World YWCA Advocacy Roadmap

The World YWCA Advocacy Roadmap lays out the pathways to guide our actions and ensure that World YWCA remains disciplined in focus and depth of impact. We consider advocacy as a set of strategic activities designed to influence decision makers, laws and regulations, structures and practises to address the root causes of injustice and transform power structures for gender equality. The World YWCA uses different advocacy methods and tools depending on the context including policy research, campaigning, public events, lobbying and policy dialogue, media work and production of assets such as podcasts, toolkits, and statements. We acknowledge that effective advocacy is multifaceted, complex and beyond the scope of a single organisation.

Annual Report 2020

A digital annual report detailing key developments and achievements from the World YWCA in 2020, including information about events, campaigns, and resources.

Young People Championing Post-Pandemic Futures

This paper offers key policy recommendations to support youth development and alleviate the long-term societal consequences of the pandemic.

Strategic Plan 2020-23

A two-page outline and description of the World YWCA’s strategic framework, which identifies conditions for success, overarching strategic priorities, and key actions for achieving Goal 2035.

Adopted in 2019, the strategic framework identifies three main priorities towards 2035: management and governance, strategic partnerships and communication, and engagement and mobilization of girls, young women, and women. 

Download the Strategic Framework in:

English

Goal 2035: Theory of Change

A comprehensive one-page resource that illustrates the underlying connections and guiding principles related to Goal 2035, including foundational beliefs, focus, and methods to achieve the goal, as well as the purpose and vision of the World YWCA.

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Envisioning Goal 2035

The full proposal for Goal 2035 , including the contextual analysis, specific strategies to achieving the goal, monitoring and evaluation process, and more. Approved and adopted in 2015 following a multi-year consultative process with YWCA members, volunteers, staff, and external partners, Goal 2035 is the collective goal that guides the global YWCA movement.

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Glossary and Definitions

Why do we need a glossary?

Many leaders and activists in the broader women’s movement agree that words that once imparted visions of social change have become devoid of their original meaning. For example, words like safe spaces, empowerment, and engagement are being used differently by different members of the broader women’s movement. To remedy this, and provide leaders and on the ground activists with a common language, a glossary of definitions can be highly useful.

This glossary tries to account for the most commonly used words – whether they are “technical terms”, “operational words” or “specialized jargons”. It tries to provide definitions that can be easily understood by everyone, whether they are members of the movement, aspiring members, allies, partners or stakeholders who work with us.

Explore our digital Glossary

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Logo

The artwork, description, and philosophy behind the World YWCA’s updated logo, including information about the symbolism behind the logo’s different design elements. 

Read the Branding Manual

Resources for YWCAs to Work on COVID-19 in Communities

During the COVID-19 outbreak, many women and young women remain on the frontlines of home, family and community care. These women also face important barriers when it comes to seeking and accessing help. We’ve created this content with advocacy specialist Tina Bouffet to help them access the information and the support that they need, whether it relates directly to the virus, or to the pandemic’s broader impacts on society. YWCA leaders can download and use these resources for COVID awareness and work in communities. If you need open files to translate these materials in different languages, please write to worldoffice@worldywca.org.

COVID-19 Infographics:

Explaining COVID4KIDS – Comic Strip

Virtual Safe Space

A two-page resource about World YWCA virtual safe spaces, including a description, information explaining their importance and efficacy for women and young women, and instructions for how to create and conduct a virtual safe spaces. The document also includes ideas for discussion topics and questions around a range of pressing issues. 

Download the World YWCA Virtual Safe Spaces :

Annual Report 2019

A digital annual report detailing key developments and achievements from the World YWCA in 2019, including information about events, campaigns, and resources.

World YWCA Day 2023: Every Safe Space Has a Story

Every year on April 24, YWCAs worldwide celebrate World YWCA Day. This year, for #WorldYWCADay2023, we highlight the power of YWCA safe spaces to build community and advance human rights. We invite all #YWCALeaders to join the global celebration under the theme: “Every Safe Space Has a Story.”

