“An opportunity to collectively work towards peace”: Lindsey Nefesh-Clarke on the EYL40 programme

Lindsey Nefesh-Clarke, alumna of the #EYL40 Class of 2012, is a British CEO and Founder of the Women’s WorldWide Web (W4), an online crowdfunding platform dedicated to protecting girls’ and women’s empowerment in developing and developed countries around the world, promoting human rights and access to technology.

The mission of W4 is to enable socially minded investors to contribute—either financially through crowdfunding or in-kind through mentoring and skills sharing—to innovative grassroots projects that empower girls and women in terms of access to information and communications technology (ICT) but also in education and training, healthcare, financial services, culture and the environment.

This latter aspect is now very much at the fore of W4, as the platform works with United Nations agencies and other organisations to drive the green digital transition that Nefesh-Clarke is convinced is needed. She founded W4 in 2010 upon graduating from business school—having previously worked in human rights and microfinance—and joined the EYL40 network in 2012.

Asked what the EYL40 programme has brought her, she takes a metaphorical deep breath. "It’s impossible to express and do justice in a few words to the myriad ways that I’ve benefited," she says. "I’ve met so many incredibly inspiring people! Professionally, thanks to opportunities to participate in EYL40 events, explore partnerships, contribute to publications and collaborate on projects, my work and career have taken a quantum leap," she goes on, noting that W4 is now a co-founder, in partnership with other organisations working in the field, of a global programme to promote girls’ and women’s digital inclusion, equality and leadership.

"This is a chance to really move the needle," she says. "As societies undergo the digital transformation and we work to promote inclusive, sustainable development, girls and women must be equal participants. Our common future depends on it."

"Where I am today is in great part a result of how I’ve grown thanks to EYL40," she remarks. In the current geopolitical situation, when it would be easy to despair, she is "deeply grateful" for the EYL40's "precious community ... and the opportunity to collectively work toward peace."

All this feeds into her diagnosis of current leadership challenges. "In the past, I would have said the greatest challenge was managing humanitarian programmes in autocratic countries and contexts where leaders systematically violate human rights," she says. "Today, within the framework of a multi-stakeholder partnership between W4, the International Telecommunication Union and others, the priority is to close the global and gender digital divides."

In the end, the COVID-19 pandemic reinforced her conviction that W4 was on the right track. "Before, I was clueless about topics relating to the environment and zoonotic spillover," she recalls. "There was so much I didn’t see coming. The pandemic threw into sharp relief the link between the protection of girls’ and women’s rights and their empowerment, and sustainability. Digital equity underpins all this," she stresses. "Pre-pandemic, my work sought to promote greater gender parity in leadership—and the tragic consequences and repercussions of the pandemic drove home how urgently the world needs to achieve this."

The Russian war against Ukraine has also brought things more into focus: "I believe the future of our planet urgently depends on a new kind of leadership if we are to survive this violent 'strongmen' era and the threat of nuclear catastrophe. It depends on courageous leaders driving an inclusive digital green transition and, I believe, espousing feminist foreign policy." As an "unabashed idealist" she hopes that "Europe will emerge stronger and more unified, as a geopolitically stronger and irresistible moral force in the world, upholding the values on which the EU was founded: democracy, human rights and fundamental freedoms, the rule of law, equality, unity and solidarity" and that "the EU will be a global leader in driving a global digital green transition and embrace a common feminist foreign policy, building a future where the threats of nuclear Armageddon and environmental, planetary catastrophe are like relics in museums."

To the leaders of tomorrow, her advice is "courage!"—a nod to her country of residence, France. "I’m European, born in Britain, with some Italian-Maltese-Egyptian in the mix, with the privilege of living and working in France," she explains. "To borrow a quote I came across: 'Courage is another word for heart—or navigating leadership.' We need compassionate leaders who walk the talk." She also cites the play “The Arsonists” by Swiss writer Max Frisch—an absurdist satire published in 1953 that depicts moral weakness in the face of evil, and which was supposed to allude to the rise of fascism or to the atomic bomb. It remains, says Nefesh-Clarke, "a cautionary tale for the world we’re navigating today."

Perspective is also provided by the multi-disciplinary nature of the EYL40 network. "The EYL40 programme brings together a richly diverse, pan-European community; it’s an incredible chance to meet and learn from passionate and visionary leaders from a diversity of cultures and sectors, with great opportunities to work together," she says. "It's been transformative for me. I never really thought of myself as a leader," she admits. "I just did my work. My background is in humanitarian work and I fell into the domain of digital inclusion and equality while managing programmes in informal settlements in the Philippines. "Thanks to EYL40, I’ve connected with inspiring leaders with a wealth of vision, determination, strength, integrity and passion. I derive courage and inspiration from their examples."

The programme has also encouraged her to embrace her own role. "Irrespective of our political affiliations, the EYL40s share the values that underlie the EU project, and we all aspire to a peaceful, prosperous Europe and world," she says. "The programme has made me acutely aware that each of us, even at the seemingly most modest individual level, can influence outcomes, to build the future we aspire to in Europe and globally." She particularly praises the EYL40 programme's "citizen-centric" focus: "It’s about creating real, positive impact in people’s lives and for our planet, bringing together diverse cultures and sectors, and fostering dialogue and the co-creation of solutions to challenges that we all face."

The cross-sectoral approach—combining experts with laypeople, politicians and citizens—has, she says, "enabled me to better understand how my own work to promote digital equity and gender equality fits into the European and global picture and is linked to a host of other crucial issues. It has powerfully taught me how my actions as a citizen and in my professional work—and you could apply this to everyone, really—can truly shape societal values, influence political outcomes and even, ultimately, contribute to socio-economic and environmental progress, geopolitical stability and peace." Asked to described the EYL40 network in one word, she does not hesitate: "Hope!"