YWCA Kenya, the YW4A Country Lead in Kenya, brings to the programme expertise and experience grounded in working with young women and a diversity of women’s rights networks and allies. These organizations vary from community to regional levels of decision-making, including the faith sector in the country and East Africa region.
Through the YW4A programme, YWCA Kenya uses an intergenerational leadership approach to bridge the inequalities in Migori, Kisii and Meru counties by addressing sexual and gender-based violence in the countries. The objectives of the YW4A programme also align with the organization’s strategic goal to enhance the leadership of young women as articulated in the YWCA Kenya Strategic Plan (2019-2023).
YWCA Kenya has a 109-year history of women and youth initiatives to develop the collective power of women and girls in the country, to achieve social, economic, political and cultural emancipation. Over the years, the YWCA has grown to be one of the leading women’s rights organizations in Kenya. Headquartered in Nairobi, the YWCA has seven branches in Mombasa, Tana River, Meru, Nairobi, Kisumu, Siaya and Kisii – covering 21 out of the 47 counties in Kenya. As one of the World YWCA member associations, YWCA Kenya uses the power of safe spaces to dismantle deep-rooted discrimination and inequality through its programmes, and achieve its vision of “An inclusive society in Kenya where girls and women actualize their potential and live fulfilled lives”.
Project Areas of Coverage: Kisii, Migori and Meru Counties
Targeting 6,300 young women (Ages 15-30)
Partner WROs: Inua Mama Mjane – Meru, Msichana Empowerment – Kuria, Centre for Community Mobilization and Empowerment (CECOME) – Kisii, YWCA Kenya, YWCA Kisii and YWCA Meru.
Partner FBOs: National Independent Church of Africa, Evangelism One Accord and SDA Kisii
From Solidarity and Peace Resolutions to Reality on the Ground
Watch the Panel:
In this first edition of the #BulletAndDove panels, we discussed:
dive deeper to understand the contexts, stories, and realities on the ground of Palestine, Armenia, and Japan, while elaborating on peacebuilding and advocacy efforts led by #YWCAleaders.
address the role that solidarity and resolutions play in this work, and which concrete actions can be taken to meaningfully contribute to peacebuilding efforts driven by communities affected by violence, conflict, and war.
Background
World YWCA stands in solidarity with and is committed to the UNSCR 1325 [1]. We know that war, conflict, and violence impacts women, young women and girls differently. In times of conflict and instability, there is severe risk of sexual violence, abuse, displacement, increased poverty and trauma. Especially for girls, young women and women, issues and realities of gender inequality, disproportionate negative health outcomes, injustice and limited education access are exacerbated.
Women do not start wars, but they do suffer its worst consequences. Active participation of women and young women is a major key to relevant action and effective implementation of peace processes- Women are vital to building peace that is not just inclusive and effective but sustainable and long lasting.
COVID-19 has highlighted that while a global pandemic affects every person indiscriminately, the impact on the most vulnerable in our society, clubbed with the world’s injustices, is extremely different. Women, young women, and girls who live in countries affected by armed conflicts, injustices, and war face unique and exacerbated challenges in parallel with the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
In their unique context all over the world and as part of a dynamic movement, YWCA leaders constantly mobilise to work on issues of peace, conflict resolution, and anti-violence, alongside critical leadership, advocacy, and community response work. Peacebuilding and advocacy efforts and actions promoted by YWCA leaders are aligned to a number of United Nations Resolutions and to Goal 16 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals #GlobalGoals that calls to promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies.
[1] The UN Security Council resolution 1325 urges all actors to increase the participation of women and incorporate gender perspectives in all United Nations peace and security efforts. It also calls on all parties to conflict to take special measures to protect women and girls from gender-based violence, particularly rape and other forms of sexual abuse, in situations of armed conflict.
The virtual Global Youth Summit(23 – 25 April), organised by the six world’s largest youth organisations*, brought together young people, leaders, policy makers and changemakers to fix everything that has been broken during COVID-19 and share and agree solutions.
The Summit promoted the talents, creativity and connectedness of young people aged 14-30, and of course, we focused on young women. It was by young people, not for young people. Participants declared it the most youth representative event they have attended!
One of the key steps is to apply to win funding!$2 million is available for young people’s solutions for the pandemic. You have an opportunity to submit proposals for local funding if you have innovative ideas, big or small, around recovery during COVID-19. We want to invest in those who are building communities and advocating for youth rights and more during this tough global period. The application portal is open.
Everyone has a chance to win funding, so please have the confidence to apply and spread the word through your networks. Apply as soon as you can!
