Moses Owen Browne, Jr., is Global Youth Ambassador, A World at School, United Nations Secretary General’s Global Education First Initiative. He’s advocating for Education for all. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Mass Communications and English with emphasis in Telecommunications Management and Broadcasting (Cum Laude) from the United Methodist University in Liberia and a prospective student of International Relations, Graduate School of Arts and Science, New York University.
Moses is originally from Liberia and has worked around the United Nations in New York advocating for global education at the United Nations General Assembly. He is currently the Media and Communications Manager for Plan, the international children charity organization, www.plan-internationa.org.
Moses is 29 years old, born May 15, 1986 unto the blessed union of Moses Owen Browne, Sr. (deceased) and Mother Beatrice Johnny, a peasant agri-business family from Grand Bassa County, one of the first three Counties that founded the Republic of Liberia.
Moses is a devout Christian, happily married and blessed with four children. Moses Browne is a professional career development practitioner with idea-range of experience in the related fields of mass communications, telecommunications management, broadcast management, policy formulation and implementation and agribusiness farm radio program.
As part of the Global Youth Ambassadors program, A World at School has launched several Global Education initiatives and campaigns drawing world leader’s attention to the plights of the 59 million children out of school. The #UpForSchool campaign was launched in September 2014 to galvanize support in promoting quality education and ensuring every child is in school and learning before the MGDs expires. Moses used his negotiating skills to pursue several businesses in Liberia and the World to support the #UpForSchool campaign.
Moses believes with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in place, the World is in a great position to use its strengths and the external context to be a powerful force to help improve children's lives through the delivery of quality education for all. He’s also excited about introducing and sharing his own leadership values, which include trust, problem-solving, empowerment, transparency and collaboration amongst students of the World.
Moses is executive director and founder of Browne Global Leadership Foundation (BGLF), a not-for-profit, non-governmental organization, registered in Liberia and is independent of any government or corporate interest founded in September 2015 as a response to the global call to intensify efforts for youth development and Education.
Its founder draw experience from the historic 70thUnited Nations General Assembly where he had gone to New York from Liberia to create awareness for global education and leadership for young people. As a Global Youth Ambassador for Education, Moses Owen Browne, Jr. decided to establish the Browne Global Leadership Foundation to promote full participation of youth in national and global development processes. Moses believes for any global goals to be achieved it would require the active participation and involvement of young people, but advance that education is that platform that would engender the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Moses Owen Browne, Jr. is a well-known and household name in the Republic of Liberia, especially in the field of Media, Communications and Advocacy. He has worked for several media outlets in Liberia and Civil Society Organizations at least for a period of 15-years.
He has used his skills to engage thousands of young people in the world to pursue and advocate for quality education encouraging them to see education as the only way to a leading a successful life and contributing the growth and development of their respective countries.
Moses’ achievements would not have been possible without a cordial, interconnected, good working relationship and networking with other international organizations across the world. He is very passionate about education and has cultivated a positive habit to deliver impactful projects to students across the world.
He has gained the respect of many young people in Liberia, at his job and across the different networks across the world. Moses has strong values and ability to deliver. He does this with a positive attitude and in a spirit of cooperation. He uses humor along the way which softens the path and gets people along.
Blair Glencorse is Founder and Executive Director of the Accountability Lab, an incubator for creative, youth-driven ideas for accountability and transparency around the world. Blair is also a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Anti-Corruption and Transparency and a Social Impact Fellow at the Center for High Impact Philanthropy at the University of Pennsylvania. Previously, Blair was an advisor to the now President of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani, and worked for the World Bank on issues of governance and development. He is an Echoing Green Fellow and winner of the World Technology Award.
Tafadzwa Nyamuzihwa, founder of the organization Shine on Africa, grew up in an orphanage since the age of one. He attained primary and secondary education in Harare, Zimbabwe, and went to study in South Africa towards a Diploma in Sports Management in 2006. Tafadzwa, at the age of 25, became totally blind in 2009 due to a retinal detachment that resulted from cataracts. Consequently, he found life tough and felt his window to the world had been shattered.
As a Christian, he never gave up on the Lord and he received grace and strength. He went for rehabilitation in unaided mobility and brail in 2010 and proceeded to obtain a Certificate in Counselling from Connect Zimbabwe. Later that year, he featured in a local national television drama series that ran from September 15, 2010 to March, 2011. In the same year, he received a one-year scholarship to study at the International Institute for Social Entrepreneurs in Trivandrum, Kerala, India (Southern India) in 2011. Through such opportunities availed to him, he embarked on a path to change the lives of blind people in Zimbabwe.
He was a delegate at the UN African Youth Conference in Nairobi, Kenya in December 2012.
In 2014, Tafadzwa was amongst the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders. He was at Northwestern University, Illinois, Chicago, USA, where he was studying Business and Entrepreneurship. His highlight was when he attended a 3 day presidential summit were he shook hands with President of the United States of America Barak Obama and first lady Michele Obama in Washington DC.
The Junior Chamber International (JCI) awarded Tafadzwa in the 2015 Top 10 outstanding young Zimbabweans for his Humanitarian and voluntary work he has done with people with disabilities.
I was born on the 20th of February in 1975 and at my birth there was something visibly wrong with me. My legs were large and my feet very large and deformed (for want of a better word to use).It wasn't until a few weeks later that i was actually allowed home with my parents as the doctors did not know if i would live or die, but hey I'm still here at 39 having fun!
On reaching school age I attended a special school being there we all had physical problems so we knew that we had limitations, but we accepted that.
On reaching 14 I was enrolled part-time in a comprehensive school to do my GCSE's came away with 4 GCSE's.
After taking a quiet year of study and doing a course in Sign Language, i followed that with a desire to be a counsellor. 3 long years of the course lay ahead.
So after this the media wheel started to turn and the rest as they say is history. See media appearances section for how life changed in 2006/7 and beyond.
So after all the media coverage I have had, 2010 brought a year of big change, after living with infection after infection for up to 12 years, my ulcer on my left foot developed blood poisoning. This meant that it had to be amputated or it would have killed me.
I was very ill at the time and it took 6 months for me to be discharged from hospital and then I had to start all over again to gain my independence and get my life back on track. It is now 2012 and I am still on the road of recovery, but I have belief in myself that one day I will achieve what I need to have a full and independent life.
Here we are in 2014:
So here we are in 2014 & I am still striving for independence and I will get there, I am due to get a new vehicle soon that will mean I can drive from my wheelchair. This will make a huge difference to my life and will mean that I can actually leave my home on my own for the first time in 4 and half years! I still need a new wheelchair that I can get in and out of without hurting myself, but that will hopefully be in the pipeline soon, so watch this space for pics of me whizzing around in my WAV (wheelchair Accessible Vehicle)
So here he is, Walter, my new Wheelchair Accessible vehicle. There have been a few ups and downs since we met, mainly due to problems with the adaptations, but he certainly making my life easier.