Hello friends!
Today is August 12th — International Youth Day — the perfect moment for me to fangirl over 6 youth-led networks and the eight youth who represent them within the UNGEI partnership.
For over a year, these networks have been collaborating with UNGEI and were invited to submit a letter of intent in order to join the recently launched Youth Advisory Council (YAC — aka a badass group of youth networks).
What better way to strengthen our mission to advance gender equality in and through education than to partner with youth-led networks who are working towards the same goal. This group now also sits on UNGEI’s Global Advisory Council, Steering Committee and advises the Secretariat. They are key partners in UNGEI’s work. Each network nominated representatives to the YAC (see photo below).
The powerful humans that represent their networks within UNGEI.
Introductions
Let me introduce you to the youth-led networks and the people representing them:
Afrika Youth Movement
Afrika Youth Movement (AYM) is a pan-African youth-led movement with more than 10,000 members across Africa and the African diaspora. The network connects, empowers and mobilises youth around pan-Africanism, ubuntu and non-violence. AYM also brings the perspective of African youth working at grassroots level and within their communities to challenge social norms and improve access to education for girls and young women.
Sodfa, a powerful gender equality activist from Italy and Tunisia represents Afrika Youth Movement.
Youth Coalition for Sexual and Reproductive Rights
Youth Coalition (YCSRR) is an international organisation comprising young people (aged 18–29) committed to promoting adolescent and youth sexual and reproductive rights at the national, regional and international levels. YCSRR activities focus on advocating to realise the full spectrum of sexual and reproductive rights for young people, including access to information and education, comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services, and meaningful participation in all decision-making processes that affect them. This includes building the capacity of young people working on sexual and reproductive rights issues to advocate on their own behalf through trainings, workshops and conferences.
Isabel from Venezuela and Dennis from Guyana are the two dedicated CSE advocates who represent YCSRR.
Commonwealth Youth for Gender Equality Network
CYGEN prides itself on mobilising youth (aged 18–30), across Commonwealth member states, to progress gender equality for the 1.2 billion young people it represents. The network operates across five key themes as set out in our Gender Five: sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), governance and gender, youth transitions (education, employment and enterprise), sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC), and early, child and forced marriage.
Jacob from Australia, a brilliant activist brings their knowledge and expertise as CYGEN representative.
260by26
Over 260 million children and youth do not have access to an inclusive and equitable quality education. 260by26 believes that we can change this through collaboration, support of grassroots initiatives, and global education advocacy. The organisation connects local initiatives helping out-of-school children acquire education and skills with one another and with opportunities for funding, knowledge-sharing, and collective action towards education for all.
Lisma from Indonesia is a thoughtful gender and education activist who represents 260by26.
Salimatou Foundation for Education
Salimatou Foundation for Education (SaFE) is a right-to-education civil society organisation that promotes and advocates for the provision of accessible and affordable quality education for all. Through awareness campaigns, policy engagement and partnership with government, civil society and community actors the organisation works to advance gender equality in education.
Salimatou, the founder is a powerful young influencer. She represents her foundation with Ebrima, a dedicated gender equality and education champion.
One African Child
One African Child Foundation for Creative Learning is a non-governmental organisation whose mission is to support marginalised children with the leadership skills and resources they need to become proactive agents of change in their communities. The organisation works to transfer skills in ethical leadership, creativity and innovation to learners, creating free spaces for self-expression, imagination and the implementation of lessons learned to address local issues, with a strong focus on gender equality.
One African Child is represented by its founder, Victoria from Nigeria. Victoria is a dedicated education advocate and voice for the voiceless.
There you have it folks.The youth-led networks work in partnership with UNGEI bring fresh perspectives, insights and experiences to strengthen our shared mission to advance gender equality in and through education. They add more relevance, innovation and, of course, keep UNGEI hip! I’m personally excited to see where their journey in this partnership takes us.
Join me in celebrating these youth-led networks and all our fellow youth across the globe today and every day.
In power,
The Kurly Krusader
