This year, New Voices sent 30 fellows to Mumbai, India for the World Social Forum (WSF). For New Voices Fellow Nisrin Elamin, it was an inspiring opportunity to learn from people across the globe involved in social justice work.

A yearly gathering of civil society organizations, activists, and scholars, the WSF began in 2001 in Brazil as an alternative to the yearly World Economic Forum. The World Social Forum (WSF) helps social justice advocates build relationships, and share ideas, experiences and strategies for a more just global society. More than 100,000 people registered to attend the six-day event in Mumbai.

Elamin, policy and advocacy coordinator for Grassroots International, attended with several goals in mind. One task was to co-facilitate a panel on the Palestinian solidarity movement in the U.S. with New Voices Fellows Cecilie Surasky from Jewish Voices for Peace and Rania Masri from the Institute for Southern Studies, where she discussed links between Arab and Palestinian solidarity groups. She also hoped to learn more about social and economic justice work going on in other regions, particularly in South and Southeast Asia.

At the same time, she used the event to connect with Grassroots International partner organizations such as the Landless Workers Movement of Brazil, the Democracy and Workers Rights Center in Palestine, the Haitian Platform to Advocate Alternative Development and the Authentic Labor Front in Mexico.

Located in Jamaica Plains, MA, Grassroots International promotes social justice through partnerships with social change organizations in Brazil, East Timor, Eritrea, Haiti, Mexico and Palestine. The organization works to advance political, economic and social rights and to support development alternatives through grant making, education, and advocacy.

A Sudanese immigrant, Elamin received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Socio-political Development Studies from Harvard University. Since joining Grassroots International, Elamin has helped the organization to strengthen its mission and the advocacy work of its partners in key ways, particularly regarding conflict in the Middle East. She helped link Palestinians with important allies in the United States by organizing a partner tour and by creating an education and action program entitled Palestine NOW: An advocacy and Education Initiative for a Just Peace in the Middle East. She also created a popular education curriculum and facilitator’s guide entitled The Other Sides of the Story: An Education for Action Curriculum for a Just Peace in Israel/Palestine. Elamin facilitated several workshops and worked with over 30 communities and faith-based groups, helping them understand how they could contribute to peace in the Middle East.

The WSF, which she characterizes as "humbling and eye-opening," helped an already accomplished advocate see other avenues for growth. "I feel grateful to our fellowship for having been able to come here but also to Grassroots," she says. "Sitting in Boston doing the work we do can sometimes feel isolating and isolated. Being that the forum brought it home to me that we all have a lot of work to do at home and that while we need to be more connected to local/domestic organizing we also need to keep stepping up our support in solidarity with people around the world struggling for justice."