This presentation will examine the role of community-driven movements to effect change, including current advocacy groups working on social justice issues, in Northern Ireland.

Speaker Emma DeSouza is a journalist, award-winning campaigner, and peace activist who successfully sought a change to citizenship laws in the United Kingdom in a landmark human rights case relating to the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland. 

She is the founder and co-facilitator of Irish deliberative democracy platform The Civic Initiative, and director of the Northern Ireland Emerging Leaders Program at the National Committee on American Foreign Policy in New York. She is the former women's leadership coordinator at the National Women's Council of Ireland and led in the creation of the first All-island Women’s Forum, serving as Chair and Facilitator (2021-23).

Speaker photo by Jess Lowe Photography