Taking Advantage of Slacktivism for the Post-2015 Agenda

When we talk about a big UN inter-governmental process, that goes on for a number of years, and where ultimately a decision will be made that will affect the future of the whole planet, it's easy to think it'd take a lot of time, effort and prior knowledge to contribute to the discussion. But whereas the MDGs where decided behind closed doors in the UNHQ, where only the most experienced of lobbyists could even attempt to influence the negotiators, the next set of targets are almost at the opposite extreme. If you are a die-hard slacktivist (almost an oxymoron) you can have a say too.

Slacktivism is a colloquial term to describe the behaviour of taking part in advocacy campaigns, usually through the Internet, in a quick and easy way. Liking campaign Facebook pages, retweeting organisations, changing you profile picture for a time or signing online petitions all count as slacktivism. Reading this blog (you probably came to it from social media) I'd guess you are a slacktivist - even if you didn't know it before now!

Some might see the connotations of the terms as negative, as though depicting people who are only half-hearted in committing to a cause, but I think it's an incredibly positive thing. Call someone an activist and it still conjures up images of the placard waving, anti-establishment, full-time (or often a student) campaigner. However, there's a huge portion of the population who don't have the time, money, or inclination to go wandering through the streets of Westminster in any kind of weather. But they still have valid opinions about the world they want to live in - opinions that need to be heard in preparing the post-2015 agenda.

So that's why I think slacktivism is particularly useful in this case - the negotiators need to know what the population thinks, wants and needs, not just the minority with the know-how to get their ear on the floor of the UN. And the UN has created a number platforms to aid the collection of such voices.

MyWorld2015.org is the main one of these. You're asked to rank 6 priorities from a list of 16, Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and have their own blog. They must be doing something right as over half a million people have submitted their vote already. One slacktivist to another, I think you should (if you haven't already) help nudge that figure over the 1 million mark. Go on. You know you want to.

give a little bit of demographic data and then, voila! You've helped to influence the global priorities for next development agenda. They're on

For those of you on Twitter who want to follow this discussion, try @post2015 @beyond2015 and, of course, @myworld2015 for a start. On Facebook have a look at www.facebook.com/YouthVoicesUN and www.facebook.com/myworld2015.

10 Inspirations That Make Me Advocate for Equal Rights

Having opened my local paper this morning to find my local MP has described me, or at least a group of people including me, as "gay rights zealots" - I feel compelled to blog about what inspires me to be an advocate (not a zealot) for equal rights. Some of the list below are positive, things or people I want to share or emulate, others are negatives, the things I've seen, heard, felt or otherwise experienced that I don't want other people to. Here we go:

1. Young Women's World Forum 2010

Some people who knew me both before and after this week in October 2010 would probably say that week changed me life - I definitely think so. It was an event organised by WAGGGS to celebrate the centenary and brought together young women from nearly 100 countries to talk about the Millennium Development Goals. I was inspired by the other participants and volunteers, by the atmosphere, by the discussions, and by the guest speakers (see number 2). I was also set the challenge to go away and start a project - that's how Speak Out, Reach Out, Camp Out started. I believe we need inspiration, information and empowerment joined together to enable us to seize our rights.

2. Leymah Gbowee

We watched 'Pray the Devil Back To Hell' on the first night and Leymah Gbowee came to speak in person on the 3rd day. I wrote down several quotes on my developing project plan - "Small Steps, Big Impact, Lifetime Legacy" has stuck with me ever since. Leymah is a fantastic public speaker, and has inspired me on several other occasions since that first speech I heard. If she could face down a civil war to achieve peace for her country, that doing my best to fight injustices in the UK no longer seems such a scary prospect.

3. Experiencing Violence

I've been bullied, spat at, groped, shouted at, and assaulted for various reasons, most of which relate to gender and sexuality, and I've suffered periods of serious anxiety and depression as a result. I don't want future generations to perpetuate this violence, so I want to do everything I can to help people to understand that we all have rights - including the right to a life free from violence.

4. Being told I 'should have been born a boy'

My time at secondary school was dominated by bullying and never feeling like I fit in. I was regularly told that I 'should have been born a boy' because of the way I acted, things I liked, and way I'd have liked to dressed if there wasn't a gendered school uniform. I didn't need to be born a boy, other people need to rethink their definition of what a 'girl' is.

5. Bishop Stephen Cottrell

My secondary school was attached to the Cathedral in Peterborough. I didn't once hear anybody tell me it was OK to be anything other than straight, other than in one of (then Canon) Stephen Cottrell's assemblies. I joined the Cathedral youth group that met in the Canon's house and I actually associated that church with being welcoming and inclusive for a long time. He was very encouraging of women within the church and a great advocate of women bishops.

6. My Partner

Equal marriage and immigration rights admittedly wasn't something I'd contemplated at length before I met my partner. Even in same-sex relationships previously, I hadn't thought about marrying the person I was with. Falling in love with an American means that inequalities of the legal nitty-gritty of both countries become a sudden reality. We want to be together, but politicians with their own agendas are in control of when/how that happens. Having spent most of the duration of our relationship trying to understand various laws we've found a route - but many others don't have the options they should.

