Zamzam Ibrahim

Zamzam Ibrahim is a student politician who was the President of the UK National Union of Students (NUS) in 2019–2020.[2] She is also the President and a founding trustee of Students Organising for Sustainability.[3] She succeeded Shakira Martin. She was formerly the NUS Vice President of Society & Citizenship.[4] This followed her term as Salford Students' Union President 2017-2018 and Vice-President of Business and Law 2015–2016.[5] Before she was a full-time officer at NUS, she served on the National Executive Committee for two years.[6] She is now the Vice-President of the European students union.

Zamzam Ibrahim
60th President of the National Union of Students
In office 3 July 2019 – 30 June 2020
Preceded by	Shakira Martin
Succeeded by	Larissa Kennedy
Majority	125 (18.4%)[1]
Vice President for Society & Citizenship
In office 3 July 2018 – 1 July 2019
Preceded by	Rob Young
Succeeded by	Position abolished
Personal details
Born	5 June 1994 Sweden
Nationality	Swedish
Residence	Greater Manchester
Alma mater	University of Salford
Occupation	NUS President, Politician, Activist

Early life and career

Zamzam was born in Sweden in 1994 and is Somali, but moved to Greater Manchester at an early age.[7] She is fluent in Swedish, Somali and English. Before becoming an elected officer at NUS, Zamzam worked as a fundraiser for Penny Appeal, an interpreter for Pearl Linguistics Ltd, a radio presenter at ALLFM 96.9 and a project worker at Bolton Solidarity Community Association. She has been a vocal advocate against FGM (Female Genital Mutilation). She went to the University of Salford and gained a first class degree in Accounting & Finance. During her time at University she was President of the Somali society and was in multiple other societies such as TedX and Business. She has volunteered for organisations such as Human Appeal.

Presidency of NUS

Ibrahim took office on 1 July 2019.[8] During her term as President she has headed up multiple campaigns including the drive to get young people registered to vote in the 2019 General Election,[9] the campaign for a National Education Service[10] and leading the Teach the Future Campaign.[11]

At the time of taking over the NUS, it was in a financial crisis where it was in £3 million deficit.[7] During her Presidency, the financial position improved to having a surplus of £200k[12] after the reforms that the officer team which Zamzam sat on as Vice President of Society and Citizenship proposed the previous year.[12] Zamzam has been a Trustee of NUS from 2018–2020.[13]

She will be succeeded by Larissa Kennedy in July 2020.[14]

Campaigns

Zamzam's campaigns throughout her role as Vice President of Society and Citizenship focused on building a media response unit that helped student activists who were targeted by the right-wing media because of their activism.[15] This campaign taught students about what their rights are when it comes to the media and what to do if they found themselves on the wrong side of the media.

She also focused on showing that climate change is a race issue[16] which lead her to speak on many student panels across the UK and at the Youth Climate Strike in September 2019.[17] This activism surrounding the climate has led to Zamzam being a well-renowned climate activist and being nominated for Young European of the Year 2020 as a result of this activism.[18] This campaign followed throughout her presidency with the launch of Students Organising for Sustainability UK[17] and the campaign for Teach the Future,[11] which campaigns for school children to be taught about the climate and the climate crisis.

In her presidency, her priority campaign was the launch of the National Education Service,[19] which focussed on building and lobbying for a funded, accessible and life-long education service in the UK. This was also a major feature of the 2019 Labour manifesto.[20]

Awards

Zamzam has been the recipient of many awards such as the Natural Born Leader Award, North 30 Under 30, NUS Black Students' Campaign Award for Black Representation, Young Woman of the Year and Star of the Community Award.

References

1. "NUS National Conference". YouTube. 9 April 2019. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
2. "Zamzam Ibrahim elected NUS national president". TES. 9 April 2019.
3. "SOS-UK Our background". sustainability.nus.org.uk.
4. "Zamzam Ibrahim elected as NUS vice president (society and development)". NUS Connect. 13 April 2018.
5. "From President to President @ University of Salford Students' Union". University of Salford Students' Union.
6. "WELL DONE ZAMZAM! @ University of Salford Students' Union". University of Salford Students' Union.
7. Staufenberg, Jess (12 November 2019). "Profile: Zamzam Ibrahim". FE Week.
8. "Zamzam Ibrahim elected as NUS president". The Independent. 10 April 2019.
9. "Got 5? Voter Registration @ NUS Connect". www.nusconnect.org.uk.
10. http://www.codecomputerlove.com, Code Computerlove-. "NUS Launches National Education Service (NES) Campaign, To Span a Decade". www.nus.org.uk.
11. "Climate Crisis Education". Teach the Future.
12. https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/nusdigital/document/documents/53120/1be3d63f2c743d61ea66df9864cf0f1b/2020-21_NUS_UK_Estimates_FINAL.pdf
13. https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/nusdigital/document/documents/54488/cc20a53b0ed2e12f91c8b80006f3e64b/2020_NUS_UK_Board_Report_FINAL.pdf
14. "FTO Election Results @ Conference".
15. "Media Response Unit @ NUS Connect". www.nusconnect.org.uk.
16. "Why climate change is a racist issue @ Sustainability". sustainability.nus.org.uk.
17. "Students Organising for Sustainability launches in the UK @ Sustainability". sustainability.nus.org.uk.
18. Foundation, Schwarzkopf (24 February 2020). "We are very excited to announce the nominees for the #YoungEuropeanOfTheYear 2020 Who will take home the €5000 prize for their commitment to European understanding and integration? Stay tuned for the award ceremony next month! #Europe #YoungEuropeanOfTheYear2020pic.twitter.com/mHuuqqkome".
19. "National Education Service @ NUS Connect". www.nusconnect.org.uk.
20. "National Education Service". The Labour Party.