Changing the World: Women Deliver 2016

May 312016

Petya Yankova, former EVS volunteer of CVS Bulgaria, went to the Women Deliver Conference and shared with us what are the main lessens she took from the conference.
A week ago Copenhagen, Denmark hosted the world’s largest event on the health, rights, and well-being of women and girls. The Women Deliver Conference 2016 (www.womendeliver.org) spread over 4 days, the first of which was entirely dedicated to the youth contribution to the cause.
I was lucky to participate in this initiative and I will try to summarize the most meaningful lessons I am taking away from Copenhagen. I hope they will also be of use to the youth workers, the educators and trainers, the volunteers and the young human rights advocates that make up CVS Bulgaria.

“Regardless of what everyone says, words alone can’t change the world.” This brave thought by one of Women Deliver Youth Leaders, Yemurai Nyoni from Zimbabwe, reminded me that in order to succeed every idea needs supporters, every leader needs rest and support, every campaign needs financing. It is unrealistic to deny the volunteers’ needs for a working space, money, faith and respect for their labour.
Quality education and access to information are of prime importance for realizing and making full use of our fundamental human rights . We have the right to ask for more data, a second opinion, statistical evidence, an example, a comparison. We have the right to a safe and peaceful life, access to health services, a salary that matches our work. Indifference and resignation are no solutions. Don’t wait until a certain right is repressed before acting upon it. Just because an injustice is happening to someone else doesn’t mean I can’t fight against it.
The meaningful engagement of young people is vital. Including youth in the development, introduction, monitoring and evaluating of an idea or a programme enriches the process and gives long-term results. Why should young people decide what their city looks like? Why should young people steer the foreign policy of their countries? Why should students look for the best syllabus? My answer won’t be “Why not?”, but “Who else?”. Age discrimination is not only an outdated norm – pun intended – but harms each of us. A policy developed without the participation of all stakeholders, including the youngest ones, is hasty and short-sighted.
In this line of thought, partnerships are crucial in reaching difficult goals such as gender equality. Sponsorship, exchange of ideas and experience, discovering new roads leading in the same direction are just some of the advantages of working with like-minded colleagues from different fields.
The change is each one of us every day in every situation. We just need to decide that we want this change. From switching off the corridor lights to recycling, from using public transport to buying second-hand clothes, from voting in elections to pressing the “Share” button in support of a cause – we have the opportunity to improve our environment and that of the people around us. The beginner’s guide has been around for quite a while now: http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/takeaction/ and the same goes for the advanced manual: http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/

Video recordings from the conference, resources and links to partner organisations and initiatives are available on Women Deliver’s Website. I will be glad if you reach me in Twitter (RE_Thinkalone) or by writing to CVS Bulgaria.