Europe

Building upon the prayers that have been spoken for over 100 years staff, members, friends and well-wishers of the World YWCA and World Alliance of YMCAs gathered at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva on November 14, 2011. Together they worshiped and opened the Week of Prayer and World Fellowship.

In July 2011, young women from all over Europe came together to attend the YWCA European Study Session in Budapest, Hungary. During the week-long meeting the young women shared and built knowledge and skills on how to create a world free of violence through the empowerment and leadership of women.

The World YWCA congratulates the three 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Awardees: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa’s first democratically elected female president; Leyma Gbowee, a Liberian women’s rights activist; and Tawakkul Karman, a democracy activist from Yemen and the first Arab woman to win the prize.

The World YWCA, represented by its General Secretary, Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, was invited to attend the Global Volunteering Conference held in Budapest on September 15-17, 2011. The Conference, themed "Volunteering for a Sustainable Future," was organised by the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme and the International Federation of Red Cross Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

During World YWCA Council and the International Women’s Summit (IWS) held in Zurich, Switzerland from 10-16 July 2011, the World YWCA and its partners held a wide array of informative and interactive sessions – there was something for everyone and, in fact, several enthusiastic participants shared with us that the difficulty was such in making a choice that they would have liked to be in two places at the same time…

On July 13, 2011, Peter Prove, Executive Director of the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance (EAA), spoke at the International Women’s Summit on faith, livelihoods and human rights. EAA is a diverse global alliance of churches and church-related organisations and groups committed to collaborative advocacy for justice on HIV and AIDS and on food, with a growing practical experience of inter-faith cooperation.

The World YWCA had the pleasure of interviewing Mr. Prove at IWS.

On July 13, 2011, Peter Prove, Executive Director of the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance (EAA), spoke at the International Women’s Summit on faith, livelihoods and human rights. EAA is a diverse global alliance of churches and church-related organisations and groups committed to collaborative advocacy for justice on HIV and AIDS and on food, with a growing practical experience of inter-faith cooperation.

The World YWCA had the pleasure of interviewing Mr. Prove at IWS.

Nancy Kapembwa is the young YWCA woman recipient of the Mary Robinson Award for Young Women’s Leadership in Human Rights. Ms. Kapembwa, from the YWCA of Zambia, was awarded for her preventative approach in schools and communities to empower women and girls with knowledge on how to protect themselves from human rights violations and report cases of abuse to the relevant authorities. Her work has improved dialogue between parents and children, and between men and women, involving a process which moves community members from problem identification to action by addressing relationship building, problem identification, concern exploration, decision making, action, review and reflection.

On July 12, 2011, in Zurich, Switzerland, during the opening plenary of the 4^th International Women’s Summit, four awardees (two individuals and two YWCA Associations) were honoured by having Mary Robinson bestow upon them the newly inaugurated “Mary Robinson Award for Young Women’s Leadership in Human Rights”.

Jan Beagle has been the Deputy Executive Director for Management and External Relations at UNAIDS since 2009 and holds more than 30 years experience in the political, development, management and interagency areas of the United Nations.  Ms. Beagle is a former Deputy Director of the United Nations Office in Geneva, and has previously held senior positions in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General and the United Nations Development Programme. Prior to joining the United Nations, she served in her country’s diplomatic service, including five years as a New Zealand delegate to the United Nations. Ms. Beagle has a Master’s degree with first class honours from the University of Auckland, New Zealand.  She joined the International Women’s Summit to participate in discussions on HIV and AIDS around the world and delivered a plenary address entitled, “Getting to Zero: Responding to the HIV Specific Needs of Women and Girls.”