This week in honor of International Women’s Day, I was invited as a youth representative to the Vital Voices Global Leadership Awards Ceremony at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. It was an honor to be among the many women (and few men) in Washington who make sure that women’s voices around the world are heard.

The award ceremony honored six women: Melinda Gates (United States), Afnan Al Zayani (Bahrain), Panmela Castro (Brazil), Andeisha Farid (Afghanistan), Rebecca Lolosoli (Kenya), and Roshaneh Zafar (Pakistan). With the exception of Melinda Gates, chances are, you have not heard of any of the other women. However, they really do serve as “vital voices,” taking a stand for women and children in order to make their countries better.

Afnan Al Zayani works to educate Bahraini businesswomen, lobbying for support of small and medium businesses. She has also helped to protect women within the judicial system, helping to pass a law that protects the rights of Sunni Muslim women in cases of divorce and child custody.

Panmela Castro is a young artist who uses her creativity to spark social change and awareness. She links graffiti to a project that works to combat violence against women, and educated disadvantaged women on the Domestic and Family Violence against Women Act.

Andeisha Farid spent her life living at refugee camps but managed to get an education throughout that experience. The organization she runs today, the Afghan Child Education and Care Organization runs 10 orphanages. She recently became trained in business skills at the 10,000 women training program in Afghanistan, run by Goldman Sachs, honing her language skills and trying to expand her orphanages to care for more children.

Rebecca Lolosoli has spoken out on behalf of marginalized women in her community. As an outspoken woman, she received challenge from members of her community who were not accustomed to this type of behavior. These reactions included physical acts of violence against her. She created an organization called “unity” which provides a safe place for women who flee abuse. These women make indigenous art, and sell them in order to sustain their living. Many other women in surrounding communities in Kenya have used the same model to start their own women’s groups.

Roshaneh Zafar was a protégé of Mohammad Yunnus, and empowering women through microlending, giving loans to over 300,000 women. She has been recognized for her work globally.

Melinda Gates is the co-chair of the Gates Foundation; she travels all around the world to advocate for public health and education issues.

Each of these women has contributed to their communities in unique ways, through their own personal talents.

Their brave and successful stories prove the amount of power one woman can have. Their stories have echoes in the Amplify and Advocates for Youth communities, as I have seen as a reader and contributor on this site. The recognition of these women show that the work that we do in our own communities will not go unnoticed, and has an impact on the people that we reach. Their stories provide inspiration to us all, and echo many of our own personal goals, whether we are interested in women’s empowerment, or fighting disease, the opportunity for all children to get an education or telling our government what we want to change.

To see videos and learn more about the women discussed in this blog, see this site: http://vitalvoices.org/awards2010.