Hafsat Abiola

Hafsat Abiola, Willem Dafoe and Bianca Jagger (from left) at the Dropping Knowledge "Table of Free Voices" in Berlin , September 2006

Hafsat Abiola (* 1974 in Lagos ) is a Nigerian activist for human rights and democracy .

Life

She is the seventh child of Moshood Abiola , who won Nigeria's first democratic elections in 1993 but was then imprisoned and died in prison shortly before his release in 1998. Her mother, Alhaja Kudirat Abiola , became involved in the democracy movement after her husband was imprisoned and was murdered during a demonstration in 1996 for her husband's release. Hafsat Abiola founded the Kudirat Initiative for Democracy (KIND) organization in her honor , of which she is also the director.

Abiola attended the Philips Academy in Andover , Massachusetts from 1989 to 1992 , from which she graduated with a cum laude . She graduated from Harvard University with a degree in economics in 1997. She then co-organized the Special Olympics and chaired the International African Students Association for two years .

After her long stay in the USA, she returned to Nigeria in 1999 to train young women with her organization KIND. In 2005 she married a British diplomat, has been called Hafsat Abiola-Costello since then, is a mother and lives in Beijing. In 2008 she founded the organization CAB (China Africa Bridge) there, which she heads today.

Hafsat Abiola travels all over the world to give lectures. In Germany she was last at the 30th German Evangelical Church Congress , where she asked Chancellor Gerhard Schröder to cancel Nigeria's debts.

Memberships

• Kudirat Initiative for Democracy , founder and managing director
• World Future Council , Commissioner
• Institute of Noetic Sciences , International Advisory Board
• World Wisdom Council , which the Club of Budapest cooperates
• Women's Learning Partnership , Board Member (Treasurer)
• Educate Girls Globally , board member
• Global Security Institute , Board of Advisors
• Global Youth Connect , Co-Founder / Steering Committee
• Vital Voices , Global Advisory Council

Awards

• Cambridge Peace Commission Youth Peace and Justice Award , 1997
• State of the World Forum Changemaker Award , 1998
• Woman to Watch for Award from the Association for Women in Development, 1999
• Global Leader of Tomorrow Award from the World Economic Forum, 2000
• Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Global Award , 2001
• Ashoka Fellow , 2003
• Haverford College , 2003 Honorary Doctorate

literature

• Paula Goldmann / Hafsat Abiola (eds.): Imagining Ourselves. Global voices from a new generation of women , Novato (USA) 2006. ISBN 1-5773152-4-3
• Global Marshall Plan Initiative (Ed.): Impulses for a world in balance. Global Marshall Plan Foundation, Hamburg 2005, ISBN 3-9809723-2-1
• David Krieger (Ed.): Hope in a Dark Time: Reflections on Humanity's Future. Capra Press, o. O. 2003, ISBN 1-5926600-5-3
• Michael Collopy / Walter Cronkite (Eds.): Architects of Peace: Visions of Hope in Words and Images , New World Library, 2002, ISBN 1-5773123-1-7

Web links

• World Future Council: Short biography