Vivian Onano
Vivian Onano
Vivian Onano is an African activist and social entrepreneur from Kenya who advocates for girls' education and end of child marriage in Africa. She is the founder and director of the Leading Light Initiative, an organization aimed at alleviating poverty by providing opportunities tailored to youth, women, and disabled individuals.
"The recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals are actually our objectives as young people and we can no longer be sidelined in the discussions around execution and implementation because we are the ones who are going to live through them"
"We young people of today are innovative, enthusiastic, and solution-oriented. But for us to be better advocates, we also need support from all stakeholders to ensure quality education and healthcare, civic empowerment, and peace"
"To achieve prosperity, everyone has to have a seat at the table when decisions are made. And there is no more important voice as that of youth. From unemployment to poverty to child marriage to violence, just to mention a few, we are the ones on the ground grappling with these issues"
"Young people have the task to mobilize and decentralize information on why achieving gender equality is a win overall for humanity. Technology has made it very easy for us to advocate both offline and online, share best practices and form synergies across continents"
"Gender equality is a prerequisite for making sustainable development a reality. As young people, we have to inform ourselves and passionately advocate and work to address the barriers hindering equality for all"
"Young people are the future of our communities and for us to thrive socially, economically, and politically, we have to ensure that everyone plays their role effectively. That is not possible without achieving gender equality"
"I see more young people equipping themselves with the right kind of information. This is critical as it allows us to both be impactful in our advocacy and to be taken seriously"
"Achieving gender equality is more than 50-50 representation; it is also about recognizing and respecting women’s rights as human rights, treating women with dignity, offering them equal opportunities to participate fully in the socioeconomic and political development of their individual countries"
"in defending women’s rights, men are actually preserving their own dignity"
"It is really important for us as young people to be better equipped with the right knowledge and network so that we can actively engage with policy makers and diverse stakeholders in the pursuit of gender quality"
"without access to education, it is impossible to make gender equality a reality"
