Janine Allis named Ambassador for refugee women

Leading Australian entrepreneur and Boost Juice founder Janine Allis has been named Australia for UNHCR’s newest Ambassador, with a mission to raise support for the UN Refugee Agency’s life-saving protection and emergency support in humanitarian crises.

Allis will be the leading voice for Australia for UNHCR’s new Leading Women Fund, which is specifically aimed at engaging women professionals and change-makers to support refugee women and girls.

To kick off her ambassadorship, Allis will travel with Australia for UNHCR to Jordan in mid-March to meet Syrian women and families and learn about their experiences and refugee journeys.

On agreeing to join as Ambassador, Janine Allis said: “I am dedicated to the rights of women and girls everywhere and can’t wait to meet and learn from these incredibly resilient Syrian refugee women living in Jordan.”

“I have taken on this role because I strongly believe in the critical importance of UNHCR’s work and I’m looking forward to sharing the stories of these women and the work of the UN Refugee Agency – I’m here to grow support for this work.”

The new fund will launch in July 2020 with a fundraising campaign for UNHCR's innovative cash assistance program, which aims to support Syrian women heads of household living in Jordan.

Naomi Steer, National Director of Australia for UNHCR, said: “It is wonderful to have Janine on board. With her amazing passion and commitment to making positive change for women and girls, I know she will shine a spotlight on how women can come together to support refugee women and girls by providing education, health services and increased financial independence, safety and dignity.”

“As part of this initiative we have developed an exciting new mobile app called Connecting Worlds that will give supporters an opportunity to connect directly with refugee women receiving cash assistance. I understand this is a world first and we will be offering a select group of supporters the opportunity to trial this app and connect to refugee women across the world.”

Allis joins the ranks of other Australia for UNHCR ambassadors including actor Marta Dusseldorp, actor and writer Carina Hoang, cricket legend Ian Chappell, and actor and comedian Jane Turner.

The Survivor Edition of The Accidental Entrepreneur is now available in bookstores with all author profits to be donated to the fund.