Statement in Solidarity with Nobel Women’s Initiative Outgoing Staff

We, the undersigned, are former employees, consultants, and interns of the Nobel Women’s Initiative serving the organization between 2007–2020.

We are troubled that the lack of organizational reforms needed within the Nobel Women’s Initiative has led to seven staff and consultants collectively resigning, including all the women of colour. We stand in solidarity with them.

Each one of us felt privileged to work with the Nobel Women’s Initiative, supporting its mission of peace, justice, and equality. However, these same values were not always directed inwards towards staff, interns, consultants, and volunteers.

Over the years, many of us expressed concerns about our well-being or the well-being of our colleagues, in different ways and through different forums. Many of us felt we lacked a safe space or mechanism to fully share the issues we faced or witnessed. Some that did, faced repercussions. While at the time some action was taken to address the concerns we shared, what was required was reform within Nobel Women’s Initiative to address systemic issues within the organization’s culture and structure.

We regret that we did not speak out more and demand transformative change, as this brave group of individuals did before and after their resignations at the Nobel Women’s Initiative. We stand with them and echo their call for deep organizational transformation at the Nobel Women’s Initiative.

We hope that this will be a moment of growth for the organization so that it can fully support women’s rights activists, both globally, as well as here at home.

This is our truth. We will not be taking media inquiries at this time.

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Aissa Boodhoo

Ashley Armstrong

Aysha Ali

Claire Gummo

Diana Sarosi

Ellie Goldney

Elly Adeland

Emma Morris

Fernanda de Castro Boria

Dr. Kirsten Van Houten

Maggi Quadrini

Mariam Sabbah

Megan Daigle

Natalie Claireaux

Neha Sree Tadepalli

Paula Popescu

Rosella Chibambo

Sarah Hedges-Chou

Saralyn McIver, PhD

Sara Walde

Tori Roberts

Vanessa Baker-Murray

Vi Bui

Yasmine Abu-Ayyash

Zuzia Danielski

Added on August 6, 2020:

Alex Lomax

Courtney Young

Helen Zhou

Rachel Urban Shipley

Sheena McDonald

Stephanie Li

Yee Mon Htun

Added on August 7, 2020:

Augie Van Biljouw

Lesley Hoyles

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Email: collectivecareteam@gmail.com