7. Hundreds of Youth Leaders

Through the opportunities that Girlguiding and WAGGGS has given me I have met hundreds of inspiring young women and men who are leading change in their communities the world over. I see them using the little space, little resources, and little voice they have to grow, make their voice heard and change lives.They remind me that none of us are alone in this journey to get equal rights. They are all heading to the same destination even if we are taking different paths.

8. Two Young Men

After the last day of the Global Youth Forum in Bali we headed out to one of the many nightclubs on the island. That was where I met a transgender activist from Uganda. I may have had a few too many strawberry daiquiris (it was hot and the ice cooled me down) to remember his name, but the stories he told of what they were overcoming in Uganda, and of the work he was doing to establish a safe house and support members of the LGBT community, really hit home. I had a friend, Harry, in the UK the year before who had committed suicide as a result of struggling with transitioning and the transphobia he faced. Harry had inspired me with some of the vlogs he created and the discussion of transphobia we had in person and on social media. I saw him as tremendously strong and his death left me numb and questioning my own ability to overcome the mental health problems that all too often result from any kind of discrimination. Meeting this Ugandan activist gave me faith, positivity, a belief that we can ultimately overcome this discrimination to achieve equality. It's a journey, not a battle. We will get to equality in the end. It's not a battle to be lost.

9. Girlguiding

While it's easy to point to big events as turning points and inspirations, underlying these is how I got to to that point (i.e. to the Young Women's World Forum). I've been in Girlguiding since I was 5, and I've probably always been a geek. I love learning, and I remember as a Brownie taking home my handbook and actually reading it, doing all the activities I could do independantly of the unit and taking back the filled out pages, presenting them to my Brown Owl the next week. In the process I devoured and took to heart the ethos of Girlguiding and that is still with me. I should be kind and helpful, lend a hand, be a sister to all guides. I completed my Footpath, Road, Highway, and Go challenges before my 10th birthday, moved straight up to Guides and was back helping younger girls soon after my 11th. When you give an 11 year old the responsibility of running games and helping girls with crafts, I think it's logical that 10 years later they're capable of running side events at the UN and helping other young women prepare advocacy materials. We're back to the small steps, but a programme that built up my skills - especially in leadership - and has rewarded and recognised the various challenges I completed along the way has made me confident that I can be successful in whatever I put my mind to. Even if I'm not successful straight away, I've gained the skills to learn from my mistakes and take a different approach from Girlguiding.

10. You

I started Speak Out, Reach Out, Camp Out with little idea of how it would develop or who would be interested. But over the years I've seen the followers of the blog and social media grow and hundreds (if not thousands now) of people take part in the Reach Out and Camp Out activities. That includes you. I'm not talking to thin air, the audience is growing week by week, month by month, year by year. You inspire me to keep going, keep blogging, and keep coming up with activities so that together we can achieve equality and a better world for all.

Thanks You.

The UK and the Post-2015 Agenda

I was asked (well asked by myself) to write this post for the WAGGGS Post-2015 Ambassadors blog which will be hitting a screen near you very shortly. To encourage myself to get it written, Im posting it here to start with and will cross post to that blog once it's set up. I will be supplying the link and directing you all to it in the next few weeks, so keep yur eyes peeled!

Youth meeting with UK Minister for International Development

With David Cameron being one of the three co-chairs of the High Level Panel who have been looking at the potential avenues possible in a development agenda for after 2015, the UK has featured quite heavily in activities to date.

I was at the High Level Panel meeting, in London, at the start of November 2012. We convened as a group of 25ish young people (including 4 WAGGGS and 1 WOSM young women) on the day before the Civil Society Outreach Day (which took place after the actual HLP meeting in London). We were allocated an hour and a half roundtable discussion where we presented statements followed by table based discussions with some of the panel members. We tried to focus on the outside the box ideas and youth lead approaches that had worked in some contexts and could be scaled up to be thought about globally.

On our agenda were education, health – Comprehensive Sexuality Education and Services in particular – employment. The theme of the meeting was household poverty so all of these kind of fitted within that. After the youth roundtables there was a town hall meeting style session where people from the panel said some things, we got to make remarks on the theme, and they gave us a few responses. I stood up to say that gender equality, and particularly women’s rights, needs to be insured in the agenda. And a few others from the youth stakeholders also managed to get to make statements. On my way out of the building after the sessions someone who works for the UK Department for International Development (who organised the London meeting) told me he thought the youth session and participants had been the most engaging and productive part of the day, and was thoroughly supportive of the idea of youth being involved in the rest of the process.

What was the impact of this meeting? I think it was the inspiration to include youth more in the process over the following months.

After that some UK youth from various organisations - as well as the employees of big development charities based in the UK - have been at High Level Panel meetings in Monrovia and Bali.UK organisations have been heavily involved in the Beyond2015 campaign, as well as specific groups for young people like the Beyond2015 Children and Youth Working Group and the Major Group on Children and Youth.

But what about the involvement of the wider public? Other than bits and pieces of media coverage in the international pages of some of our bigger newspapers and online news sites (Guardian and BBC in particular), there's been no real effort that I've seen to involve a cross section of the UK population. People don't see what 'development' has to do with them - even though the UK still doesn't achieve all the targets set out in the Millennium Development Goals!

