Ep. 20 - Be bold!

07/13/23 • 37 min

The guest of this episode, Federico Batista Poitier, studied first forensic anthropology and then human rights. After graduating from the European Master in Human Rights and Democratisation, he specialised in issues related to accessibility and the implementation of the UN Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Federico started working on issues related to disability when he was an English teacher in South Korea and worked in an inclusive school.
He currently works as accessibility policy officer for United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), that he describes as a kind of UN of local and regional governments. 65 % of the Sustainable Development Goals need implementation at the local level to be realised by 2030. He particularly focuses on accessibility as mandated through the international human rights framework of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability and its article 9, a lot of the competency to implement this article being with local governments. This implementation is sometimes made difficult with coordination and centralisation.

Previous Episode

Ep. 19 - Your dreams are valid

Mary Izobo, the guest of Episode 19 of the podcast The Road Less Traveled, wears many hats. She is an international human rights lawyer, governance specialist, and is currently studying for her PhD in International Law and Governance at the University of Pretoria.
In this episode, we ask her more about her gender advocate hat as the Founder and Executive Director of The Amazon Leadership Initiative (TheALI). It is a non-profit organization that empowers women and girls, fosters inclusivity in leadership roles, and provides mentorship, education, and capacity development to alleviate gender inequality.
She had not realised before the master that the work she was doing was human rights. Since she graduated, her understanding of human rights became clearer, more lucid and applying the knowledge to the practice. She insists as well that: “You don't need a human rights degree to stand against injustice. I believe that injustice transcends the career interests. There are so many individuals who did not have a human rights degree and are renowned activists.”
Mary has 3 pieces of advice for anybody who wants to start their own initiative:

Passion: your passion will take you anywhere you want to go.
Determination: be hard-working and not give up.
Commitment: you should always remember your why: why you started with the organization in the first place.

She also mentioned that what makes her go through bad days is the fact that she created a tribe for herself (family, friends and supportive people).
There is one song that stood out for her when she is having a bad day: Marvick City, God will work it out.

Next Episode

Ep. 21 - There is no linear path!

Italian, migrant, human rights practitioner. This is how Sabrina Galella describes herself. She has been guided since her childhood by a sense of empathy and compassion.
Before her master in human rights, she studied politics and international relations. She thinks that combining the world of politics and the world of law make for a more enriching journey to understand just all of the issues that surround us. “I joined the dots of everything that is happening around the world. And I'm able to develop solutions that are based on politics, but also based on legal aspects of legal frameworks. And that made a difference.”
Small victories give her joy in her work. She knows that fighting for human rights can feel like a furstrating uphill battle and makes sure to celebrate the smal victories. Making the difference for one person is an opportunity to bring more people onboard and show them the importance of knowing their rights.