As one of the oldest and largest feminist, faith-based organizations. it was in 1855 when YWCA first provided safe housing to young women in London seeking employment. This marked the earliest concept of YWCA Safe Spaces. Today, YWCAs in local communities in over 100 countries from every region continue to provide safe spaces, serving over 25 million women, young women, and girls of all ages. While the idea behind YWCA Safe Spaces first came to life as an actual physical space, the practice has evolved into any space where women, young women, and girls can come together, share, listen, and actively engage with each other in a safe manner.

Mark this special occasion and share your stories around safe spaces. What comes to your mind when you think of “safe spaces”? What incident, experience, or anecdote can you recall regarding your first safe space, your best safe space, a space you felt yourself for the first time, or even a space where you explored the idea of safety beyond yourself?
Because every safe space has a story, we invite you to engage with the YWCA movement this World YWCA Day 2023 by bringing to light YOUR safe space story.

Read the tool to find more information on the theme, ideas on celebrating the day, and engaging in social media with visuals and social media covers in the tool.

Don’t forget to engage on social media using the hashtag #YWCALeaders #WorldYWCADay2023.

Download the toolkit in:

World YWCA – YMCA Week of Prayer & World Fellowship 2022

Since 1904, the World YWCA and World YMCA have traditionally collaborated together for the World Week of Prayer and World Fellowship. Celebrated each year on the second week of November, both organisations join efforts to produce a booklet with a theme, a set of bible studies for each day, and an annual bible reading plan so that communities around the world can come together in prayer for a specific cause linked to current realities.

“Ignite: Praying the Impact” is the theme of this year’s YWCA and YMCA World Week of Prayer, occurring from 13-19 November 20220. Aligned with the long-term strategies of the World YMCA (Vision 2030) and World YWCA (Goal 2035), the theme highlights the need for unity and transformative change to create a long-lasting impact in communities worldwide.

Access the booklet in English, French, Spanish and Japanese with the buttons below:

Join us in prayer, and let us collectively push for transformation so we can be “Ignited” and create a positive impact in the world through God’s love.

Remember to tag World YWCA on social media channels so we can share your local activities with the larger Y movement.

For additional information, kindly contact daniela.zelaya@worldywca.org

Podcast #BulletAndDove: When women are at tables, peace is long lasting

The World YWCA, in collaboration with Geneva Peace Week 2022, bring you a conversation on the role that women and cross-regional solidarity play in the peace processes. The World YWCA is a grassroots, feminist, community-driven movement that has worked tirelessly for the past 167 years to make the world a safer and more just place for women and young women and girls globally. Over the years the YWCA movement has signed more than 40 resolutions aimed at peace and justice, contributing massively to the UNSCR1325. A key piece of this work lies in the support that YWCA organizations give one another as they advocate for women at peace tables. By understanding that global systems of oppression and conflict are interlocked, partnerships such as that between YWCA Palestine and YWCA Japan are formed, where learnings, support and solidarity informs peace processes.

To learn more about this seemingly unlikely coalition, we have Amal Tarazi from Palestine and Sumie Ogasawara from Japan tell us more about their experiences in practices of cross-regional solidarity, debunking assumptions about conflict being a fact we should not question, and the uniquely indisputable role women play in the fight for peace with justice under the #BulletAndDove concept.

Week Without Violence 2022

YWCA’s Week Without Violence is an annual global campaign held in the third week of October every year for 25 years to raise awareness, promote change and enable positive action towards ending violence against women, young women and girls in all their diversity.  

At YWCA, we believe in establishing relationships in the communities we work to establish an intersectional support system that sees all survivors and the complexities of their place in the world. This year, we are calling young leaders worldwide to join YWCA’s Week Without Violence to raise awareness, take action and stand in solidarity with the 1 in 3 women who experience Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) in their lifetime and the many who are at risk of it every day. 

Join us from October 17-22, 2022, to engage with the world through education and awareness in this fight against sexual gender-based violence.

Download it and contribute to the fight against GBV by sharing the content in social media, planning engaging activities and/or advocating with other tools shared in this document!

World YWCA Day 2022: #YWCALeaders Co-creating Goal 2035, Not Just Some Place We Are Going To, but a Place We Are Creating Together

Every year on April 24, YWCAs around the world celebrate World YWCA Day. For 160 years, YWCA leaders have taken action in communities to make human rights a reality.In a recent in-depth study done by World YWCA on leadership, many #YWCALeaders shared that they believe “leadership is influencing, guiding and motivating women and young women to realise their potential and work together to achieve a common goal.”

