hectares of land that had been degraded by erosion and landslides, through regenerative agriculture methods.

Mission: Breaking taboos about toilets and providing safe and secure toilets in Mongolia

Profile:  Oyungerel grew up in a small rural town in Mongolia, which was strongly influenced by Soviet Union and communism. She studied economics at a university in Moscow, but following the collapse of the Soviet Union, she became an activist to expand democracy in Mongolia. She was a member of parliament from 2012 until16, serving under the Minister of Culture and Tourism.

In rural Mongolia, most toilets are located outside, unsanitary and dangerous places where children can fall into. In 2017, she launched the “Let’s Change Our Toilets” campaign to break a taboo on toilets in Mongolia and spread safe and secure toilets.

Mission: LEARN Afghanistan is a non-profit dedicated to innovation in education, health, community resource building with a focus on women, girls and child rights advocacy.

Profile: Pashtana Durrani is an Afghan feminist, activist, and educator. At the age of 21, she became the head of her family following her father’s passing. By then she had already founded LEARN Afghanistan, the country’s first-ever digital school network.  Forced into exile by the Taliban takeover in 2021 she is currently a visiting fellow at Wellesley Centers for Women while continuing to provide education for hundreds of girls in Afghanistan despite the current ban on them attending school.

Mission: Sustainable Ocean Alliance (SOA) activates young people, develops and implements innovative solutions, and mobilizes an ocean workforce to restore the health of the ocean in our lifetime.      

Profile: After witnessing communities forcefully displaced due to rising sea levels on TV, Vinzealhar (Vinzy) decided to become an environmental activist – at the age of nine – with the sole purpose of helping those affected by such a disaster. For the past 17 years, she has continued to raise awareness and educate as many young people as possible to understand the significance, and act on, the issue of climate change.

Vinzy founded the Papua New Guinea chapter of Sustainable Ocean Alliance, which brings opportunities for young people in Papua New Guinea – known for low school attendance and literacy – to learn about climate change; forest and biodiversity conservation; and ocean wealth through traditional learning methods such as art, music, and sports.