"Abandoning our young girls condemns them to death." -- Modestine Etoy
Modestine holds a Masters Degree in Public Health from University of Goma. After graduating, she worked as a community mobilizer and spent five years leading a comprehensive program for women in North Kivu province. Her integrity, passion, and vision for gender equity and justice led us to award her our first ACT for Congo Scholarship for Luminary Women. She attended the iLEAP fall leadership training in 2012.
Modestine’s skill as a manager and brilliance as a community organizer is evident from the impact of her work.
Facts about Modestine:
Modestine creates literacy programs so women can read and write.
She works with local officials, NGOs, faith, and community leaders to identify pathways that solve the suffering caused by unplanned pregnancy and unregistered marriages. Modestine successfully advocated for policy change that allowed pregnant teens to stay in school once their pregnancy became known. These teen mothers were otherwise expelled.
While directing Succeeding Together, she worked with environmental advocates to educate children and their parents on the importance of the environment and its relationship to health and wellbeing. This led to a children's environment club called “Friends Protecting Nature." Kids from 6 to 18 learn and teach at public events and now provide leadership for similar programs at seven schools in Goma.
Modestine uses music, drama, and poetry to communicate information and invite community discussion. Peer educators use the arts to teach public health topics such as family planning, conflict transformation, preventing HIV and water-borne diseases. She also uses art to teach her community about the rights guaranteed to women and children in the Congolese constitution.