A Season of Growth: Celebrating EAGLS Graduates and Welcoming New Leaders

Dear Friends,

As we step into October, I am filled with immense gratitude - reflecting on how far we have come, how much we are growing, and the incredible milestones we continue to reach together.

In August, we celebrated a profound milestone in Nairobi, Kenya: the successful completion of the 10th East African Girls’ Leadership Summit (EAGLS). While EAGLS was originally envisioned as a stand alone event, it is now part of our Sauti ya Dada ("The Girls' Voice") program. Seeing these young women build the confidence, advocacy skills, and leadership networks necessary to champion girls' education in their communities is a powerful reminder of why we do this work (Listen to the reflections of our Program Officer, Reuben Chacha, on the Summit, here). Over the next several months these leaders will be applying their skills to take action in their community to address barriers to girls’ education - stay tuned!

This year, over a decade after we developed our flagship Creative Environmental Leadership Program, we’ve updated it and our first cohort of environmental leaders from Central America are about to wrap up the second of three modules. Since its inception we have worked with hundreds of leaders across Latin America and West Africa and the impacts of this work have had lasting impacts on the individual leaders, in organizations, and throughout communities.

Our ability to deepen our impact relies on the strength of our team and board, which has been growing. We recently welcomed Amy Gray and Taylor Temkar to our board. Lynda Oyaro joins us as our new Program Associate based in Kenya to support our expanding work. I am also delighted to introduce our new Development Director, Dr. Nicole Gross-Camp. Nicole steps into a vital leadership role, bringing extensive expertise in inclusive conservation and community well-being through a rich blend of applied research, strategic planning, and capacity-building across East Africa (including Tanzania and Rwanda) and the United States. At Creative Action Institute, Nicole's experience will be instrumental in securing sustainable funding necessary to fuel our organization's growth.

This momentum is especially meaningful as Creative Action Institute honors a major milestone: 20 years of service. To look back at the lives touched and communities transformed, I invite you to explore our new virtual photo gallery. This stunning exhibition tells our story as an organization and features a blend of images captured by our team, our local partners, and the participants themselves. (**If you are part of our North Shore community, there will be an opportunity to see these powerful images during our gallery exhibit early next year!**).

Over two decades, Creative Action Institute has worked with communities to make unseen issues visible and ensure that those who are at the margins are centered in telling their own stories in order to advance gender equity and a sustainable planet. As we approach the end of the year, I look forward to inviting you to celebrate this 20-year legacy with us in a special way—deepening our shared commitment to the next generation of global leaders.

Thank you for being an essential part of our journey!

Louisa Trackman

Executive Director

Creative Action Institute