Girl Rising (special event) Screening plus Q & A

Monday 25th April at 7pm at Grassmarket Community Project, 86 Candlemaker Row

A girl’s self worth, confidence and power should radiate from within and when her potential is fully realized, the world is transformed. Empowering young girls to become powerful agents of change is a critical global need, as proven by a UN Woman study which stated that “50% of the economic growth in OECD countries over the past 50 years” was due in large portions to girls’ increased access to higher levels of education.

Girl Rising is a global campaign for girls’ education, which uses the power of storytelling to share the truth that educating girls can inform societies. Empowering a girl through education breaks the cycle of generational poverty and Girl Rising ensures that girls’ education is part of the mainstream conversation.
Join us for this special screening of this film – a grassroots Indian collaboration that has produced not only a documentary but also a global movement. We will have a Q&A discussion panel to go with this event featuring women working in the wider field of gender empowerment or who are simply inspiring women.
It promises to be an inspiring evening with a powerful message.
Our panel are:

Emma Hutton. Emma is a feminist human rights campaigner. She leads the Lothian branch of the Women’s Equality Party, is a Board Director and Trustee of Engender and promotes human rights in her day job as Communications Manager for the Scottish Human Rights Commission.

Alexa Anderson. Alexa is founder and Chief Executive of Equal Scotland a new SCIO which identifies and tackles gaps in the Equalities landscape in Scotland, a specialised trainer, consultant and researcher in Human Trafficking and Equalities and featured in the Ion Edinburgh Inspirational Women article 2011

Kirsty Mackenzie. Kirsty is the founder of iMultiply Resourcing, an ambitious recruitment practice with two divisions: Accountancy and Finance and Executive Search, finding high quality staff/directors for SMEs, entrepreneurial and not-for-profit organisations across the central belt of Scotland. Kirsty is a winner in WeDo ‘Young Entrepreneur of the Year’ and is regularly invited by BBC Radio Scotland to talk on recruitment matters. A graduate of University of Edinburgh’s Business School Kirsty contributes her spare time to charity. She organises fund-raising events for Cancer Research and is on the Board of Action for Children as well as Director of Muirhouse based social enterprise and adventure activities company, My Adventure.

Dr. Jane Ali-Knight. Jane is an Associate Professor in Festival and Event Management and the Director of the Edinburgh Institute: Festivals, Events and Tourism (EIFET) at Edinburgh Napier University.She lectures Universities internationally and facilitates training and development in her field. She is part ten destination leaders that set up Women In Tourism (WIT) whose founding principles are to inspire, motivate, encourage and support women across the sector; while advocating for greater gender balance across leadership roles within industry.

Biffy McKay. Biffy grew up in Edinburgh and initially her life was a struggle having left school young and for many years becoming involved in experiences she realised weren’t helping her. She’s not only manage to overcome those difficulties but is now a Guide with Invisible Edinburgh a new social enterprise Tour Company that offers ‘social’ tours of the city – Tours that go deeper into the recent social history of the capital and tell a very personal story. She is also a participant in the Scottish Pen’s writing workshop exploring inspirational women in the lives of Grassmarket Project’s members which will culminate in the publishing of a graphic novel bringing these stories to life. Biffy is convinced that not enough is being done to empower women.

Chairing the discussion is Emma Galloway. Emma is a social entrepreneur that loves to make change happen. She runs her own consultancy business and spends many of her holidays volunteering in Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo. She Chairs the Edinburgh Social Enterprise Network and has been CEO of a number of leading charities. She strongly believes in empowering Women, Emmeline Pankhurst didn’t chain herself to the railings for nothing.

http://www.grassmarketpicturehouse.com/girl-rising/