Akosua Dardaine | Nina Young Women’s Leadership Programe
| akosua.dardaine@gmail.com |
| What’s the name of your business, nonprofit or project? |
| Nina Young Women’s Leadership Programe |
| What city and country is your business, nonprofit or project located in? |
| Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago |
| Link to Your Website (if applicable) |
| http://ninaleaders.com |
| Links to Your Social Media Pages (if applicable) |
| @akosuadedwards |
| Describe your business, nonprofit or project, and the products and/or services you offer? |
| The NiNa Young Women’s Leadership Programme (NiNa) provides life skills, and tools to build self-value in young women within the state care system who are under 18 and those transitioning from the state care system at the age of 18. For the past nine years, the NiNa programme has worked with young ladies from the St. Jude’s Home for Girls to help them to develop coping skills to manage their emotional trauma and to develop sustainable enterprises so that they can become independent.NiNa has been at the forefront of providing these young women with the necessary skills and support to thrive while making the transition back into mainstream society. This initiative aims to expand NiNa’s impact by further integrating human rights and democratic governance principles into its programming, thereby fostering a more inclusive and equitable society, raising awareness on the challenges of transition to inform and support policy change, and building the capacity of the support networks. |
| Are you Caribbean or African, or of Caribbean or African descent? If you are, please tell us details. |
| Caribbean descent hailing from Trinidad and Tobago |
| Do you think your Caribbean or African upbringing/heritage has impacted your work? If so, please explain how. |
| Having grown up with a grandmother who practised and believed in honoring the Village and the ancestors and being of service, this instilled in me a strong sense of community which has impacted how I show up in the world. |
| How does your work positively impact culture + community? |
| Building a support system and network for young women who have experienced many different forms of neglect, Gender and Family violence and abandonment has strengthened the community by instilling in these young women a sense or confidence, self love and pride in both themselves, their environment and by extension the world |
| How should potential customers and persons interested in networking & partnerships contact you? |
| akosua.dardaine@gmail.com |
| What message of hope or inspiration would you like to share with other women in our community who are also pursuing their dreams? |
| The fulfilling of dreams calls for a tremendous amount of self-belief, consistency, discipline and balance. I have learnt that paying attention to our self-talk is so important, taking time to know and remember who we are especially as women and black women, paying attention to who is in our circle and holding ourselves accountable to build strong pillars in achieving what we set out to achieve, and to top it all off is paying attention to that divine guidance which absolutely never fails us. |
