Liberty International has developed networks with students all over the world, many of whom have become leaders in the student liberty movement. Some have expressed great interest in joining our World Conference in Mongolia this year and have inquired if there might be sponsors who could assist with the expense of participation.

Please review the extraordinary activity of these candidates and contact Ken Schoolland <[email protected]> or Jim Elwood <[email protected]> if you are willing to help them come, or donate directly here:

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Biographical information follows below.

Ayemen Fatima—India

Ayemen is Chairwoman of the South Asia Students For Liberty Executive Board. She has led the growth of South Asia this past year, more than doubling the number of Coordinators. As Regional Director for Developing Regions last year, she started SFL in Pakistan from scratch, securing 80 program applications in the first year and over 300 this past year. In Afghanistan, she trained and coached leaders to run events, including SFL’s first event in Kabul, which was delayed by one hour due to a suicide bombing just up the street.

Ayemen also worked to motivate and create accountability for leaders in South Asia by implementing shared monthly update sheets that make work transparent among the leadership team. In her first year with SFL, Ayemen hosted a Virtual Reading Group with the highest number of registrants to date and participants from 5 countries discussing Ken Schoolland’s book The Adventures of Jonathan Gullible, and participated in a protest of the World Health Organization’s Framework on Tobacco Control Conference in Delhi. She also recently joined Ladies of Liberty Alliance as the International Outreach Coordinator and has already helped them expand to 7 countries in just 3 months.

Ayemen’s biggest accomplishment so far has been winning the Students For Liberty “Student of the Year” award at LibertyCon 2019 conference which was held  in Washington DC on 19th January 2019. Ayemen recently attended the Asia Liberty Forum 1019 in Colombo Sri Lanka, where she underwent a 2 days think tank essential training and participated in Crowd-sourcing a Project on Drug Policy Index.

Ayemen studies pharmacology and hopes to use her background to work on healthcare and drug policy reform.

Kaamala Neupane—Nepal

Kaamala Neupane is one of the co-founders of Nepal Prosperity Institute, an economic think that promotes financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and economic policy reform in Nepal. She did her Bachelors in Business Administration from King’s College. She has also taken a summer course on political economy at the Asia Institute of Political Economy of University of Hong Kong run by The Fund for American Studies and accredited by George Mason University.

In 2016, Ms. Neupane was selected as one of the Rising Stars of Nepal by WEDU, a leadership development organization that aims to unlock the leadership potential of young women in Asia. In 2017, she was selected as one of the council members for the 2017/18 batch of US Embassy Youth Council Nepal, a network comprising of exceptional young leaders from all over Nepal. She was also selected as one of the promising young leaders by LEAD International in its programme of identifying and nurturing future leaders of Nepal in various sectors. She has a keen interest in economics and entrepreneurship development and is planning to pursue her higher studies in economics. She is also a filmmaker. Her short documentary “Bishnu Maya Didi” has been selected in multiple international film festivals and was awarded Best Female Director in the Women and Minorities in Media Film Festival, California in 2017.

Pramila Ramtel–Nepal

Liberty to me is a way of life, it’s about knowing what we are capable of and knowing when to stop. I joined SASFL in 2017 as a local coordinator, as an individual who had always prioritized individual choice and freedom, but also as an individual who had little sense of direction on how to advance the liberty movement. As a local coordinator in Nepal, I organized public events like vox pop and liberty discussions that helped me understand how people perceived individual freedom. But I also observed the change in people’s perception over the course of discussions, from believing in the need of absolute control of state to believing in the power of individual freedom and the wonders of free markets.      

As the Executive Board or Regional Director of SASFL, I helped train 25 Local coordinators from Nepal and 10 Local Coordinators from Bangladesh. I facilitate and coordinate with local coordinators to help them plan and execute on ground events including Colloquia Series, vox pop and debate on liberal issues.

Key Activities

  • Joined SASFL as a Local Coordinator in 2017
  • Completed Liberty courses on SFL Academy
  • Participated in Asia Liberty Forum 2018 in Jakarta, Indonesia
  • Nominated as Regional Director of SASFL for Nepal and Bangladesh
  • Organized ‘Doing Business in Nepal’ speaker session, which was featured in Nepal’s National Daily
  • Hosted Book reading and Discussion session on ‘The Adventures of Jonathan Gullible’
  • Participated in ‘iPolicy for Young Leaders’ a 3-day policy workshop co-organized by Centre for Civil Society and Bikalpa-An Alternative
  • Facilitate Local coordinators in Nepal and Bangladesh to plan and organize on-ground events in their campuses
  • Selected as Campus Ambassador of FEE (Foundation of Economic Education) and conducted campus events to acquaint students to the idea of economic freedom and free markets.

