Hidden Heroes

As a trusted community leader in Chelsea, Massachusetts, one of COVID’s hardest hit communities in the United States, Gladys Vega knows what her community needs most - food -  and gets to work feeding them. Her grassroots efforts underscore the deadly racial inequalities exposed by the pandemic.

UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore discusses how women and girls are denied education in many parts of the world in this sister episode to Episode Five “Daring to Dream,” and the importance of closing the “digital divide” to give kids everywhere an equal opportunity to succeed. 

Before the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in summer 2021, an all-girls robotics team was drawing accolades around the world for overcoming obstacles to pursue science and compete internationally. After the Taliban takeover, the Dreamers had to flee to safety, leaving their once-promising futures in question.

We talk to Mary Ellsberg, Director of the Global Women’s Institute at George Washington University in this sister episode to Episode Three “Secret Recipes” about the most pervasive and under-reported human rights abuse in the world: violence against women and girls. 

As cases of domestic violence skyrocket, an all-female Hackathon team in Ecuador devises a simple, brilliant way to reach endangered women while avoiding the watchful eye of abusers: a cookbook.

Mendy Marsh, Co-Founder and Executive Director of VOICE, has a disruptive idea for humanitarian aid and crisis response: listen to women. In this sister episode to Episode One “Child Bride Ending Child Marriage,” we dive deeper into the implications for child marriage.

Faridah had been a child bride in Congo before she made a harrowing escape to Uganda. Now, she’s witnessing child marriages on the rise during the COVID-19 pandemic, and she’s doing everything she can to stop them. 

Hidden Heroes is a podcast from UNICEF about women and girls who are innovating, organizing and saving lives during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Join host Beth Murphy to celebrate solutions to gender injustice and strengthen your resolve to fight it with intimate, on-the-ground reporting from around the world.  [Produced by Principle Pictures and supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation]