Shadrack Frimpong has taken part in an event chaired by Hillary Clinton on the rights of girls.
My hope is that this discussion opens the door to further conversations and actions, and galvanises other leaders to join in Cocoa360’s quest for a more equitable, dignified, and healthier world.
Shadrack Frimpong
Gates Cambridge Scholar Shadrack Frimpong has spoken on a panel chaired by former presidential nominee Hillary Clinton at Clinton Global Initiative University.
Shadrack participated in a session on 4th March in Nashville, chaired by Clinton, on Protecting the Rights of Girls and Women During Conflict and Uncertainty. He spoke about the need to combine academic research with advocacy. He says: “Anger and good intentions aren’t enough to address societal challenges. We need to employ contextual evidence to harness community voices for sustainable impact.”
Peace and Human Rights: Protecting the Rights of Girls and Women During Conflict and Uncertainty
CGI University 2023
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
In dozens of countries around the world, millions of people face a never-ending cycle of human rights violations, perpetual violence, and political instability; in the developed world, citizens face discriminatory barriers that lack a cohesive approach. Not one single society is immune from the violation of human rights, yet its impact disproportionately impacts girls and women.
Critical questions include: How can the issues that particularly affect women and girls, including the blocks that hinder women’s social, economic and political participation be addressed as emerging leaders work to promote human rights, conflict management, and post-conflict peace?
SPEAKERS
SECRETARY HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON Former U.S. Secretary of State
SHADRACK FRIMPONG Founder, Cocoa360
MICHELLE NUNN President and CEO, CARE USA
AMANDA NGUYEN CEO, Rise
Photo Credit: Beatrice Moritz / Clinton Foundation
Clinton Global Initiative University [CGI U] is the Clinton Foundation’s initiative to bring students together to develop innovative solutions to complex global challenges.
Shadrack [2020] first got involved with CGI U in 2012 as an undergraduate and attended the event every year. He says it sparked his journey to starting Cocoa360, an award-winning global health non-profit that facilitates access to education and healthcare for thousands of cocoa farming families in rural Ghana.
Shadrack’s PhD seeks to provide hard evidence of the benefits of Cocoa360’s approach in order to scale it up. That approach places decision-making in the hands of community members whose in-kind efforts generate revenues to fund educational and healthcare services.
Cocoa360 runs a campus in rural Ghana comprising a tuition-free girls’ school, a community clinic and cocoa farms whose revenues sustain the school’s operations.
Shadrack [2020] says: “Cocoa is a multi-billion-dollar industry globally, and in Ghana, it earns the country about $2 billion in export revenues annually. Yet, much of the money goes to corporations instead of the 1.6 million cocoa farmers like my parents and family members. My hope is that this discussion opens the door to further conversations and actions, and galvanises other leaders to join in Cocoa360’s quest for a more equitable, dignified, and healthier world.”
*Read more about the event here.