Gaurab Dahal—Nepal

Being a libertarian means understanding the scope of one’s rights and freedom and also knowing where one’s responsibilities begin. SFL has helped me understand other’s perspective. The journey and zeal of understanding people’s perspective on liberty and individual freedom and acquainting people to the essence of libertarianism keeps me motivated’

I started off as a local coordinator in Nepal in 2016. Back in 2016 we were just two local coordinators from Nepal, each living at different ends of the country. And coming along to 2018, we had more than 100 applications for our local coordinator program from Nepal and have successfully trained more than 40 enthusiastic local coordinators in Nepal, who have been constantly working to promoted the idea of classical libertarianism. In a country where very few young people are acquainted to the idea of liberalism, starting off as a local coordinator, I mostly encouraged people to enroll in SFL Academy online courses and organized discussions to help people acquaint to the philosophy.

I have been working as an executive board member for 2 years now. My major activities as Chair of Partnerships in 2017 and Chair of Events in 2018 can be highlighted as:

  • Explored and expanded partnership of SASFL with local youth organizations like Debate Network Nepal, Campus Groups and Leo Clubs to expand student base in Nepal.
  • Worked to help LCs from developing regions (Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan) to plan and execute on-ground events like Colloquia, Vox pop, Speaker Session in their campuses.
  • Worked with local student groups and campus clubs to plan and executive campus events, colloquiums and discussions on controversial public events
  • Completed numerous online courses of SFL Academy and FEE online courses.
  • Participated in ‘iPolicy for young leaders’ organized jointly by Bikalpa-An Alternative and Centre for Civil Society
  • Participated in Asia Liberty Forum 2017 in Mumbai and ALF 2018 in Jakarta, Indonesia Major Involvements
  • Campus Ambassador of Foundation for Economic Education – working with FEE to create on-campus student groups interested in liberal ideas, host workshops and discussions on personal and economic freedom.
  • Served as Business Development Officer of Debate Network Nepal, Nepal’s largest debating body – working to institutionalize debating culture and promote free speech culture among young students from different campuses in Nepal
  • Campus Director of Hult Prize at Kathmandu University, an International Social Entrepreneurship Idea Competition- working to develop entrepreneurial mindset among university students and to promote start up culture in Nepal and promote market liberalization.

I

Mohammad Anas Khan—India

Mohammad Anas Shoebullah Khan, Chair of Academics & Research, South Asia Students for Liberty: My journey in understanding libertarianism and then becoming part of the wider movement started after I read the idea of John Stuart Mills during my high school days however since the environment around me was pretty statist, I was inclined towards the study of leftist theories. It was in the second year of my college that I was exposed to Students for Liberty South Asia and I applied for the Local Coordinators Program where I embraced the movement. Thus, I am a libertarian who comes from the other side of the fence.

Libertarianism in South Asia is not necessarily a new idea but the fact is that there were no principled movements towards it. As the sole local coordinator from Mumbai, my task was not just to equip and update my knowledge on classical liberalism through going through extensive database of SFL, Cato and Mises Institute but also to prepare a pitch in college campuses so that we may proceed forward with doing colloquia in campuses and engage students in contemporary discussion on libertarian values.

As a Local Coordinator for SFL, I managed to also grab the opportunity to attend a three-day certificate course in public policy organised by the Centre for Civil Society, New Delhi. In Mumbai, I was able to coordinate three colloquia on different topics in college campuses which introduced our idea into the academic mindset of the students. At the same time, I have had a personal story of both academic and professional growth by networking with others like me in the region who are passionate for liberty. I was also nominated for the Bastiat Scholarship to attend the Cato University’s College of Law at New Orleans but could not avail the opportunity because of travel fund issues. Last year, I got selected for the Liberty International Conference 2018 in Poland but I could not avail the scholarship because of a last minute Visa refusal.

