Ascension : Young Women’s World Forum 2010 – Kirsty Anthony
Submitted by The Islander (Islander Editors) 11.11.2010 (Article Archived on 25.11.2010)
As many of you may know, I got selected to attend the Young Women’s World Forum (YWWF), which took place Wednesday 20th October, through to Saturday 23rd.
As many of you may know, I got selected to attend the Young Women’s World Forum (YWWF), which took place Wednesday 20th October, through to Saturday 23rd. I can honestly say it was a once in a life-time opportunity for me and a great experience being able to connect with 145 young women from across all areas of the world. Over-all it was very challenging for me to contribute in the conference as, here on Ascension, we are very fortunate and we have never have to face issues such as Poverty or Inequality of Gender. We are very privileged to be living here in such a small, together community. However, I found that it was still interesting to others to hear about my background and I was encouraged to enlighten them on the lifestyle that we embrace.
How it began:
In the year 2000, the united nations called a meeting to reaffirm their faith in the Organization and its Charter as indispensible foundations of a more “peaceful, prosperous and just world”. From this, they recognised 8 Millennium Development Goals, in which they wanted to act on and achieve by 2015. The UN calls on governments and civil society worldwide to support activities at local and international levels to mark the event. They also proclaimed an international year of youth, which started on 12th August. Therefore, WAGGGS (World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts) were given the opportunity to put our views forward and contribute to this declaration. So the aim of our conference was to present our very own declaration to the British Government, stating the actions we would like to see take place, according to the three chosen MDG’s.
For this current year, they selected three MDGs to focus on. These are:
MDG 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Ending Hunger
MDG 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
MDG 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability
Each day, we worked hard towards our declaration:
Day 1: EXPLORE
On this day we had a conference about each of the MDG’s and then went into more detail about the three that we were focusing on. We also had the opportunity to get to know each other, find out about everyone’s backgrounds and exchange concerns about our countries relating to the chosen MDG’s.
At the end of the day, we had big opening Ceremony dinner, drinks and lots of dancing. We had to renew our Promise at 20/10, 20:10, 2010. I got selected to appear in the spot light with our Chief Guide, which was a great honour.
Day 2: CONNECT
There were more discussions and we were able to put together detailed statements of how we could achieve these MDGs and find logical and authentic ways that our Governments and Civil Society would actually contribute to accomplish them. Then we had to prepare for our Campaigning for the following day.
Day 3: INSPIRE
This was the day that we met some really important and inspirational people who are actually fighting Poverty and Equality in developing countries. We got to hear some real life stories and experiences. Then we were surprised by Prime Minister David Cameron’s presence. He gave a very encouraging and motivating speech and answered questions about his Government. Then we did our campaigning. There were 132 statements in the campaign so we all had to campaign against each other and then we had to vote on the most meaningful statements.
Day 4: ACT
Our votes from the previous day were counted and prioritised, then short-listed just 30 of the most popular statements. Ten statements for each of the three organizations: WAGGGS, Civil Society and Governments. This is when the real voting began. We had voted electronically to shorten the list again to 4 each. When all were happy with the results, the declaration was typed up and presented to the Government.
We had then come to the end of the Conference so we all celebrated by a formal dinner.
OUR DECLARATION
Government
The delegates of the Young Women’s World Forum call on Government around the world to...
1. Issue policies which guarantee sustainable development of the environment, such as taxing non-sustainable production and products and using these taxes for recycling and nature projects.
2. Break the cycle of poverty through free, inclusive education of a high quality, which allow girls and boys equal access to all subjects in all schools.
3. Work together to make a fair, ambitious and binding agreement to fight climate change which will: support renewable energy sources, protect biodiversity and enforce policies that ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’.
4. Implement and enforce laws that are fair and just or all citizens and ensure that every person who is a victim of gender discrimination has access to comprehensive and timely support, regardless of gender.
WAGGGS
The delegates of the Young Women’s World Forum ask WAGGGS to...
1. Create and use partnerships between Member Organizations, Civil Society and Governments to work towards the Millennium Development Goals. Use these partnerships to support initiatives such as local guiding projects, micro-loans, training, fundraising, second-hand shops and a global MDG day.
2. Enable girls to broaden their understanding of poverty and hunger issues across the world through sharing their knowledge and experience. In particular, connect Member Organizations from developed and developing countries and through this interaction create programmes on poverty which are specific to their communities.
3. Promote gender equality while building confidence in girls and women through co-education and co-operation between girls and boys in guiding/scouting and increase partnership between WAGGGS and WOSM.
4. Establish “GAT working groups” of dedicated ambassadors within every member organisation in order to implement the GAT materials and support those taking action in local areas.
Civil Society
The delegates of the Young Women’s World Forum ask Civil Society to...
1. Campaign to stop corruption by promoting transparency in government spending in all countries, for both local and national government, to ensure add reaches those who need it.
2. Take individual responsibility for the environment by reducing the human impact on their own planet by recycling, local tree planting schemes and encouraging use of local food sources.
3. Run programmes which empower women and ensure their active participation at all levels of society – ‘without me, there is no you’.
4. Encourage NGO’s and community groups to introduce schemes and competitions to encourage lifestyle and change and sustainable waste disposal and energy usage.
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