SZ
Sindy Zemura-Bernard
Founder and CEO
Southern Africa Embrace
Speaker Profile
Sindy is a multiple award-winning humanitarian, social entrepreneur, international development executive, event moderator, public speaker, and pioneer, focused on empowering marginalized women, girls, and youth.
A seasoned leader, with over two decades of combined experience in international development and finance sectors in Africa, Europe, USA and Canada, Sindy is a specialized executive and consultant on gender equality, education, youth empowerment, ending gender-based violence, and poverty alleviation.
Given her passion for these causes, Sindy is the Founding CEO of the Southern Africa Embrace Foundation (SAE Fdn), an International Development charitable organization which holds the United Nations ECOSOC Special Consultative Status Accreditation. The SAE Fdn supports the wellbeing of over twenty-five thousand vulnerable women, children, and youth in seven countries in Africa which include Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, South Africa, Malawi, Zimbabwe and recently expanding to Ghana and Nigeria. In 2022, Sindy led her organization to launch the Women Lead Forum (WLF) in Dar Es Salaam. It is a continental wide movement that has a focus on creating an intergenerational network of women and youth leaders for empowerment and mentorship. The forum launched with a $5million fund vision which seeks to support a fellowship for the most marginalized women and youth who seek capital access for development work across Africa.
Sindy also served at the Inaugural African Union Office of the Youth Envoy (AU-OYE), as Consult - Special Advisor and Team Lead – Intergenerational Dialogues between 2019-2021. She pioneered and developed the African Union Intergenerational Dialogues brochure and Toolkit which was adopted by the AU-OYE as a guiding handbook on youth leadership and inclusion in Africa. During her tenure, one of her many key achievements was mobilizing over 80 million African youth and 37 Presidents for Intergenerational Dialogues. Her voluntary work and membership is expansional, serving in several boards and networks such as UN Women / AU (African Women Leaders Network), STOP TB Partnership, UNMGCY (United Nations Major Group for Children and Youth), Canadian Partnership for Women and Children’s Health (CanWach), Ntethelo Foundation, The Boardroom Africa,, IAS (International ADIS Society), Global AIDS Alliance, NGO CSW NY, EWEC (Every Woman, Every Child), VOW (Canadian Voice of Women for Peace), WIIS (Women in International Peace and Security) to name a few.
Sindy has also been a guest contributor at WIIS-Canada and NATO Canada publications since 2015, writing on education in Africa, peace and security, gender equality, women and children’s health, international development, and on HIV/AIDS in the continent of Africa. Her passion for the empowerment of marginalized communities and gender equality has to date awarded her the opportunity to moderate and or speak at over eighty (80) global events, along with and before dignitaries, celebrities, diplomats and more. Amongst many of her recognitions, Sindy was nominated to represent Canada at the 2020 and 2021 UN-CSW conferences, she's a 2017 humanitarian nominee with MIPAD's (Most Influential People of African Descent) 100 under 40 Influencers, Canada’s top 40 Immigrants 2018, Top 100 Canadian Black women leaders 2018, Recognized by Prince Harry in 2018 for advancing HIV Awareness and youth empowerment in Africa, 2019 North America Business award winner at the Africa Powerful Partnership Awards at CSW-UN, 2019 - Top 100 'The Young Independents – Africans influencing policy, brands and people, 2022 Gender Mainstreaming Finalist at the Accenture Awards in Johannesburg, South Africa. She is an award honouree as one of the '100 Women to Know in America' by JP Morgan Chase, recognizing her global humanitarian and advocacy work and most recently, the 2023 Philanthropy Award winner at the Prestigious Toronto Waterfront Awards in Canada.
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