Naana Otoo-Oyortey

Naana Otoo-Oyortey is an African social activist, the Executive Director of the Foundation for Women's Health, Research and Development.

Naana Otoo-Oyortey
in 2019
Alma materUniversity of Sussex
EmployerInternational Planned Parenthood Federation
Foundation for Women's Health, Research and Development
Known forActivism, campaigning against FGM

Early life and education

Otoo-Oyortey was born in Ghana.[1] She completed a master's of philosophy at the University of Sussex.[2] She was a member of the Institute of Development Studies,[3] where she worked on gender issues in Ghana.[4]

Career

Otoo-Oyortey worked at the International Planned Parenthood Federation,[5] where she investigated child marriage and poverty.[6] She believes that to achieve gender equality the world must address violence against women and the socio-cultural norms that accept this behaviour.[7] She is concerned that domestic violence results in women not protecting themselves from sexually transmitted infections.[5]

Otoo-Oyortey joined the African Diaspora women-led nonprofit Foundation for Women's Health, Research and Development (FORWARD) in 1998,[8][9] invited by the founder, Efua Dorkenoo. FORWARD is the lead agency working to end female genital mutilation (FGM) in the UK.[8] She is now executive director of the organization, and has led training initiatives for in Swahili and English for girls to become innovators against gender-based violence.[10] With FORWARD Otoo-Oyortey has conducted an ethnographic study into the experiences of people affected by FGM.[11] In 2009 Otoo-Oyortey was honoured in the 2008 Birthday Honours for "services to Human Rights Issues for Women".[12]

Launch of the annual report of Women's Participation in Decision-Making & Leadership decade. With Justina Mutale, Rainatou Sow, Naana Otoo-Oyortey and Dr Anouka van Eerdewijk

In 2014 Otoo-Oyortey gave a TEDx talk about women's rights and FGM.[13] That year she was included in the Evening Standard's list of London's most influential people.[14] She was part of the London Girl Summit in 2014, inviting two young African campaigners who are fighting to end child marriage in Ethiopia and Tanzania.[15] She joined the UCLH to open the FGM paediatric clinic.[16] In 2016 FORWARD was part of an end FGM march in Bristol, which Otoo-Oyortey described as a "quiet revolution".

She has discussed her campaigning on Woman's Hour and at the International Observatory of Human Rights.[17][18] She is the President of the Board of the European End FGM Network and on the Board of Trustees of ACORD.[19][20]

References
  1. Julios, Christina (2018-09-26). Female Genital Mutilation and Social Media. Routledge. ISBN 9781351717618.
  2. "Naana Otoo-Oyortey". CFFP. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  3. "Notable alumni". www.ids.ac.uk. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  4. Baden, Sally (1994). Background paper on gender issues in Ghana : report prepared for the west and north Africa Department, Department for Overseas Development (DFID), UK. Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex. OCLC 50663388.
  5. "Contraception affects women's lives". FHI 360. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  6. "Early marriage and poverty: exploring links for policy and programme development. | POPLINE.org". www.popline.org. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  7. "How to re-ignite real-world debates in the classroom - starting with the development gap". Tes. 2017-01-20. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  8. "Naana Otoo-Oyortey Mbe". EIGE. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  9. "Meet the FORWARD team". FORWARD. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  10. Dada, Sistersact (2018-07-13). "10 minutes with Naana Otoo-Oyortey MBE". tuwezeshedada. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  11. "FGM is always with us; Experiences, Perceptions and Beliefs of Women Affected by Female Genital Mutilation in London" (PDF). Options. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  12. "Queen's Birthday Honours: Full list". The Independent. 2008-06-13. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  13. TEDx Talks, Mind the gender gap | Naana Otoo-Oyortey | TEDxEustonSalon, retrieved 2019-02-01
  14. "The 1000: London's most influential people 2014 - Campaigners". Evening Standard. 2014-10-16. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  15. Otoo-Oyortey, Naana (2014-07-30). "Where were the grassroots voices at the Girl Summit?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  16. "Community launch for FGM paediatric clinic". www.uclh.nhs.uk. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  17. "Campaign Against FGM". International Observatory of Human Rights. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  18. "Sheryl Crow; FGM; Eileen Atkins, Woman's Hour - BBC Radio 4". BBC. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  19. "Conference: Gender-related Vulnerabilities in the EU Asylum Procedures: Spotlight on FGM". Mediterranean Institute of Gender Studies. 2016-11-08. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  20. "ACORD | About us > Governance". www.acordinternational.org. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
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