By Amelia E. Thompson
I currently serve as a senior technical advisor for monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning with the youth team at Catholic Relief Services (CRS), an international humanitarian organization. But my unexpected path into international development began many years prior to high school.
In between my junior and senior years of high school I had a simple idea: girls should be celebrated when they begin their journeys into womanhood at the onset of menarche and on an ongoing basis. I shared the idea with a friend that each menstruation should be met with causes for celebration through a subscription box including gifts, healthy snacks, encouraging notes and reminders that the journey ahead will not be experienced alone. The name of the idea: WeDeliverPeriod.
Many years passed between this summer ideation and the start of what has become a social impact initiative working to advance menstrual equity through leadership development. Although the idea came through me, it has held onto me from the very beginning and helped direct me to Harvard and my current work at CRS. The idea that began with a subscription box service has evolved into a global mission.
I applied to the Harvard Graduate School of Education with an interest in international education policy after founding WeDeliverPeriod as part of a larger social impact organization. At that time, I had traveled to western Uganda to learn about an initiative working with networks of schools and faith leaders to challenge social taboos around menstruation and to esteem the value of the girl child in sub-Saharan Africa. It was through this experience I became intimately aware of the challenges girls in low- and middle-income countries face to complete primary and secondary education.
This work, which began as a seemingly unrelated idea in high school, has helped me discover one of my passions – designing systems that support evidence-based programming for children and youth in need around the world. For girls such systems require a relentless commitment to honoring and uplifting the value of the girl child through social practices, institutional structures and policy choices.
I share this reflection because none of us know how a single idea can shape our worldviews – and, possibly – help us better shape our worlds.
Is there an idea that holds onto you? Today can be the day you take one step toward realizing its potential. Your destiny and a better world awaits.
About the Author
Amelia E. Thomson has provided strategy, fundraising, monitoring and evaluation, program design, project management, and leadership development support to social entrepreneurs, faith-based leaders, businesses and nonprofit organizations. She completed studies at Vassar College and graduate studies at St. John’s University and Harvard University. She co-founded a social impact organization, RenewToday, which works with individuals and organizations to develop their leadership capacity in the areas of mercy, justice and community. She also founded the private consulting practice, TwoFive Consulting. She serves as the senior technical advisor for monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning with the youth team at Catholic Relief Services.