Beyond
Suffrage
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Measurable progress towards achieving gender equality at board level in the charity sector is being made – however, women of colour continue to be consistently underrepresented in senior leadership roles and at board level. This applies not only in the voluntary sector, but across all the sectors in the UK.
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The aim of Beyond Suffrage is to significantly increase the number of women from ethnic minority backgrounds serving on boards by 2030. Through the Beyond Suffrage Training Programme and Campaign, we will support high potential young women from ethnic minority backgrounds, aged between 18 and 25, by providing them with 12-weeks' training to become charity trustees. We will also be campaigning for better representation of women of colour at board level.
Our approach involves combining research, programme
delivery and multi-stakeholder engagement, to create and deliver high impact activities that benefit individual participants, whilst simultaneously contributing towards systems change.
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London based charity? Contact us to find out more about placing one of our young trustees on your board.
Meet the inaugural
LDN2020 Cohort
Khadija Owusu, 23
Khadija is in her penultimate year of medical school, and was the recipient of the 2019 Akindolie Medical Scholarship. She is currently involved in the development of an elective equipment fund at university, that will help with the evaluation of healthcare resources in low-income countries.
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Skill: Medical
Shwetal Shah, 25
Originally from India, Shwetal moved to London in 2013 and was granted a Tech Nation Exceptional Talent visa for her work in tech. She is actively involved in promoting diversity and inclusion in the tech sector, and was featured on Forbes Asia's 30 Under 30 list and the Financial Times Top 100 BME tech list.
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Skill: Tech (Digital)
Nyasha Duri, 23
Nyasha currently works for civic technology charity, mySociety and is also currently completing a MSc in International Humanitarian Affairs with Human Rights Law. Nyasha also volunteers for a feminist economics empowerment initiative in Zimbabwe and previously had the opportunity to take part in the Girls20 programme.
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Skill: Gender Equality
Dishita Shah, 21
Dishita was unable to study a computer science degree at university due to being ineligible for student loan finance. As a result, she founded her own tech venture and subsequently had the opportunity to take part in a funded trip to Silicon Valley, where she was mentored by senior executives from tech companies, including Headspace.
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Skill: Tech (Digital)
Sukhdip Några, 19
Sukhdip is currently a volunteer at Girl Guiding UK, and is a delegate of the National Young Women's Council and British Youth Council. Sukhdip is also currently completing her A-Levels and plans to study Politics and International Relations when she goes to university.
Skills: Gender Equality
Rebecca Olukun, 25
Rebecca is a paralegal at Cancer Research UK. In addition to this, she is also a member of Cancer Research UK's Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) working group – assisting the Corporate Resource Leadership team to develop and promote best practice.
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Skills: Legal and EDI
Rini Jones, 25
Rini is an Oxford graduate and has previously worked for Médecins Sans Frontières and volunteered for Lawyers Without Borders. She now currently works for Hospice UK in a policy and advocacy role.
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Skills: Policy and Advocacy
Lola Ola, 25
Lola currently works for a tech company completing digital transformation projects. She is a One Young World Ambassador and was also listed in the Financial Times: Empower's Top 50 Inspirational Ethnic Minority Future Leaders and Tech Women Top 100 Leaders
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Skills: Tech (Digital)
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Bola Ajose, 24
Bola taught herself how to code and now works as a facilitator at gender empowerment social enterprise, Stemettes – helping to run digital projects and promoting the inclusion of young women in STEM.
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Key skill: Tech (Digital)
Natalie John, 24
Natalie currently works for the Charity Finance Group. In addition to this, she is passionate about sustainability, climate action and ethical trade.
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Skills: Charity Finance
Alice Olafare,24
Alice is a chartered accountant, currently working for accountancy firm, PWC. She is also the co-founder of an initiative that is working to increase the number of ethnic minorities in the accounting profession.
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Key skill: Finance
Annalisa Mensah, 23
Annalisa is a future trainee solicitor at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner. She is also currently working on a charitable initiative, Nehemiah Nation, the aim of which is to bring electricity to underserved schools in the Central Region of Ghana.
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Key Skills: Legal
