Founder, She Writes Women, Hauwa Ojeifo, has been awarded as 2020 Goalkeepers Global Goals Changemaker by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for the continually outstanding work on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Goal 5, Gender Equality, and Goal 3, Good Health and wellbeing with her organisation.
The Changemaker Award is given by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and celebrates the achievement of an individual who has inspired Goal related change using their personal experience or from a position of leadership. The foundation awards young leaders dedicated to accelerating progress towards the Global Goals.
She Writes woman is a movement of love, hope, and support that gives mental health a voice in Nigeria. It started in 2016 after Hauwa Ojeifo was diagnosed with Bipolar and Post-traumatic stress disorder with suicidal ideations. The organisation aims to provide Safe Places for people living with mental health conditions and survivors of sexual violence through open, honest conversations led with empathy and shared experiences.
Since start, Hauwa Ojeifo has received the 2018 Queen’s Young Leaders Award, Obama Africa Leadership Award, 2018 Viacom MTV EMA Generation Change, and many others. She is currently a one young world ambassador and has spoken several times at the United Nations.
Speaking on the recognition, Ojeifo said: “It is an honour to be awarded this prestigious award by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. More than anything, I am privileged to use my story to amplify the voices of people like me living with mental health conditions. If I ever wondered if the work we do at She Writes Woman mattered, this would be the answer.”
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. The foundation empowers the poorest to transform their lives, combats infectious diseases that affect the poorest, and inspire people to take action to change the world.
