Biography
Founder & Executive Director, Grandmother Project (GMP): Change through Culture, an American and Senegalese non-profit organization. Often culture is seen as an obstacle. GMP views cultural roles and values as essential elements for promoting sustained change. Judi lead the development of an innovative approach to leverage the influential role of grandmothers in Africa, Asia and Latin America to promote community-wide, positive change for women, children and especially girls. GMP’s grandmother-inclusive strategy has shown that grandmothers can be catalysts for change related to complex issues including: maternal and child health/nutrition; early/forced marriage; teen pregnancy; female genital mutilation; girls’ education. GMP builds capacity of other organizations on grandmother-inclusive and intergenerational approaches to promote community-driven, sustained change. GMP has found that grandmothers are an abundant but underutilized resource for promoting positive change in communities.