The World With MNR is a Canadian-based non-profit organization that launched in 2019, and we use advocacy, storytelling and development projects to take action for climate justice, gender equality, and inclusivity. However, the story behind this non-profit stretches way before it was registered, with two girls visiting a girls’ school in their rural village in Pakistan (more on this later).
We’re Maryam and Nivaal Rehman, twin activists, journalists, and filmmakers based near Toronto, Canada. We’re also the co-founders of The World With MNR, and are originally from Pakistan, where our activism journey began. On a family trip to the country in 2009, we visited a girls’ school that our grandmother had donated the land to build. We were eight-years-old at the time, and were so excited to meet the school girls there and immediately became friends with them when we visited. We were shocked to learn however, that many of the girls would quit school when they reached Grade 5 because they would have to work to support their families. It was at that moment that we resolved to fix the issue and do our best to make sure they would continue their education. Over the next five years, during family trips to Pakistan, we met the girls and encouraged them to continue their education. We held empowerment workshops, spoke to their parents, and spoke to the girls about their dreams and aspirations, and donated our own books and school supplies to them. In 2015, when we were on our way to high school and were visiting Pakistan again, we were very excited to learn that some of the girls we had been working with were going to high school. We were honoured to have played a part in their journey, and this was the first time we learned that our actions could have an impact.
We also knew that problems existed all over the world, including in Canada, which is why we were very involved in our local community through social justice-based clubs and community organizations. Apart from activism, we were storytellers, and had been developing our film and photography skills for years. Soon, we noticed that we could use these passions in combination with our activism work, to address an issue we saw in social media and the media in general. News reports often shared what problems existed in the world, but not what people could do to help. We resolved to address this challenge by using social media to share about our work, to demonstrate to other youth how they could also work to resolve some of the most pressing challenges of our time. In 2016, we launched The World With MNR as a multimedia platform and YouTube Channel on which we covered events, organizations and issues as well as their solutions with the world. This took us to global events like the Social Good Summit in New York City, The G7 Summit in 2018, and interviews with world leaders like PM Justin Trudeau and Malala Yousafzai. We also launched our blog with writers contributing through our Youth Activism Program from around the world.
In 2019, we made the decision to formalize the work we had been doing for over 10 years, by registering the World With MNR as a non-profit organization. It brought together causes we cared about (climate justice, gender equality, and inclusivity), with our favourite forms of action (storytelling, advocacy and development). Since our launch last year, we have hosted our flagship Girlz,RTW Conference to inspire young women and girls to pursue the career of their dreams, brought together a girl-powered team of Directors from around the world, and have launched numerous projects online, with our work growing tremendously amid the pandemic because it is even more important to support vulnerable groups during this difficult time. We have been honoured to work with organizations like the UN Girls’ Education Initiative, Plan International and the Global Partnership for Education while representing The World With MNR. We stay committed to elevating youth voices and using our social media to inspire and demonstrate actions that can be taken to resolve the worlds’ most pressing challenges. It’s been a long journey, and we continue to learn more and more every day. At the heart of this, we’re both committed to taking action and making a difference in whatever way we can. To find out more and to get involved, visit our website at www.theworldwithmnr.com or follow us on social media @theworldwithmnr.