To help you apply for funding, the themes of the Summit were education, inclusion, well-being and work. Watch over 45 engaging sessions here, as well as pledges of support from world leaders.
Top benefits of the Summit:
Inspiration from young women ensuring we have a strong voice;
Building back better post COVID-19 with solutions to challenges including gender based violence, menstrual and sexual health, mental health, work and childcare;
Contributing to Goal 2035 for the World YWCA movement: By 2035, 100 million young women and girls transform power structures to create justice, gender equality and a world without violence and war, leading a sustainable YWCA movement, inclusive of all!
The World YWCA organised sessions on gender equity, sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and menstrual health. We brought together YWCA leaders from Kenya, Japan, Ethiopia, Canada, Nepal and Uganda to present.
*The Global Youth Summit is organised by the Big Six group (World YWCA, WAGGGS, World YMCA, Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award, World Scouts Movement and the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC)).
The Summit is just a start: a series of national and regional events will follow, where the concept will be contextualised to the national and regional needs of young people. Learn more here about the Global Youth Mobilization movement.
If you are a woman who believes in the transformational power of young women to make long lasting, positive impacts, donate to #YWCALeaders.
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.In 2020, YWCA has been building strong, powerful and humble advocates and fighters who have supported those around and promoted sisterhood every time, especially during a crisis.
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.”
In 2021, a critical year of women celebration, leadership and action- we ask you to reflect and think about which leaders, pioneers and fighters you want to celebrate for their inspiration, courage, story, passion and sisterhood. These leaders are intergenerational, intercultural, intersectional. They remind us that leaders are beyond power positions, beyond designations and more in making an impact on communities, on lives and on individuals for the better.
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.
On April 24, 2021, YWCAs from all around the world joined the World YWCA to celebrate World YWCA Day virtually by paying their tributes, gratitude and thank you’s to the YWCA leaders past and present. Through digital engagement, YWCAs and leaders of the movement shared powerful stories of inspiration, motivation and sisterhood that have played an instrumental role in shaping their own leadership.
As World YWCA announced the theme, the buzz was evident as YWCAs around the world started preparing for the day. Since 2020, the day has moved online, given the impact of the pandemic. World YWCA shared a tool for engagementwith inspiring ideas and templates for moving the celebration online, especially using social media. Many YWCAs shared powerful stories of mentorship, sisterhood and courage from leaders, inspiring the current and upcoming leaders, especially during this tough period of global pandemic impacting communities all around the world.
Don’t forget to engage on social media using the hashtag#YWCALeaders #WYD2021.
At World YWCA, we stand for inclusion and safety of LGBTIQ people. We know that women and people of marginalised genders and sexualities share commonality of oppression by patriarchy, with the added intersectional experiences of race, geographical location, religion, culture, class and colonisation. World YWCA has been fighting for gender equality for over a century, and we believe that an inclusive, intersectional approach to human rights is vital to sustaining a bold, progressive women’s movement.
We know that diversity brings strength to women’s movements and have sought to deliver advocacy and support to diverse communities for many years, in our commitment to strengthen community bonds with and between diverse groups of women, young women and girls.
As noted in the United Nations Human Rights Council resolution 32/2, ‘an inclusive society enables people to enjoy protection from violence and discrimination’, and World YWCA is committed to our mission[1] of inclusion.[2]
World YWCA is aware that minority women continue to suffer discrimination and marginalisation and are at higher risk of experiencing human rights violations including: women living with disabilities, women living with HIV, women from racial and ethnic and religious groups, lesbian, bi-sexual, transgender and queer (LBTQ) women, as well as intersex and gender non-conforming people. World YWCA seeks to participate in and advance LGBTIQ advocacy work, and to actualize a more inclusive movement.
World YWCA invites you to sign this pledge and support LGBTIQ women and marginalised genders and advocate for the expansion of LGBTIQ rights.
Gender equality cannot be achieved without equality for ALL women and marginalised genders.
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
Armenian National YWCA Young Women in a bunker, knitting warm socks for those fighting on the front line.
World YWCA recognizes the hostility waged upon the Armenian people by the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan, which puts the people of Armenia at risk of a second genocide. The large-scale military operations against the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) is destroying the area and historical structures with no regard to the lives of Armenian civilians.
This destruction violates the UN Security Council Resolution 2532, which demands ceasefire in light of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. The YWCA of Armenia has been affected by the on-going war and many women and young women are expressing fear, shock and anger. Yet, the world remains silent.