For World YWCA Day 2022, join us as we will celebrate YWCA day under the theme: ” #YWCALeaders Co-Creating Goal 2035, Not just some place we are going to, but a place we are creating together“. Serving with love remains a common mandate for all the work we do on ground, in communities and at national and international level. In 2015, when the YWCA leaders came together to define “our collective goal” as a single shared statement of our commitment for the future, with YWCA contributing within its own space, context and resources, Goal 2035 was born.

This year, as we celebrate #WorldYWCADay, we invite all #YWCALeaders to share their insights on centering young women and girls, shifting power structures to achieve a world free from violence.

Goal 2035 is not just some place we are all going towards, but a place we are all committed to building and creating together as YWCA leaders. Which is why for World YWCA Day 2022 on April 24, this year, we invite YWCA Leaders to think, deliberate, engage and find spaces to co-create, acting towards Goal 2035. Find more information on the theme, ideas on how to celebrate the day, and how to engage in social media with visuals and social media covers in the tool.

Don’t forget to engage on social media using the hashtag #YWCALeaders #WYD2022. 

You can also go to our Trello board to download the social media covers and editable templates.

Download the toolkit in:

World YWCA – YMCA Week of Prayer & World Fellowship 2021

“Beauty from Brokenness“

Since 1904, the World YWCA and World YMCA have traditionally collaborated together for the World Week of Prayer and World Fellowship. Celebrated each year on the second week of November, both organisations join efforts to produce a booklet with a theme, a set of bible studies for each day, and an annual bible reading plan so that communities around the world can come together in prayer for a specific cause linked to current realities.

While the ongoing global pandemic continues to impact our everyday lives and present new changes and challenges, the World Week of Prayer’s theme invites us to reflect on the process of healing and restoration. Inspired by the Japanese concept of Kintsugi, the theme focuses on the beauty in imperfection and sees repair and breakage of an object as a part of its story and transformation. This beautiful idea can apply to our life experiences and how we overcome our challenges and learn from them. This year’s theme also reflects on how God’s light can heal brokenness and burst through, reaching out to those around us.

As we are in the process of healing and restoration from the pandemic, we continue to serve our communities with the spirit of forgiveness and inclusiveness, ensuring dignity for all and celebrating God’s unconditional love for us during this time of renewal

The Advocacy Toolkit Podcast

Join us for an insightful conversation about the state of women’s rights, human rights, and social justice. World YWCA is a global movement that has empowered women to transform themselves and their communities for over 125 years. From war zones to refugee camps, prisons to universities, World YWCA is at the forefront of advancing social justice.

The Advocacy Toolkit Podcast is a four-part series produced by the World YWCA. It looks at successful campaigns from recent times within YWCA and the larger women’s rights movement, while talking about the stories behind them. With in-depth interviews, high quality sound editing and a visual backdrop of stunning global images, this podcast is a hands-on guide to advocacy success.If you need help advocating for change on issues such as gender-based violence, ending child marriage, and improving girls’ education, we have you covered here. Get some practical tips and some inspiring stories to get you going with your advocacy.

Week Without Violence 2021

Every year in the third week of October, YWCAs around the world participate in the Week Without Violence Campaign– a week long series of community events promoting diverse approaches to creating a world free of violence. 

In 2021 we united under the theme “Intergenerational Action for Gender-Based Violence (GBV): Co-Creating the Future” to invite local YWCAs, partners, intergenerational leaders, young women and women of all ages all to raise awareness and take action to end violence against women.

Download it and contribute to the fight against GBV by sharing the content in social media, planning engaging activities and/or advocating with other tools shared in this document!

World YWCA Day 2021: A Celebration of YWCA Leaders.

Every year on April 24, YWCAs around the world celebrate World YWCA Day. For 160 years, YWCA leaders and pioneers have taken action in communities to make human rights a reality. For World YWCA Day 2021, we will celebrate the individual leaders that make up our powerful and longstanding global movement, the theme for this year is: “A Celebration of YWCA Leaders.”

Take this opportunity to celebrate leaders who inspired you, supported and empowered you to be a leader in your community and beyond, to be the change you want to see.

