Moses Owen Browne Jr.
Moses Owen Browne, Jr., is Global Youth Ambassador, A World at School, United Nations Secretary General’s Global Education First Initiative. He’s advocating for Education for all. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Mass Communications and English with emphasis in Telecommunications Management and Broadcasting (Cum Laude) from the United Methodist University in Liberia and a prospective student of International Relations, Graduate School of Arts and Science, New York University.
Moses is originally from Liberia and has worked around the United Nations in New York advocating for global education at the United Nations General Assembly. He is currently the Media and Communications Manager for Plan, the international children charity organization, www.plan-international.org.
Moses is 29 years old, born May 15, 1986 unto the blessed union of Moses Owen Browne, Sr. (deceased) and Mother Beatrice Johnny, a peasant agri-business family from Grand Bassa County, one of the first three Counties that founded the Republic of Liberia.
Moses is a devout Christian, happily married and blessed with four children. Moses Browne is a professional career development practitioner with idea-range of experience in the related fields of mass communications, telecommunications management, broadcast management, policy formulation and implementation and agribusiness farm radio program.
As part of the Global Youth Ambassadors program, A World at School has launched several Global Education initiatives and campaigns drawing world leader’s attention to the plights of the 59 million children out of school. The #UpForSchool campaign was launched in September 2014 to galvanize support in promoting quality education and ensuring every child is in school and learning before the MGDs expires. Moses used his negotiating skills to pursue several businesses in Liberia and the World to support the #UpForSchool campaign.
Moses believes with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in place, the World is in a great position to use its strengths and the external context to be a powerful force to help improve children’s lives through the delivery of quality education for all. He’s also excited about introducing and sharing his own leadership values, which include trust, problem-solving, empowerment, transparency and collaboration amongst students of the World.
Moses is executive director and founder of Browne Global Leadership Foundation (BGLF), a not-for-profit, non-governmental organization, registered in Liberia and is independent of any government or corporate interest founded in September 2015 as a response to the global call to intensify efforts for youth development and Education.
Its founder draw experience from the historic 70th United Nations General Assembly where he had gone to New York from Liberia to create awareness for global education and leadership for young people. As a Global Youth Ambassador for Education, Moses Owen Browne, Jr. decided to establish the Browne Global Leadership Foundation to promote full participation of youth in national and global development processes. Moses believes for any global goals to be achieved it would require the active participation and involvement of young people, but advance that education is that platform that would engender the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Moses Owen Browne, Jr. is a well-known and household name in the Republic of Liberia, especially in the field of Media, Communications and Advocacy. He has worked for several media outlets in Liberia and Civil Society Organizations at least for a period of 15-years.
He has used his skills to engage thousands of young people in the world to pursue and advocate for quality education encouraging them to see education as the only way to a leading a successful life and contributing the growth and development of their respective countries.
Moses’ achievements would not have been possible without a cordial, interconnected, good working relationship and networking with other international organizations across the world. He is very passionate about education and has cultivated a positive habit to deliver impactful projects to students across the world.
He has gained the respect of many young people in Liberia, at his job and across the different networks across the world. Moses has strong values and ability to deliver. He does this with a positive attitude and in a spirit of cooperation. He uses humour along the way which softens the path and gets people along.
Faith & Hope kept me alive…. with Moses Owen Browne Jr. #isharehope Episode 92
Summary: Moses’ answer to the five questions! Listen to the full conversation on the player above; also available on iTunes, Stitcher and Soundcloud.
Question 1: How do you define hope or what is your favorite quote about hope?
Moses Owen Browne Jr.:
You can live without water for three days, you can survive without food for seven days, but you cannot survive without hope because hope is life. Hope is what you need to live the next day. Without hope, there is no survivor.
Question 2: Who has shared the most hope with you?
Moses Owen Browne Jr.:
My mother and my father. My parents taught me stories about the bible, about Jesus, about salvation, about living right as a kid. That has helped to give me a very good upbringing. Even though the war took us back and we had to do things in the street to survive, I still had in me something that represented Christianity or living a life that my parents had wanted for me to live.
Question 3: How have you used hope to make it through a difficult time in your life?
Moses Owen Browne Jr.:
I believe in hope, I share hope because when I was 14, I encountered a life transforming problem. I got ill to the point of death. Before I was taken to the hospital, they said that I was bewitched. Somebody in my community tried to cut off my life because they didn’t want me to grow up and succeed. I was bewitched through the food that I ate. My intestine got rotten. I was in the medical center for three months. Doctors said they had to operate on me then I told myself I would not die. I believe in God. Even if I had done something unknowingly, this is not the time for me to die. When I said that to myself, I regained strength. Hope came alive. I wouldn’t have survived if I never had hope. I would have given up. Hope kept me alive and today I am a survivor.
I come from a very poor family. We are farmers from Grand Bassa County. We had 14 years of civil war in Liberia. I grew up in the street. My mother never had money to send me to school, neither my father. I had to struggle as early as 15 years of age. I started to sell boiled eggs. I will set that on my head and take it around Monrovia. My mother would go and buy peanuts and tie it in a plastic bag for us to sell. I did that for about eight years. That was how I was able to go to school.
I also started to beg money in the street even though I was still selling boiled egg and peanuts. I became a street child. In Liberia, street kids are considered Don Bosco boys. It’s a catholic organization who takes care of young kids in the streets. From there, I was able to make ends meet, pay my school fees and graduated from high school in 2006. I went to the university and graduated Cum Laude from the United Methodist University in 2011 and today see where I am – a media and communications manager for an international organization. This is hope.
Question 4: How are you sharing hope today?
Moses Owen Browne Jr.:
I believe with everything I have acquired, I must give back to the community because I believe so much in Jesus and all of Jesus’ ministries on earth was given back. If I don’t give back to communities, if I don’t give back to my people, I will be nothing. Every day I impress on people. Right now I’m in Western Liberia talking to some young people about our future, about Liberia, about how we could give back to community. I share with them where I am today and how we could help rebuild Liberia. They also share with me their stories concerning Ebola. I was able to encourage them that there are organizations that provide skills training, livelihood and empowerment so that they can find out how they could better their lives. Every day I am somewhere in a community talking to people about life, talking to people how to rebuild, talking to people to take education very seriously. That’s how I got appointed as a global youth ambassador for education. It’s a program initiated by United Nations. It’s called Global Education First Initiative that is being run by Sarah Brown, the wife of Gordon Brown in a program called A World at School. What we do in that program is to share our story and inspire people. In October 2015, I formed an organization called Browne Global Leadership Foundation. That organization is basically to bring out the potential in people, in young women. I also use social media, multimedia for their stories online so people know who they are and what they’re doing so they can find sponsorship and opportunities.
Question 5: How should I (the listener) begin to grow in hope or share hope today?
Moses Owen Browne Jr.:
(1) Be an inspiration to your generation. Every time people see you, they must take away something from you that would transform their life.
(2) People want to listen to you. You are a leader. Bring people together and share with them how they can transform lives.
(3) Give back.
