Naana Otoo-Oyortey

Last updated
Naana Otoo-Oyortey
Naana Otoo-Oyortey crop.jpg
in 2019
Alma mater University of Sussex
Employer(s) International Planned Parenthood Federation
Foundation for Women's Health, Research and Development
Known forActivism, campaigning against FGM

Naana Otoo-Oyortey is a Ghanaian social activist, the executive director of the Foundation for Women's Health, Research and Development.

Contents

Early life and education

Otoo-Oyortey was born in Ghana. [1] She completed a master's of philosophy at the University of Sussex. [2] She was a member of the Institute of Development Studies, [3] where she worked on gender issues in Ghana. [4]

Career

Otoo-Oyortey worked at the International Planned Parenthood Federation, [5] where she investigated child marriage and poverty. [6] She believes that to achieve gender equality the world must address violence against women and the socio-cultural norms that accept this behaviour. [7] She is concerned that domestic violence results in women not protecting themselves from sexually transmitted infections. [5]

Otoo-Oyortey joined the African Diaspora women-led nonprofit Foundation for Women's Health, Research and Development (FORWARD) in 1998, [8] [9] invited by the founder, Efua Dorkenoo. FORWARD is the lead agency working to end female genital mutilation (FGM) in the UK. [8] She is now executive director of the organization, and has led training initiatives for in Swahili and English for girls to become innovators against gender-based violence. [10] With FORWARD Otoo-Oyortey has conducted an ethnographic study into the experiences of people affected by FGM. [11] In 2009 Otoo-Oyortey was honoured in the 2008 Birthday Honours for "services to Human Rights Issues for Women". [12]

Launch of the annual report of Women's Participation in Decision-Making & Leadership decade. With Justina Mutale, Rainatou Sow, Naana Otoo-Oyortey and Dr Anouka van Eerdewijk Michael G Spafford's pic of Women's Participation in Decision-Making & Leadership. With Justina Mutale Rainatou Sow Naana Otoo-Oyortey and Dr Anouka van Eerdewijk.jpg
Launch of the annual report of Women's Participation in Decision-Making & Leadership decade. With Justina Mutale, Rainatou Sow, Naana Otoo-Oyortey and Dr Anouka van Eerdewijk

In 2014 Otoo-Oyortey gave a TEDx talk about women's rights and FGM. [13] That year she was included in the Evening Standard's list of London's most influential people. [14] She was part of the London Girl Summit in 2014, inviting two young African campaigners who are fighting to end child marriage in Ethiopia and Tanzania. [15] She joined the UCLH to open the FGM paediatric clinic. [16] In 2016 FORWARD was part of an end FGM march in Bristol, which Otoo-Oyortey described as a "quiet revolution". [17]

She has discussed her campaigning on Woman's Hour and at the International Observatory of Human Rights. [18] [19] She is the President of the Board of the European End FGM Network and on the Board of Trustees of ACORD. [20] [21]

References

  1. ↑ Julios, Christina (2018-09-26). Female Genital Mutilation and Social Media. Routledge. ISBN   9781351717618.
  2. ↑ "Naana Otoo-Oyortey". CFFP. Archived from the original on 2019-02-02. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  3. ↑ "Notable alumni". www.ids.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 2019-02-02. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  4. ↑ Baden, Sally (1994). Background paper on gender issues in Ghana : report prepared for the west and north Africa Department, Department for Overseas Development (DFID), UK. Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex. OCLC   50663388.
  5. 1 2 "Contraception affects women's lives". FHI 360. Archived from the original on 2019-02-02. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  6. ↑ "Early marriage and poverty: exploring links for policy and programme development. | POPLINE.org". www.popline.org. Archived from the original on 2019-02-02. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  7. ↑ "How to re-ignite real-world debates in the classroom - starting with the development gap". Tes. 2017-01-20. Archived from the original on 2019-02-02. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  8. 1 2 "Naana Otoo-Oyortey Mbe". EIGE. Archived from the original on 2019-02-02. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  9. ↑ "Meet the FORWARD team". FORWARD. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  10. ↑ Dada, Sistersact (2018-07-13). "10 minutes with Naana Otoo-Oyortey MBE". tuwezeshedada. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  11. ↑ "FGM is always with us; Experiences, Perceptions and Beliefs of Women Affected by Female Genital Mutilation in London" (PDF). Options. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  12. ↑ "Queen's Birthday Honours: Full list" . The Independent. 2008-06-13. Archived from the original on 2022-06-18. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  13. ↑ TEDx Talks (12 August 2014), Mind the gender gap | Naana Otoo-Oyortey | TEDxEustonSalon , retrieved 2019-02-01
  14. ↑ "The 1000: London's most influential people 2014 - Campaigners". Evening Standard. 2014-10-16. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  15. ↑ Otoo-Oyortey, Naana (2014-07-30). "Where were the grassroots voices at the Girl Summit?". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  16. ↑ "Community launch for FGM paediatric clinic". www.uclh.nhs.uk. Archived from the original on 2019-02-02. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  17. ↑ "Bristol youth march against FGM". the Guardian. 2016-07-20. Retrieved 2022-05-27.
  18. ↑ "Campaign Against FGM". International Observatory of Human Rights. Archived from the original on 2019-02-02. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  19. ↑ "Sheryl Crow; FGM; Eileen Atkins, Woman's Hour - BBC Radio 4". BBC. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  20. ↑ "Conference: Gender-related Vulnerabilities in the EU Asylum Procedures: Spotlight on FGM". Mediterranean Institute of Gender Studies. 2016-11-08. Archived from the original on 2019-04-23. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  21. ↑ "ACORD | About us > Governance". www.acordinternational.org. Archived from the original on December 21, 2013. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.