23rd June, 2016
Carolyn Seaman, a Nigerian campaigner has emerged the winner of the United State of America based World Pulse’s prize to promote and amplify women’s voices.
Seaman was the only African selected from 30 other women who recently participated in the World Pulse’s signature training program, Voices of Our Future.
The program provides an-intensive eight-week training in digital skills so that women worldwide may sharpen their vision and ignite change in their own communities.
“World Pulse is a Women’s Social Networking Platform for Change: amplifying women’s voices and visions in order to speed up change and improve the lives of millions around the world,” a statement by the organization said.
Other winners of the award are Sadaf Kashif of Pakistan and Urmila Chanam of India.
Their work was “selected to receive a $1, 500 prize and full promotion on WorldPulse.com and its marketing and media channels, in order to bring greater visibility to the issues of child marriage, girls’ empowerment and menstruation,” the organisation’s statement said.
Carolyn Seaman’s “Make Girls Voices Count” campaign will entail a radio series aimed at mobilizing community action toward girls’ empowerment. Each episode will feature an audio story about a local girl’s life, a brief discussion where Seaman and several colleagues discuss the story, and a call-in session for questions and comments from listeners.
Beyond the radio show itself, comic-book style animations for social media and the usage of #MakeGirlsVoicesCount will further the digital outreach of the campaign. Seeking to empower adolescent girls, Seaman’s goal is “to teach girls to use their voices to influence their lives, and to raise community awareness about the plight of young girls who are married too young and denied educational and job opportunities.”