Description:

There are well over two billion children and youth in the world, half of which are living in poverty. Maya Ajmera's talk will highlight the innovative and effective efforts pursued by community-based organizations to address the most basic challenges of health, education, and survival for vulnerable young people. She will offer a wide-ranging blueprint for collective action by governments, multilateral organizations, the nongovernmental organization community, philanthropists, academia, and the media.

Maya Ajmera is the founder of the Global Fund for Children, a non-profit organization that supports innovative community-based organization serving the most vulnerable young people around the world. Since its founding, GFC has invested nearly $40 million in over 700 grassroots groups in 80 countries touching the lives of over 10 million children. She is an author of Invisible Children: Reimagining International Development at the Grassroots (Palgrave Macmillan). Currently, Maya is the president and CEO of the Society for Science & the Public and publisher of the award-winning magazine Science News.