Patrons
The GREAT Initiative has already received the support of many leading figures from the world of politics, business, charities and NGOs, and other high-profile individuals from the arts and media. All are dedicated to raising the profile of good work in Africa and believe, alongside us, that together we can make an important contribution to improving the lives of girls and women, and as a consequence communities and the continent as a whole.
Click on each patron’s name below to read their profile.
Bineta Diop is the founder and Executive Director of Femmes Africa Solidarité. She has dedicated herself to improving women’s lives in Africa for almost 3 decades and has inspired many in Africa to join her in her efforts. She has led FAS in numerous peace-building programs, observed elections in post-conflict areas and played a crucial role in achieving gender parity within the African Union; she has received several awards for her efforts.
“The importance of women coming together in solidarity and support can’t be overestimated. GREAT offers a beacon of light to women struggling to achieve opportunities taken for granted in other parts of the world. Drawing the international spotlight to those facilitating positive change will encourage and entice others to follow suit.”
First Ladies
Mrs Gasparovicova works at a private construction company, and devotes much of her time to charitable causes: she is Honorary President of the Slovak Red Cross; Honorary President of the TOP Centrum Podnikateliek, a Slovakian businesswomen’s association; and an honorary member of the International Women’s Club, which brings together the wives of diplomats in Slovakia. She runs her own foundation: the Silvia Gašparovičová Foundation – Education and Health for All. Her next goal is to establish an association airing comment and opinion on government legislation concerning women, children and families.
As First Lady of Moldova, Mrs Ghimpu supports many charitable causes and is particularly committed to issues around women. She is also Director General of cultural policies and strategies at the Moldovan Ministry of Culture.
Michaëlle Jean has been Governor General of Canada since 2005. She has long supported women’s causes, strongly believing that societies have everything to gain when they give women the means to change their lives for the better. She now plans to create the Michaëlle Jean Foundation, which will focus on promoting educational and cultural initiatives in Canada.
Mrs Moussaieff is a British-born jewellery designer and journalist. As First Lady of Iceland, she has made great strides in presenting Icelandic culture abroad, and is a contributing editor to British society magazine Tatler.
Prior to becoming the president of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf held numerous senior positions in banking and received many awards. She has been a keen supporter of FAS since its creation and spends much of her time encouraging women across Africa to seek high political office. She was one of two international experts selected by UNIFEM to report on the effect of conflict on women, and women’s roles in peace building. She was the initial Chairperson of the Open Society Initiative for West Africa.
Founding Patrons
Bono is the lead singer of U2, and has been a leader in the fight against poverty and hunger for many decades. He is in constant contact with world leaders and has helped to create major initiatives including ONE and RED alongside supporting many other projects, such as Band Aid, Live Aid and the UN Millennium Project. He has received three Nobel Prize nominations, and in March 2010, led a session at the Pan African Media conference in Nairobi.
Vanessa Branson founded The Wonderful Fund, a collection of contemporary art that aimed to take the pulse of the first five years of the new millenium. She is a member of The Circle (led by Annie Lennox), and the president and founder of the AiM International Biennale arts Festival in Marrakech. Vanessa is a Trustee of Virgin Unite and a champion of ecological and social issues around the world.
“To us Western women it seems obvious that to give women an equal role in life benefits all, in particular the next generation. I believe the GREAT Initiative will empower both men and women. Women, by encouraging them to know that they have a voice, and men, by spreading the understanding that a truly great person is one who encourages everyone, both men and women to reach their full potential”.
Lady Brennan is a trustee of the Loomba Foundation, which aims at improving conditions for widows and their children around the world.
Naomi Campbell is a British model greatly involved in helping the people, particularly children, of Sub-Saharan Africa. She helped organise Fashion Relief to raise funds for Hurricane Katrina victims and hosted the South African leg of Live Earth in Johannesburg. In 2010, Naomi was been presented with an Outstanding Contribution award at the Elle Style Awards by Sarah Brown for her 25-year career and her work as Global Ambassador of The White Ribbon Alliance.
Jo Cox is the director of The White Ribbon Alliance’s Global Maternal Mortality Campaign, which aims at reducing maternal mortality and achieving the necessary improvements in provision of health services in developing countries. Previously, she was Head of Advocacy for Oxfam. She travels all around the world to meet local women, politicians and representatives of the campaign.
“Sadly most women don’t yet live in a society that values, pays or treats them equally. The list of egregious issues where progress is still too slow is huge: unequal pay; domestic violence; girls left out of school; women forced to give birth alone. Thankfully each cause has been taken up by a multitude of champions fighting often against the odds to change the values, laws and practices that deny so many girls and women their basic rights. GREAT has a vital role to play in celebrating these heros who work tirelessly to end the scandal of gender inequality and fight for a fairer, more prosperous, more equal world.”
