MKU student Benazir Yusuf blogs and wins trip to World Bank, IMF meetings

Mount Kenya University (MKU) student Benazir Mohammed Yusuf left for Washington DC on April 13 to attend the IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings.

The meetings will take place from April 20 to 22.

The fully paid trip, which ends on 23 April, is her reward for emerging one of the three winners of the World Bank’s “Blog4Dev Contest 2018”.

The trip helps young people to network with other youth across the world, and gives them a chance to learn more about development issues.

Her winning blog was selected out of over 1,000 blogs.

It masterfully addressed the common topic, “What it would take to end Gender-Based Violence”.

Diarietou Gaye, World Country Director for Eritrea, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, congratulated Benazir and informed her that, after the Washington meeting: “You will participate in a conversation with Government of Kenya officials sometime in May this year”.

Benazir, a Bachelor of Education Arts student, hails from North-Eastern Kenya where, she says, “women have been side-lined and denied opportunities to participate in decision making”.

“This year’s World Bank’s blog competition offered me the chance to share my story,” she says.

“My blog focused on female genital mutilation, rampant in the area, and how to set up community centres where survivors can get assistance.”

A teacher at a girls’ high school in Garissa County, she also runs a community-based organisation called Silver Lining Kenya, www.silverliningke.org. 

It aims at upgrading the life of the pastoralist community, with a focus on women’s and girls’ unique needs.

The second-year Distance and Institution-Based Learning (DIBL) student says the World Bank award is a great opportunity for her to explore and learn more.

“As a gender activist, I will network with and learn from the people I shall meet during the Washington Spring meetings. This is also an opportunity for me to develop my skills as a blogger and pursue my dream of becoming a writer one day,” she says.