I joined the Executive Board for South Asia Students for Liberty as Chair of Academics & Research and I am currently serving in that position. I designed a fully fledged Academic Training in classical liberal ideas for Students for Liberty’s 180 newly inducted Local Coordinators in South Asia region. I was also selected as the Top 50 Global SFL Leaders and attended LibertyCon19 in Washington DC during January 2019.

I was one of the only two leaders from SFL South Asia to attend Atlas Network’s Think Tank Essentials training followed by Asia Liberty Forum 2019 in Sri Lanka. My participation in the Liberty International Conference in Mongolia will assist me in both my individual academic endeavours in liberty as well as networking for an upcoming academic training called Liberty in South Asia for which we are looking for resources, networks and best ideas to implement. I look forward to participating in this Conference this year and hope for your support for the same.

Mugabi John Socrates—Uganda

Mugabi graduated  from Kyambogo University in Uganda with a bachelor of economics. He founded students for Liberty Uganda in 2016. Mugabi John Socrates is the founding director of Action for Liberty and Economic Development, a libertarian think tank based in Uganda aiming at promoting a free and prosperous society with an aspect of entrepreneurship and individual liberty in Africa.

I am committed to see the Liberty team grow in the region with strong pillars in each country. That’s why I want us to include Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, South Sudan, and Rwanda. I also want to inspire a culture in which we can work, collaborate, and build regional synergies as Libertarians in the region. We can be strong and effective if we can commit ourselves (libertarians) to free our region and inspire and champion liberty.

THE ACTION FOR LIBERTY AND ECONOMIC ACTION DEVELOPMENT (ALED) ACTIVITIES FOR 2017-2018.

–The Power of the Market Liberty and Free Market Conference at Kisubi University on 23rd September 2017, in attendance we had 83 students.

–At the Makerere University of business school in western Uganda it was attended by 47 students.

Inspiring women in liberty movement that was held at Mutesa 1 Royal University

–Masaka Great Lakes Region Innovation Market and Innovation Conference held at the flight motel on 20th December 2017, it was attended by 116 participants.

–Summit on trade that was held on 1st July 2017 at Munyonyo Resort.

–ALED outreach to various university students and in these we met several students.   

–Liberty and entrepreneurship camp held at the University of Kisubi from 8th -10th February 2018. 72 students attended this camp.

–The current and ongoing 7 weeks “New Entrepreneurship Training (NET) that started on 7th December and it will run up to January 25th 2018, which is conducted on every Friday of a week for 4 hours each day.

–Free market debate that was organized at Kyambogo University on 29th/09/2018

Agyeman Richard—Ghana

Having seen the need to revisit the roots of our forefathers, who shared respect for self, exchange of opinions, free trade between individuals and respect for property rights, all of which the current generation is fast losing to dictatorial political traditions, I found it prudent to champion the cause of liberty in any little corner I may find myself. This has led to my love for participation in many international/local programs and events which sought to share knowledge on how best our generation can rekindle the fight for a freer world.

I have, thus, taken part in programs at the International Leadership Academy of FNF, Germany, The Cycle15, The Think Tank Startup Training of the Atlas Leadership Academy, The Advance Seminar in South East Asean Studies by the University of ChiangMai in Thailand, amongst other local ones. I have also participated in various conference either organized by friends in the liberty movement or that seeks to improve understanding markets led economic growth. These include two World Conferences of Liberty International, 2014 in Tirana-Abania and 2016 in Bali-Indonesia, then Africa Forum, Inclusive Private Sector Growth and Decent Work which was organized by International Labour Organisation in collaboration with the government of Zambia. 

The prime idea has been to try to minimise, or if not erase completely, political influence on the ordinary in their decision-making, and to fight for private-sector led economic policies for a freer market in Ghana. This has led to setting-up of two, not so successful, organisations to champion this cause. The first is Own Institute, Ghana with a vision to promote free markets and classical libertarianism and the K-V Consulting to promote private enterprise growth in Ghana between local entrepreneurs and decentralized local government assemblies.

The current state of these two entities demand that I continue to engage champions of liberty movement, such as LI, and free market advocates in search of partnership and resources to move the Ovaton Window. But huge financial commitments required to embark on such journeys, couple with current self-employed status, makes it almost impossible at my end in Africa. Thus, my continuous request for support as LI has always been my number on supporter in this direction.


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