Nathalie Delapalme is Inspector General at the Inspection Générale des Finances in France. Previously, she was an advisor on Africa, Development and Humanitarian policies. She sits as a member on the boards of trustees for the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, AMREF-France, Agrisud and the Elle Foundation. She has published several articles on the strategic evolution of Africa and relations between Africa and Europe.
Sophie Dumenil is a trustee of the Fondation pour l’Enfance, a French charity aiming at protecting children.
Scilla Elworthy is a campaigner and writer. She founded Peace Direct, a charity that supports those who use non-violent ways for solving conflict; and the Oxford Research Group, a think tank that develops dialogue between nuclear weapons policy-makers and their critics. She is an adviser to The Elders initiative, a member of the World Future Council and a member of the International Panel on Conflict Prevention and Global Security. Scilla has been nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize, and has been awarded the Niwano Peace Prize.
“To enable the whole of humanity to survive the next century, there is nothing more important than enabling women to move into policy-making positions. Their holistic perspective is vitally needed, to help us all move to a more balanced relationship with each other and with nature. Your support for GREAT will help to achieve this.”
Mia Farrow is an actress and humanitarian activist. She is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, and campaigns actively for children’s rights around the world - with a special focus on children impacted by armed conflict. She also supports the Enough Project and Fund4Darfur and has worked extensively to fight polio.
Jendayi Frazer is the Director of Carnegie Mellon’s new Centre for International Politics and Innovation (CIPI). Former US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, she has been the leading architect of US-Africa policy over the last decade. She has built her experience in African affairs throughout her career: she was Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council, the first woman U.S. Ambassador to South Africa, Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council.
Evelyne Genta is Monaco’s Consul-General to the UK. She was behind the formation of the Albert II Foundation UK for the environment, and has maintained a distinguished and glittering career in both the public and private sectors. She is president of the Monaco based charity Mission Enfance, which helps children in despair in gaining an education as well as protection from violence and hunger.
Angelique Kidjo is a Grammy award-winning music recording artist deemed “Africa’s premier diva” by Time Magazine. Known for her dynamic and uplifting music, she has translated her distinctive work in the arts across to philanthropy; she promotes education for girls in Africa through her foundation, Batonga, and travels the world as a UNICEF Goodwill ambassador to inspire and empower.
“When you’re born a girl in Africa, your dreams don’t matter, you’re not perceived as a person. You’re the daughter of a father who has the right to pass you on to another man through marriage”.
Brigitte Lacombe is a renowned French photographer. Best known for her frequent visits to film sets as a special photographer, she documents movies from behind the scenes, making portraits of actors in character and shooting film posters. She is also a travel photographer and has visited some of the camps in Chad where Oxfam are working. She contributes to numerous leading international magazines.
Karen Lambros is an actress, model, television personality and writer. She was a VJ for MTV, and appeared in several movies and shows, including Michael Moore’s tv shows. She is involved in charity work and co-chaired the EIF Revlon Run/Walk for Women, which raises funds to fight cancer; her autobiography demonstrates her strength and sense of humour.
Jack Lang is a French special envoy to Cuba and North Korea and a member of the French National Assembly. He is also President of the Association for the development of the Pompidou Centre, a landmark centre for modern art in Paris. As Minister of Culture and Education, he made a number of landmark decisions, including the creation of the ‘Fete de la Musique’, a national day of celebration of music.
Monique Lang works alongside her husband, Jack Lang, French special envoy to Cuba and North Korea, and supported his initiatives when he was Minister of Culture and Education.
Annie Lennox is a singer/songwriter and campaigner, focused on raising awareness of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa. She founded the SING Campaign charity foundation and The Circle initiative (supporting a number of Oxfam’s women’s initiatives). Also involved with Amnesty International, Greenpeace and Nelson Mandela’s 46664 Foundation, Annie was awarded with the British Red Cross’s Services to Humanity Award in 2008.
“Women in Western countries have enjoyed and participated in the benefits and results arising from innumerable sacrifices made on our behalf many years ago, by exceptional women who we never had a chance to thank. We have inherited the fruits of the labour of the suffragette movement. Those women who struggled and sacrificed before us created the very possibility for women’s inclusion in the democratic system, equal opportunity etc.
Now it’s our turn to pass on the legacy. Those of us who have benefited owe a debt to those who came before us. It’s way past time, but it’s not too late.
In personal gratitude for what we’ve received, and hopeful expectation of a brighter future for what might be ahead for all women and girls around the planet I humbly and enthusiastically endorse the initiative of Femmes Africa Solidarité and GREAT!”
