Yande Banda

Yande is a vibrant and passionate 17 year-old girls’ rights activist from Zambia. She is the Co-Chairperson of Transform Education, a youth-led coalition hosted by the United Nations Girls Education initiative. Yande is also the youngest member of the Adolescent Girls’ Advisory Council under the Global Fund for Women. In 2019, Yande co-authored an open letter to social media companies, in collaboration with Plan International Global, to end online harassment. This open letter accumulated over 60,000 signatures and resulted in tangible changes in social media policy. She is also an active member of the adolescents mobilisation team of UN Women to advocate for adolescent engagement, education, girls and women's rights issues.

Yande has presented her work on multiple international forums and has represented her causes at meetings with the Deputy Secretary General of the UN, Miss. Amina J Mohammed, Germany's Education Ministry and special envoys of the UK government.

One action Yande would like everyone to take:

"Funding the work of young activists is crucial. We must prioritise compensating girl activists for their work, expertise and for the resources they put into their advocacy."

You can follow Yande on Instagram and find out more about her work in this article.