Edinah Nyaboke Kangwana the Gusii Heroine Bags an ICN Global Award during Special Ceremony

NAIROBI COUNTY, WESTLANDS SUB COUNTY, KENYA, March 4, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Edinah Kangwana is transformational leader, a community development issues champion, a gender and youth advocate, a mentor, public speaker, an entrepreneurship professional, former banker and currently a Kisii County Executive Committee Member in charge of Administration, Corporate Services, and Stakeholder Management.

On Saturday February 26th, Kangwana was awarded the prestigious iChange Nations™ Distinguished Leadership Award at an event held at the Kamel Park Hotel in Kisii, Kenya.

This global award comes shortly after Ms. Kangwana was honored by the president of the Republic of Kenya HE. Uhuru Kenyatta during the 58th Jamhuri day celebrations with the Moran of the Burning Spear Award (MBS) for her outstanding leadership exhibited not only in her diligent execution of core mandate in public service but also going out of her way to serve and address community emerging issues.

Her spotlight came out during the 2020 Mashujaa celebrations in Kisii where she was the Chair of the Kisii planning committee. She diligently coordinated the two levels of Government and its stakeholders to excellently deliver the first-ever national celebrations to be held in Kisii county. She has been celebrated for her delegated center role in the emergency response to Covid- 19 pandemic and consequently its management.

In her tenure as the head of Trade, Tourism, and Industry, she made possible trade development linkages nationally and internationally opening up the thriving micro and SME sector that saw Kisii county control 61% of money circulation in Nyanza according to the CBK statistics. This laid ground for the opening of the CBK cash collection center in Kisii.

Her leadership drive gives her passion and zeal to serve community and address community emerging issues.

Ms. Kangwana says the deeper awaking to serve came when she was at the center of Covid-19 emergency response. She encountered community issues that called for civility in service including poverty, school drop-out, teenage pregnancies, early forced marriages and other many forms of gender based violence as well as health issues around reproductive and mental health. These issues, coupled with her experience growing up in an unequal poverty stricken background deep rooted in Patriarchy made her decide to take action.

Off her official duties, Ms. Kangwana attends grassroot community meetings( Bararas), visits learning institutions, Small Scale Traders, joins civil societies organizations and other stakeholders’ planned programs to listen and give input.

She motivates students on the need to work hard and believe in their dreams. In the sessions, she shares her humble story growing up to encourage the young ones.
She donates sanitary care packages in a bid to address menstrual poverty. She uses the platform to engage teenagers on menstrual hygiene and reproductive health issues.
In the same platform she addresses teenage pregnancies, school drop outs, youth radicalization and drug use.

She has over 50 teenage mothers that she mentors. She has talked to thousands of students and visited over 100 schools within Kisii.

She has spearheaded programs to increase the forest cover. She has managed to plant over 100,000 trees in Kisii.

Recently she rallied and brought together different stakeholders to a blood donation
drive to mark 2022 Valentine’s Day in Kisii blood transfusion center.

Ms. Edinah is the founder of the role modeling initiative. This mentorship program was designed to call back alumni to their alma mater to tell the story of triumph to the young ones purposely to motivate them to keep alive their dreams.

She is the founder of KIINIA KE a community-based organization to address community development issues.

She is a founding member of Community Action For Development (CAFD), a local CBO in Kisii.

This most recent award was presented by a team of US Delegates including Dr. Ruben West who is the Special Envoy for iChange Nations™ (ICN) which currently operates in over 154 countries around the world.

In 2019 Dr. Ruben West was appointed Special Envoy for iChange Nations™ by the organization’s President and founder Dr. Clyde Rivers. Dr. West carries out his global mandate by identifying deserving individuals and nominates them to the organization for award consideration.

I Change Nations is a Culture of Honor System; the organization is committed to bringing back the lost art of honor by building a Culture of Honor that recognizes individuals throughout the world who have exemplified extraordinary humanitarian efforts to effectively change nations.

Dr. West said Ms. Kangwana has a true heart for service that is on display for the world to see. She can be proud because ICN awards have been given to world leaders as well. These leaders include but are not limited to:

President Yoweri Museveni, of Uganda: Honored for his great leadership in establishing and maintaining peace in his country.

First Lady, Janet Museveni, of Uganda: Honored for the AIDS awareness policy ABC (Abstinence, Birth Control, and Contraception) an ever-present battle for the health of their people.

Vice President of Kenya, Kalonzo Musyoka: Honored for his efforts in the peace making process for Kenya, Sudan and Burundi.

President Pierre Nkurunziza, of Republic of Burundi: Honored for his efforts to bring peace to a 12-year civil war between the two major tribes in his country. As well as First Lady Denise Nkurunziza, Republic of Burundi Honored for her efforts to bring a better life to the people of her country.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, of Nigeria: Honored for the Anticorruption policies he implemented in Nigeria.

First Lady Maria de Luz Guebuza, of Republic of Mozambique: Honored for her humanitarian efforts for the youth and women of her country as well as
bringing AIDS awareness programs.

Former President Wolde Giorgis, of Ethiopia: Honored for his efforts to build a better environment in his country.

Dr. Vanda Pignato – Former 1st Lady of El Salvador: Honored for her tireless efforts in protecting for women’s rights in the Republic of El Salvador.

Dr. Kenneth David Kaunda – Former President of Zambia: Honored for his life’s work to establish peace in Zambia and on the continent of Africa.

Martin Ahago
Global Partners & Purpose
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