Elle MacPherson is a model, actress and businesswoman. She is a European Ambassador for RED and an ambassador for UNICEF and the Smile Foundation in Australia. Elle supports many other charities including Comic Relief, Move For Aids, and the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood. She also belongs to The Circle.
Ticky Monekosso is a founding member and treasurer of FAS. She has worked for more than twenty years as a professional journalist and independent expert reporting on human rights, development issues and related humanitarian affairs in Africa. Ticky regularly visits Africa to closely monitor women’s conditions in African countries. She received an International Press Awardin 2000.
Gemma Mortensen is Executive Director of Crisis Action and is currently leading their work in Sudan. Gemma worked previously in human rights posts for the ICC, for the UK Mission to the United Nations in New York (UKMIS) and for the European Commission in Geneva and Sudan. She has significant media experience, including radio documentaries for the BBC in Sudan, Russia and Pakistan.
“Fighting for women’s rights is a struggle, not just for equality, but for recognition of the role they play as pillars of communities, stalwarts of civil society and peacebuilders between nations. Women have an immense power to affect positive change and The GREAT Initiative’s mission to support them in making this change is acutely important”.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is the managing Director of the World Bank. She was the first woman to hold the positions of Finance Minister and then Foreign Minister of Nigeria. She is co-founder of the Makeda Fund – a fund to invest in African women entrepreneurs. Ngozi is a fellow at the Brookings Institution and a member on many boards, including the Mo Ibrahim Foundation Governance Prize Committee and Friends of the Global Fund Africa.
Melissa Ong has travelled all around the world to help children and women. The COMO hotel group, owned by Ben Seng and Christina Ong, created the COMO Foundation, run by Melissa, which has supported local grassroots non-profit organisations that work to improve the lives of women and girls.
Thandi Orleyn is a member of FAS’s Executive Board. She is a director and shareholder of Peotona Group Holdings, a South African investment company owned and managed by four women, and is a renowned mediator and arbitrator. Her missions have included training in conflict resolution in countries such as Burundi, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Ethiopia, and facilitation of stakeholder participation in the Burundian mediation under former South African President Nelson Mandela.
Mirella Ricciardi is a renowned photographer. Her first book, Vanishing Africa, was an international bestseller and made her reputation. She has since published four other photographic books - Vanishing Amazon, African Saga, African Rainbow and most recently, African Visions, the record of a remarkable thirty-year journey. Visions is a diary of powerful images, as well as snapshots of remembered moments, of photographs of her family and of tribal visions from the African bush.
Daphne Trimble is a Member of the board of the Northern Ireland Memorial Fund, and chair of its programme development committee. She is a member of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission and was a member of the Equality Commission. She is very active in the voluntary sector, particularly with regard to promoting women’s involvement in politics, and with regard to people with learning difficulties.
Rumi Verjee is proprietor and Chairman of Thomas Goode & Co. He founded Domino’s Pizza in the UK and is the Chairman of Brompton Capital Limited and Ipanema Properties in Brazil. He has always shared his success and knowledge through philanthropic work. He is a Member of the Young Presidents’ Organization, a member of the Advisory Board of the British Olympic Association, and in 2009 was awarded a CBE for charitable services. The Rumi Foundation supports educational projects in India, East Africa and now in the United Kingdom.
Jasmine Whitbread is Chief Executive of Save the Children International. She is also a Board member of the International Save the Children Alliance. Before joining Save the Children, Jasmine spent six years with Oxfam GB, first as Regional Director in West Africa, and then as International Director responsible for Oxfam’s programmes worldwide.
Academy Award winner and three time nominee, Renee Zellweger has garnered critical acclaim with her outstanding performances in Cold Mountain, Chicago and Brigdet Jones’ Dairy. For her role as Bridget she won the 2005 People’s Choice Award for Favorite Leading Lady. She is also affiliated with many philanthropic causes, including the Revlon Ucla Breast Center, the USO, and The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp. She participated in Stand Up 2 Cancer Telecast, and was an executive producer in the film Living Proof, a Lifetime movie that brought attention and recognition to the most successful breast cancer fighting drug to date, Herceptin.
Tania is married to Fares Fares, with whom she has raised two sons. They began their married life in Houston, Texas and relocated to London in 2002. Whilst in Houston, Tania was supportive of the museum of Fine Arts and the Baker Institute of Rice University.
Tania, who was born in Lebanon, has raised significant funds for the Lebanese chapter of St. Judes, a childrens’ charity originating in the United States.
In London Tania has focused her energy on Clic Sargent as a committee member, and Cancer Research in London. She also part of the International Council of Tate and sits on a committee at Tate Modern, where she plays a role in building Tate’s Latin American holdings. She is a Platinum member of the V&A Director’s Circle and she supports the Whitechapel and the Artangel. She is an avid collector of emerging artists.
