Ambassador: Aminka Belvitt , Canada
Aminka founded the ForUsGirls Foundation as a platform to develop the leadership skills and capacity of young people living in Canada and Jamaica. Since 2015, ForUsGirls has positively impacted almost 5,000 girls. The Foundation provides mentorship, leadership, empowerment and skill-based development for marginalised girls, helping them become a community and aspire to be global feminist leaders in all areas of society. It does this through a weekly 13 unit mentorship and leadership programme in local schools and community spaces. This programme covers a wide range of topics including entrepreneurship, digital literacy, career planning and web development. ForUsGirls tailors its programmes towards helping girls from underprivileged backgrounds, empowering them with knowledge and skills that are otherwise difficult to access.
After attending the One Young World 2016 Ottawa Summit, ForUsGirls Foundation became international, bringing the programme from Canada to Jamaica. ForUsGirls sponsors five primary schools in rural Jamaica to help increase the opportunities available to the children studying there. Graduates of the ForUsGirls leadership programme have gone on to receive academic excellence awards and win higher education scholarships. ForUsGirls also runs a Tech Summit in New York City called ‘A NEW REALITY’, where girls from marginalised communities are encouraged to think innovatively to solve problems. The 2018 Tech Summit was attended by 200 girls and the second edition is due to take place in May 2019. ForUsGirls also runs summer camps to develop the leadership capacity of young girls, and to encourage them to take up STEM subjects at school.