Women Changemakers

Laura Alonso is a politician and institutional consultant. She is currently the spokesperson for the city government of Buenos Aires. She has been recently elected state-deputy (2025-2029). She was twice elected national deputy (2209- 2015). She directed the Anti-Corruption Office of Argentina (2015-2019). During her tenure, Argentina reached its best score in the Corruption Perceptions Index of Transparency International. She directed the legal team that investigated former Presidents and ministers in corruption cases. The majority were prosecuted and found guilty. She co-chaired the G20 Anti-Corruption Group in 2018 and was a mission chief to the OECD Anti-Bribery Group. Laura promoted several laws related to transparency and anticorruption. She is one of the co-founders of the consulting firm Línea Final in 2023, specializing in strategy and communication for the development of political and corporate leadership. She was selected Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2012 and received an award by Vital Voices Global Partnership in 2008 for her public leadership.

Dr. Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings is currently a third-term Member of Parliament for the Klottey-Korle Constituency in the Republic of Ghana serving as a member of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) Party. Committed to environmental activism and as a strong advocate of inclusivity and empowerment for all people, she serves as the Chairperson of the Select Committee on Security and Intelligence, a Member of the Defence and Interior Committee and the Committee on Petitions.

Anna is a two-term Member of the Parliament in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) who served from 2019 to 2024. Concurrently, she was also the Bangsamoro Attorney General and, prior to this, the Assistant Cabinet Secretary of the Bangsamoro Government. In Parliament, she was Deputy Floor Leader and the Chair of the Committee on Accounts, in charge of the budget and all matters related to the running of the Parliament. Before joining the Parliament, she served as Deputy Executive Director of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos, the government agency tasked to serve the particular needs of the minority Muslims of the Philippines. She also headed the legal team of the negotiating panel representing the Philippine Government during the critical parts of the peace process with the revolutionary group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which ultimately led to the signing of the peace pact. She later became a member of the peace panel representing the MILF. She continues to serve as an advisor and consultant on matters covering Bangsamoro governance and the peace process, women, peace, and security, and Islamic finance.

Aya Chebbi is a Pan-African feminist and diplomat. She is the founder of Nalafem, one of Africa’s largest multigenerational alliances of women politicians and activists united towards transformative feminist change. She served as the African Union’s first Special Envoy on Youth from 2018 to 2021. Aya has served in various capacities, including the World Refugee Council, the WHO Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, Progressive International Council, and the Oxfam Independent Commission on Sexual Misconduct. She received the 2019 Gates Foundation Campaign Award and was named in Forbes’ Africa’s 50 Most Powerful Women and New African Magazine List of 100 Most Influential Africans.

Dedetas made history in 2024 by becoming the first woman to become the mayor of the Üsküdar Municipality in Istanbul. Before becoming mayor, Dedetas served as the head of the Chamber of Turkish Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (GMO). In 2023, Dedetas was elected head of the Waterborne Transport Committee of the International Association of Public Transport (UITP). From 2014 to 2016, Dedetas was head of the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB). In 2019, she made history as the first female general manager of Istanbul City Lines Inc., a subsidiary of IBB. Her tenure saw a 295% increase in female employment.

Anna Júlia Donáth was elected as a Momentum Movement (part of the Renew Europe group) Member of the European Parliament (MEP) in the 2019 European Parliament election. Donáth was the leader of the party from November 2021 to May 2022, and also from January to July 2024. In 2018, during a protest, she was taken by the police and became a symbol of the fight for fundamental rights in Hungary. In the European Parliament, she focuses mainly on issues linked to the rule of law, non-discrimination, the integration of people with Romani backgrounds, shrinking civic space and media freedom.

Sylwia Gregorczyk-Abram is an attorney-at-law and social activist, working with NGOs on developing a democratic civil society and protecting the rule of law in the Polish justice system. She is Co-Founder of the Justice Defense Committee and the Free Courts Foundation, both of which monitor and archive political pressure on judges and lawyers, giving them legal aid. Sylwia was appointed by the Prime Minister of Poland to serve as Chairwoman of the Committee for Clarification of the Mechanisms of Repression against Civil Society Organisations and Social Activists from 2015–2023. She regularly participates in legislative processes in Poland’s Parliament as an expert in parliamentary Constitutional Governance and Reform of the Justice System groups. She also presents on the state of the Polish justice system to the European Commission. The winner of the “Golden Paragraph” in the category of the best lawyer in Poland, in 2016 she received the Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year Award, she was also included in the Forbes ranking of “The most influential women in Poland” for 2020.

Hon. Joanah Mamombe is a Member of Parliament in Zimbabwe’s National Assembly representing Harare West Constituency in her second term. She was first elected in 2018 becoming Zimbabwe’s youngest MP. She is an executive member of Zimbabwe’s largest opposition party, Citizens Coalition for Change Party. She currently serves as the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Environment, Climate, Wildlife and Tourism and the Vice Chairperson of the board on Africa Network of Parliamentarians on Climate Change. Hon. Mamombe is a recipient of the One Young World Politician of the Year Award (2020). She is a current candidate of the Master of Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford.

Khadijah is known for her philanthropic and gender balanced youth development advocacy. She has co-founded numerous social impact initiatives, including Water Relief Nigeria, Help Our Youth (HOY), To Better Nigeria & Project: Bridge the Gap. Khadijah is a member of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) and has been featured as one of the Top 50 Women in Marketing & Communication in Nigeria.

Nour Salam is a human rights activist and defender of women’s rights. Along with being a member of the Syrian Women’s Political Movement, she is a founding member of several local initiatives aimed at enhancing the role of women in society. She previously worked as a field coordinator and communication officer at the “Baytna” organization supporting Syrian civil society.

Trisha Shetty is an Indian human rights lawyer and the founder of SheSays, a youth-led nonprofit advancing gender equality through civic and youth engagement. SheSays led the largest citizen-driven global campaign on menstrual equity, #LahuKaLagaan, which successfully lobbied the Indian government to eliminate the tax on sanitary products. Trisha serves as President of the Paris Peace Forum, Steering Committee and was a member of the high-level advisory group for Olof Palme’s Independent Commission on Disarmament and Security. She was an Obama Scholar at Columbia University, was honored by the late Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace for SheSays’ contribution to gender equality across the Commonwealth and is a TED speaker.

Marinika Tepić (born 1974) is a Serbian politician, journalist, and human rights activist, known for her work in the fight against corruption, media freedom, and the protection of human and minority rights. She holds a degree in philology and currently serves as the head of the parliamentary group of the Freedom and Justice Party (SSP), the largest opposition party in the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia. In that role, she has become one of the most prominent opposition figures in Serbia. In the 2022 elections, she was the lead candidate of the “United for the Victory of Serbia” coalition and its nominee for Prime Minister. In December 2023, Marinika Tepić drew national and international attention by launching a hunger strike in protest against election fraud following the December 17 elections—fraud later acknowledged in a resolution of the European Parliament. Before entering politics, she worked as a professional journalist (1997–2008) and was active in civil society organizations.