Read the tool to find more information on the theme, ideas on how to celebrate the day, and how to engage in social media with visuals and social media covers in the tool.

Dont forget to engage on social media using the hashtag #YWCALeaders #WYD2021. 

Download the toolkit in:

World YWCA Podcast : Solidarity, Womanhood, Peace.

Listen to World YWCA and the Norwegian Church Aid Podcast for the Geneva Peace Week 2020 with young women leaders Vera Syrakvash from Belarus, Amany Abuawad from Palestine, Mary Fatiya from South Sudan & Maria Osula from Kenya discussing on Organising & Acting for Peace & Justice: Young Women Leading Change against Gender Based Violence.

This podcast was produced by Sonologue.

Listen to our Podcasts

World YWCA – YMCA Week of Prayer & World Fellowship 2020

Since 1904, the World YWCA and World YMCA have traditionally collaborated together for the World Week of Prayer and World Fellowship. Celebrated each year on the second week of November, both organisations join efforts to produce a booklet with a theme, a set of bible studies for each day, and an annual bible reading plan so that communities around the world can come together in prayer for a specific cause linked to current realities.

This year, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed our world immeasurably. It has exposed unjust structural systems and demonstrated how a global emergency affects lives disproportionally, especially those who are more vulnerable to inequalities. We are therefore called upon to reflect on all the good things in our lives, and challenged to take action to rebuild a world that promotes justice, love and peace in our communities and beyond.

The pandemic has also come with new opportunities for personal and spiritual growth. It has shed light and helped us see what is truly essential in our lives, how can we rediscover ourselves and how can we best invest our time spreading kindness and supporting those in need, including investing in our own mental and physical health.

This year, the World YWCA and World YMCA- Week of Prayer and World Fellowship is an invitation to journey together under the theme: Rays of hope: creating resilient communities through practical spirituality

Download the Booklet :

For additional information, kindly contact daniela.zelaya@worldywca.org 

Week Without Violence 2020

Every year in the third week of October, YWCAs around the world participate in the Week Without Violence Campaign– a week long series of community events promoting diverse approaches to creating a world free of violence. 

In 2020, in the shadow of the global pandemic COVID-19 our activities the campaign was majorly virtual- recognising and naming YWCA as an invaluable global movement of leaders and their contributions towards ensuring safety of women during this global pandemic.

Download this powerful toolkit which highlights violence during 2020 and provides powerful tips for engaging youth and communities.

World YWCA Day 2020 Toolkit

A comprehensive resource detailing the background, history, and current context for World YWCA Day, which is observed on April 24th each year and encourages connection, community, and shared knowledge and support among YWCA leaders, supporters, and friends.

The 2020 toolkit includes information about the theme, instructions and advice for hosting an online event, and social media tips, graphics, and sample language.

The 2020 theme was “We think. We Share. We Speak.”

Week Without Violence Toolkit 2019

The 2019 toolkit for Week Without Violence, YWCA’s annual global campaign to end violence against women, young women, and girls. The toolkit includes boilerplate language, key messages, social media information and sample language, digital assets, advocacy and media resources, and information for engaging with stakeholders. The campaign takes place during the third week in October. 

World YWCA Day 2019 Toolkit

Every year on April 24, YWCAs around the world celebrate World YWCA Day. It’s a day to observe our common membership and achievements in a movement that advances the human rights and leadership of women, young women and girls. It’s also a time to recognize our movement’s efforts in creating positive change for all women around the world.

Aligned with the theme of the coming World Council 2019 in South Africa, we will focus on how young women can transform and change the power structures that often dominate our societies, preventing us from achieving our human right of equality

World YWCA Day 2019 theme: “Young Women Transforming Power Structures”

Toolkit

Valentine’s Day 2019 Campaign

A four-page document explaining the concept, activities of engagement, and social media information for World YWCA’s Valentine’s Day initiative in 2019, “Sisterhood beyond borders.” The campaign is aimed at promoting collectiveness and connection among women, young women, and girls globally. 

Week Without Violence 2018 Toolkit

The 2018 toolkit for Week Without Violence, YWCA’s annual global campaign to end violence against women, young women, and girls. The toolkit includes boilerplate language, key messages, social media information and sample language, digital assets, advocacy and media resources, and information for engaging with stakeholders. The campaign takes place during the third week in October. 

