Rising Youth Mentorship Initiative (RYMI) is a non-profit community-based initiative established in 2013 to mentor young girls and women (ages:13-21 years old) with the aim of grooming emerging leaders. RYMI mission is to give every adolescent the opportunity to live a healthy and self-determined life.

  • Co-Founder

    Raisa is a co-founder of the Rising Youth Mentorship Initiative. Raisa is a feminist passionate about child protection and women's rights. Raisa assists with the establishment and adherence to the organization's leadership, vision, and program. Raisa provides technical support for program development, design, fundraising, and implementation. Raisa feels privileged to work with a strong team who shows ownership and dedication to achieve RYMI's mission and vision. She believes that RYMI's most significant accomplishment is empowering adolescent girls and women to make demands to enjoy their rights and achieve specific career or life goals.

    Raisa is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) experienced in providing intensive case management, health promotion and advocacy, and community-based and facility-based mental treatment to children and adults, Skilled individual, group, and family therapy provider using specific evidence-based practice for persons with severe and persistent mental illnesses and behavioral crises.

  • CO-FOUNDER

    Yah Vallah Parwon is an African feminist, Women Human Rights Professional, and Girl's Rights Champion passionate about advancing the status of women and girls, using her professional experience to elevate the cause of gender equality in Liberia.

    As co-founder of RYMI, Yah provides strategic direction for the organization and supports fundraising and organizational development. She loves working with a team of great and passionate people with a shared vision to support adolescent girls and young women to reach their full potential. Yah is most proud of the opportunity RYMI provides for her to mentor adolescent girls and young women to advance their life.

    Nationally, Yah's work involves supporting the development of programs and policies that seek transformational impact on the lives of women and girls. She is a member of the Liberia Feminist Forum and the Female Lawyers Association of Liberia.

    As a woman human rights expert, in 2019, Yah co-authored a submission to Northern Ireland's government on ''A New Legal Framework for Abortion Services in Northern Ireland.'' In 2020, Yah became a Chevening scholar and was a recipient of the Transitional Justice Institute /Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission 2020 Dissertation Prize for her research titled ''Can the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice advance women's rights through its interpretation of gender-discrimination? A critical analysis of Women'sWomen's Rights Jurisprudence in the African Human Rights System."

  • PROGRAM COORDINATOR

    Kou Amelia Dahn, is a Social Worker. She has over ten (10) years of strong experience in leading and implementing projects related to SGBV, Psychosocial assessment and counseling, contact tracing and referrals, mentorship for girls and women, Ebola survival support, and social services. She has worked for national and International Non- Governmental organizations including the Ministry of Gender, Children & Social Protection, and the Ministry of Health with support from Save the Children. At age 15, Kou started volunteering her services with reputable institutions within Kakata city and continued to gain a wealth of experience across a spectrum of socioeconomic issues throughout Liberia. Kou earned her Bachelor’s degree in Social Work from Stella Maris Polytechnic University, Mother Patern College of Health Sciences, and an advanced certificate in basic skills in Community Development.

    Kou is currently serving as Program Coordinator at Rising Youth Mentorship Initiative where she coordinates project implementation activities.

  • COMMUNITY MOBILIZER

    Ophina J. T Mends-cole is a Liberian. She is a Social Work student at Mother Patern College of Health Sciences. In 2016, she was certificated with a higher international diploma in aviation studies from the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT).

    Ophina participated in the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) from 2011 – 2017, in 2019 she attended the Young African Women congress. Currently, she serves as the community mobilizer at Rising Youth Mentorship Initiative (RYMI).

  • MONITORING AND EVALUATION ASSISTANT AND PROGRAM ASSISTANT

    Sele Max Fuah is a social worker, social entrepreneur, and youth development practitioner with more than 10 years of experience in non-profit work. He has a BSW in Social Work, an advanced certificate in Sexual Reproductive Health & Rights, faculty of Social Medicine and Global Health from Lund University, Sweden, and many other certificates in entrepreneurship and non-profit. Sele was trained US International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) to facilitate youth political participation, small business development, civil society expansion, and grassroots engagement. In February 2021, he received an IVLP Impact Award for community engagement to implement a mental health awareness project: The Young Ambassadors of Mental Health. His impact is known across the country through his groundbreaking initiatives related to reproductive health, mental health, education, and youth development.

    Currently, Sele is the Monitoring and Evaluation Assistant and program assistant at Rising Youth Mentorship Initiative supporting a regional project titled: Concerted Action for Zero Tolerance against sexual and gender-based violence in the Mano River region through Medica Mondiale, Germany. Sele loves research, planning, and coordinating creative projects to challenge young people to become productive members of their communities. He delights in data collection, storytelling, speaking, and creative writing. What Sele loves most about his work at RYMI is collecting impact stories from teen girls and documenting them. Sele feels pleased with the opportunity to document the direct impact of RYMI interventions through data correction and analysis. This inspires Sele to do more with the team and strive for excellence in the work he does.

  • VOLUNTEER COMMUNICATIONS AND ADVOCACY OFFICER

    Jee-won M. Arkoi holds a Bachelor of Social Work Degree from the Stella Maris Polytechnic University, Mother Patern College of Health Sciences. In her role as the communications and advocacy officer of Rising Youth Mentorship Initiative, she communicates with other organizations and professionals on behalf of the agency and manages the agency’s social media platform. Jee-won is passionate about youth education and career development and hopes to support the development of the adolescent mentees of RYMI through her voluntary services. What Jee-won appreciates most about RYMI is the client-centered approach to the activities. She is inspired when she sees how much the mentees continue to grow as they take more initiative to bring change in their schools, communities, and in their personal lives.