World YWCA supports the Armenian women in their effort to restore peace and call on the global community to respond to the injustice that continues in Armenia. We also condemn the destruction and urge for protection of Armenian monuments, civilian centers and homes. YWCA women have provided leadership in conflict and post-conflict spaces for over a century, and the global YWCA movement advocates for peace and justice in communities, countries, regions, and the world.
Please share this statement widely so that the largest number of people at the decision-making level see the message and take action and demand the end of war in Armenia and end the silence about this travesty. What is happening in Armenia is against the most fundamental right of human beings: the right to live.
Peace with justice has been a constant vision and goal throughout the more than 160 years of the global YWCA movement, as we know that not only are women, young women, and girls profoundly, negatively impacted by war and conflict, but their leadership is essential to promoting non-violence and achieving lasting peace and justice.
World YWCA is dismayed by news of fraudulent elections and escalation of violence against peaceful protesters in the Republic of Belarus. Weapons were used against peaceful women protestors, and many were injured. The arrested were held in inhumane conditions without food, water, personal hygiene products, and cases of rape have been reported. YWCA Belarus provides direct help to Belarusian women survivors of gender based violence and has closely cooperated with government bodies. The situation negatively affects the YWCA’s stability and ability to serve the community.
Young women, women politicians demanding peace, human rights defenders, workers, and journalists have stood up to protect Belarus from injustice – leading peaceful processions and demonstrations. We support Belarusian women in their effort to restore peace and call on the global community to respond to the injustice that continues in Belarus.
Please share this statement widely so that the largest number of people at the decision-making level see this message and take action to stop the violence in Belarus and have the perpetrators answer for their crimes against humanity.
The World YWCA and entire global YWCA movement share our condolences on the tragedy that has befallen the peoples of Beirut and the country of Lebanon. We have followed the situation with great concern and stand in support with the YWCA Lebanon.
There has been significant damage to the National YWCA and Beirut YWCA offices, and this is just part of the challenges that they face. Some challenges are very tangible, such as an office to repair, and some are less tangible but even more important to address, such as families experiencing the loss of a loved one or a family home.
Our hearts are with the YWCA community in Beirut and Lebanon. The beautiful country of Lebanon has again and again been resilient when confronted with tragedy, and we stand with them as they take on that mantle yet again.
We pray for the wellbeing and healing of all, and for continued individual and collective strength for the YWCA community in Lebanon.
*Updates on the status of YWCA Lebanon will be posted on social media, as warranted.
As a global movement based on human rights, we witness racism around the world – racism embedded in our societies, cultures, laws and attitudes. As in the United States of America, anti-blackness is a common form of discrimination in many of the 100 countries where YWCAs work toward transformation of power structures in response to systemic oppression.
World YWCA shares in the grief, anger and anxiety of millions of people around the world and stands in solidarity with the citizens around the globe protesting anti-blackness and demanding the right to peaceably assemble in civil protest.
For 160 years, the World YWCA has witnessed youth-led action toward justice and human rights, resulting in changes that seemed impossible. Young people, with allies of all ages, can transform power structures and eliminate discrimination. As a global movement that has often been driven by the power of young women and the action they take to realize their convictions, we are hopeful that the legitimate resistance and demand for justice by youth and people of all ages around the world is a herald of progress.
The YWCA movement is committed to eliminating all discrimination – including but not limited to that based on race, class, age, gender identity, or sexual orientation. The World YWCA Purpose and Goal 2035 speak to the fundamental need to address systemic oppression and to a vision of a world that includes justice for all. This vision connects thousands of communities and millions of women, young women and girls and unites us against discrimination and in action when atrocities occur due to systemic oppression or bias and prejudice.
We stand in solidarity with YWCA USA, YWCA Australia, YWCA Canada , and the local YWCAs all across USA that have taken clear positions during this time of social upheaval, begun by citizens demanding change in the USA in response to acts of anti-blackness. Many people around the world recognize what is happening in the USA as familiar and as unacceptable, and a global response continues to build. We affirm the right for peaceful protests as a tool to mobilise communities, engage allies, and push for action to ensure the true and full realisation of human rights and a social system without oppression. The World YWCA recognizes the equal value of all human beings.
As an international World YWCA and a global movement working for and with young women and women from all over the world, we are not exempt from racism. We know that we have to strive to continuously educate ourselves to not perpetuate systemic oppression. We call on everyone to read, listen, and have the discussions necessary to understand power, privilege and oppression. Just like we use feminism to dismantle patriarchic power relations, we need to adopt an anti-racist lens to our feminist work.