World YWCA Day 2018 Toolkit

Every year on April 24, YWCAs around the world celebrate World YWCA Day. It’s a day to observe our common membership and achievements in a movement that advances the human rights and leadership of women, young women and girls. It’s also a time to recognize our movement’s efforts in creating positive change for all women around the world.

World YWCA 2018 theme is: Find Your Voice, Share Your Story!

The Toolkit

The Feminist Consultation Methodology, World YWCA’s Young Women-Led Feminist Consultation Methodology Guide

Welcome to the Feminist Consultation Methodology!

We are excited for this guide to support your work in engaging and co-creating with young women. If this is your first time using the Methodology, we recommend reviewing this guide in full to develop a robust understanding. This guide is a great source of in-depth explanations and contains many tools and templates to get you started. We urge you to adapt them as needed to meet the vision of your consultation. These are not one-size-fits-all since every individual and organisation has different needs! Regardless of the consultation you design, be sure to centre the voices of young women and prioritise diversity, equity, access, and inclusion.

This guide is to present information so that it is accessible and inclusive. When we say “you”, we are referring to whoever you are—a member of a volunteer group, a non-profit organisation, a student research group, a corporation, an individual, or a community leader. You may be a first-time researcher or you may have lots of past experience. When we say “we”, we are referring to World YWCA and the co-creators of this Methodology who now use it regularly.

In the spirit of co-creation and taking the feminist approach, we encourage you to incorporate stories and quotes into your consultation where possible. Not only will this provide credibility and strengthen your research but it is also a way of acknowledging the contributions of your participants. If you come across a powerful learning or story during your consultation
process, we invite you to share it with us to help evolve this Methodology. This Methodology is a continual learning journey for all of us and was created by young women for young women.

Let’s walk this journey together…

Our Spaces Power Spaces: YWCA’s Safe Spaces Guide

YWCA’s Safe Space is informed by remarkable history and experience, as well as shifting technologies and social-economic-political contexts. YWCA’s Safe Space serves as an important concept that is scalable, customizable, and applied to the specific needs of people in their local communities, dealing with different, relevant issues and connecting them with resources, information, and opportunities. With shifting technologies, these safe spaces have begun in the virtual world—connecting women of all ages beyond geographic barriers, and weaving together a shared community.

This Guide, Our Spaces, Power Spaces tells the story of how and why practising safe spaces can be transformative. And at the heart of any transformative action is a profound sense of engagement, buy-in, and ownership. With this in mind, this Guide is a customisable template to make your own! Adding in your unique context to this Guide helps your safe space to be culturally
relevant. Building on the Defining Standards in this Guide allows you to create a welcoming environment.

Download the guide:

Edition 2022.

A Young Woman’s Toolkit For Advocacy on SRHR & Mental Health

This toolkit, in line with the World YWCA strategy, is anchored on a program to support Young Women’s advocacy in SRHR and build their confidence to stand up and speak out at national, regional, and global levels, and to take collective action to change narratives, policies, and to demand high-quality services. The central pillar is for young women to design evidence-based advocacy initiatives through aspirational storytelling, emphasising their rights and to bodily autonomy. The World YWCA aspires to contribute to the growing young women’s movement and body of knowledge on SRHR and mental health around the world. It aims to accelerate a collective action where young women are at the centre as drivers of change

Download the Toolkit in English Here.

Téléchargez le manuel en Français ici.

Rise Up! Guide for Young Women’s Transformative Leadership

A comprehensive guide for establishing and engaging in a #leadership training programme. Aimed to learn and build transformative leadership skills among young women, Rise Up! empowers young women to be decision-makers with ownership of their own rights and future. The guide was co-created by and for #youngwomen, and the model was designed to intentionally be adaptable and scaleable to local realities.

The guide includes powerful examples, critical information about leadership, global context, helpful notes for facilitators, information about relevant social issues, and more. 

YWCA Safe Spaces for Women and Girls Guidelines

A summary and full training guide for creating a successful YWCA Safe Space programme.

YWCA has provided Safe Spaces to women and girls since its founding in 1855, and the programme is an impactful model for creating lasting, positive change in the lives of women, young women, and girls. The guides includes important background, guiding questions, reflections, and more.

The guide will be updated in 2021.