Today in honor of International Day of Women & Girls in Science (February 11, 2021), we want to commend Gwaliwa Mashaka for her work promoting women’s participation in the energy sector. Gwaliwa founded Women in Energy Africa, an organization that promotes gender diversity and disability inclusion in the African energy sector and helps young female leaders, including women with disabilities, access resources and support to become more successful.
She founded Employable Africa, a social enterprise that supports people with disabilities to be more successful in their studies, employment, and independent living. Gwaliwa launched Employable Africa in 2018, building on her experience from the U.S.-sponsored Mandela Washington Fellowship, where she had the opportunity to study in the United States and see the kind of support students with disabilities receive at universities there. Gwaliwa is always striving to take her activism to the next level, participating in the U.S. Professional Fellows exchange program in 2018 and the Power Africa Fellowship in 2019, a USAID- sponsored initiative that brings together emerging female innovators in the African energy sector to support sustainability.
#DiversityMatters #AccessforAll #YALI2016