Vaughan teen Canadian ambassador for global girl power

Yorkregion.com
Dec. 17, 2014
By Adam Martin-Robbins

To say the past year has been a whirlwind for Hannah Godefa is, well, a bit of an understatement.

Since last December, the 17-year-old St. Elizabeth Secondary School student has served as a keynote speaker, panelist or moderator for at least 10 major events; many of them on the international stage featuring top-ranking government officials, business leaders and top advocates from the non-profit sector.

Godefa’s bustling schedule began last December in New York City where, through her role as UNICEF National Ambassador to Ethiopia, she moderated the appointment of celebrated pop star Katy Perry as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.

A month later, she hosted an interactive discussion about investing in girl empowerment with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Rwandan president Paul Kagame, Norwegian Prime Minister, Erna Solberg and a slew of other power brokers at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Around the same time, Godefa and Solberg co-authored an op-ed piece - titled Teach a girl, enrich the world -for CNN about ways to improve conditions for girls around the world.

After that, Godefa travelled to Dubai for the Global Education and Skills Forum where she spoke, as part of a panel, about education disparities in Africa.

In early May, she headed to Oslo, Norway for the Partnership For Change Conference where she talked, in part, about her Pencil Mountain initiative, which has delivered more than 500,000 pencils and other school supplies to children in Ethiopia.

Later that month, Godefa delivered a keynote speech at the Saving Every Woman, Every Child: Within Arm’s Reach international summit, which focused on maternal, newborn and child health.

That event, held in Toronto, was co-hosted by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete.

Godefa then travelled to Geneva, Switzerland, in early July, to speak at a meeting of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, a body of independent experts that monitors implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, first adopted in 1979.

“They were looking to revise it and make any amendments given the recent issues and practices that have come to light such as FGM (female genital mutilation) and child marriage so it was great not just to speak there but to be a part of changing history and looking at the law that has been in place for so many years,” she said.

Then it was off to London, England to speak alongside actress Freida Pinto, of Slumdog Millionaire fame, and others at the inaugural, Girl Summit, which focused on efforts to end female genital mutilation and child marriage.

Following that, Godefa spoke at the G(irls) 20 Summit, in Sydney, Australia in August.

She was also part of a roundtable with Canada’s Governor General David Johnston in September and spoke at the Strong Girls, Strong World Summit at Toronto’s Central Technical School in October.

Most recently, in November, Godefa went to New York to moderate a panel discussion on the State of the World’s Children Report, held following a celebration commemorating the 25th anniversary of the UN’s Convention on the Rights of a Child.

And, on top of all that, she spent time in Ethiopia, in August, following up on work being done through The Hannah Godefa Foundation including construction of a youth centre in for vocational training and education with a focus on equipping girls with valuable skills such as sewing or midwifery.

To date, she’s raised about $11,000 toward that project.

“I think it’s important that every girl and every person in the community can be educated as opposed to having to leave their home or their country to work,” she said. “I’m still working on it and still fundraising."

Of all those events, Godefa said, the World Economic Forum was definitely a high point.

“There were so many CEOs and business leaders who were able to speak that day and say they had invested in girls through their various CSRs (Corporate Social Responsibility programs) and non-profit organizations that they hand funded and that it had made a difference in the community,” she said. “And that they felt they were getting a return on their investment was really inspiring to me because they were not necessarily obligated to give, they saw it purely as a business venture and they were able to see a return on their investment."

The maternal health summit in Toronto was also a highlight, she said.

“It was nice to see our own government taking a stand on a very important issue and this is our Canadian legacy giving back to this very, very important issue,” she said. “To be a mother in Canada is a very fortunate opportunity and we take care of our mothers here, but that’s not the case everywhere else around the world.”

Hannah’s father, Godefa Asegahagn is, understandably, quite proud.

“These are just a few things she’s done; I can tell you so many other things that she has done. In Ethiopia, she has visited hospitals and clinics and health centres and she travelled very far, by boat, to go see children,” he said.

“The city of Vaughan should be proud of their daughter and Canada should be proud of what she is doing.”

For her part, the soft-spoken teen hopes that her advocacy work will, one day, help put an end to the practices of female genital mutilation and child marriage.

“I’d definitely like to see more countries around the world take a stance on a development issue and completely work their efforts toward tackling them and for those two issues - FGM and child marriage - to be practices that children, years from now, don’t even know existed,” she said. “And I’d also like for businesses to follow the example of the leaders at Davos, like Paul Polman from Unilever, who has dedicated so much of his time and investment to girls. If more business leaders can take that stance and see that investing in girls is not just a moral issue or something to do because it’s a good cause, but it actually will give a return on the investment.”
To find out more, visit hannahgodefa.com.