Ms Khalif is the first and only Somali-American to be accepted to all eight Ivy League schools” in the USA
By: Latifa Yusuf Masai
Somalilandsun- “When you are the youngest person in the room, you think, maybe my voice is not important,'”
This is according to Ms Munira Khalif a Somali-American from Minnesota will speak on behalf of youth at the upcoming United Nations General Assembly in New York and other events.
Ms Khalif who will be a junior this fall at Harvard University, was selected as US youth Observer to the UN from a large pool of 350 applicants for the role appointed annually by the U.S. Department of State and the United Nations Association of the USA to increase youth engagement in global affairs.
Reporting for the VOA news Journalist Salem Solomon notes that “This is not Khalif’s first time in the spotlight. In high school, she co-founded a nonprofit, “Lighting the Way,” that advocates for girls’ education in East Africa. She was also an adviser to the U.N. Foundation’s Girl Up initiative.adding that “As a senior in high school, Khalif made national headlines when she was accepted to all eight Ivy League schools”
Munira Khalif will serve as Youth Observer for one year, traveling throughout the country and internationally to speak with young people and listen to their concerns.
Read: Somali-American Picked as US Youth Observer to UN
Bio
Munira Khalif the 2017-18 U.S. Youth Observer to the United Nations, was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is currently an undergraduate student at Harvard University, majoring in Economics and minoring in Government.
The Somali-American is a dedicated advocate for universal access to education and women’s and girls’ rights. Her experience as a first-generation Somali-American raised her awareness of the sad reality that many children, especially girls, lack the opportunity to attend school and underscored the transformative power of education.
Munira previously served as an advocate and Teen Advisor for the United Nations Foundation’s Girl Upcampaign and was invited to attend the first inaugural Malala Day at the UN Headquarters in New York as a youth delegate. Munira also served on a UN panel on behalf of Girl Up with representatives from UNESCO and the Global Partnership for Education to discuss ways to increase lawmakers’ involvement in youth issues. Munira, alongside other youth advocates, successfully lobbied Congress to ensure that girls in developing countries are registered at birth.
Munira is a co-founder and leader of Lighting the Way, a youth-run non-profit organization that works to make education more accessible and equitable for girls in East Africa by providing scholarships, building libraries, and sponsoring teachers. Munira was awarded the UN Special Envoy for Global Education’s Youth Courage Award, which honors young people fighting for universal education. She was one of nine recipients chosen from around the world to receive the honor. Munira was invited twice to attend the annual White House Iftar dinner, which celebrates Muslim-American trailblazers both in the public and private sector.
During her free time, Munira enjoys writing, performing spoken word poetry, and creating pottery in a ceramics studio.