So what do I want to do? My plans that I would like to undertake within and beyond guiding in my country are: to get more people to vote in the MyWorld survey - you can go and vote here: http://www.myworld2015.org/?partner=WAGGGS; to get people to realise (at least within guiding) that when we talk about development, we are calling for positive social change in the UK too; and to develop the skills of my peers to speak out on the issues that matter to them. I believe that only by giving young people the necessary training to know how to advocate, can we expect us to become fully active in the political process.

I'll keep you posted on how I get on.

This post is now available to view on the WAGGGS website at http://wagggsworld.org/en/post2015agenda/post2015_delegatesblog

Speak Out in Our Competition!

I'm pleased to announce our new competition for all budding bloggers, producers and activists - open to entries as of today! You've got until the 30th June 2013 to get your entries in, so get creating today.

  

If you have any questions drop us an email on the submission address or use the comments field on this post. Submit your entry today to receive a set of Speak Out, Reach Out, Camp Out badges!

Let's Get Technical

My Dad forwarded me this report on a survey conducted in the UK about women in technology related careers. They found that whilst 90% of both men and women working in tech reported to be happy in their career, only 1 in 7 members of any tech team were women.

The report's cover image.

The majority of both women and men think there should be more women working in tech, but there is disagreement about which factors are influencing the current numbers taking up careers in the sector. 65% of women currently working in tech feel that they have been discriminated against at some point in their career because of their gender - probably a big and real factor then.

Despite this a whopping 90% of women working in tech would recommend a career in this sector to other women. As a fast growing sector with potential for more and well paid jobs in the coming years, the question is how do you encourage more women to go into tech?

Roughly 2/3 of their respondents thought their business would benefit from more women working in the industry and, as a well paid sector, evening out the gender balance would help to diminish the gender pay gap that is still prevalent in the UK.

The solutions in the report? Education, pioneers and perception changes. Encouraging girls to study STEM (Science, technology, engineering and maths) at school will equip them with the skills and confidence to work in the sector. Then we need to highlight the women already doing it, which in turn will help to change perceptions of tech.

Some sound conclusions there and it's great to hear them coming from inside the sector!

A Not So Brave Makeover

Some followers of our Facebook page will have seen this great image and quote that we shared from A Mighty Girl yesterday. They've been spearheading a campaign to get Disney to undo their princess makeover of the Brave lead character Merida. This was picked up in the Guardian yesterday, and with a Comment is Free article too.

I have to say I have something of a soft spot for this film - I saw it at the cinema twice in fact. And it was the first Disney 'princess' that I've ever really felt any affinity with. I think this quote from Brenda Chapman, Brave's writer and co-director pretty much says it all: "Merida was created to break that mould - to give young girls a better stronger role model, a more attainable role model something of substance not just a pretty face that waits around for romance."

Before and after the 'princess makeover'.

Why, Disney, why do you see the need to turn a character whose main selling point is NOT being like every other princess going in your films, into just another one of those princesses? She is the princess for the 21st century, not some half-century old fairytale idea of how young women should behave.

I remember being a 10 year old and with a group of friends we made up our own fairytale play about royalty and protectors, forces of evil and their Hench-people.I cast myself as the prince so I'd be the one doing the rescuing having the adventure - I didn't want to stand about tied with a skipping rope to the playground fence waiting to be rescued.

Now 12 years later there's a film that allows a generation of young people see that you can be the princess and have the adventure. It's not all about the waiting about looking pretty.

It appears that Disney have now removed the Princess version from their website, but it's not a victory yet. You can still sign on to the campaign at www.change.org/keepmeridabrave.

IDAHO. 17th May, Not The State.

So it turns out my post on mental health was not only very late (after the post that inspired it), but also very early as this week is mental health awareness week. My timing was just a little off for the celebration.

Getting ahead of the game, here's one about an event happening on Friday - IDAHO. You may be thinking isn't that the state between Oregon and Montana? Well, yes, you are right there. But this particular acronym stands for the International Day Against Homophobia.

It takes place on the 17th May to mark the anniversary of the day in 1990 when the World Health Organisation removed homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses. You see the link back to the mental health post now.

We've come a fair old way since then, I would say - though it's difficult for me to comment as I wasn't born till a few weeks after that event - and that's thanks to a lot of hard fought activism worldwide. 13 countries and 12 US states now have equal marriage in effect or very nearly and, according to Wikipedia, another 21 territories have some kind of civil partnership for same-sex couples. But it's not so rosy everywhere.

In 2008, 54 member states of the UN signed a declaration opposing LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) rights, and homosexuality remains a criminal offence (sometimes with the death penalty attached) in many countries. There are still many more victories to be won in order to create a world free from homophobia and the horrible repercussions it has.

I recently shared this video on my personal Facebook - TRIGGER WARNING: there are graphic depictions of bullying and consequences of that so it's not a light thing to watch. But I think the point is conveyed in the first minute or so, before it gets too graphic. It basically turns homophobia on it's head. How would the world look if opposite sex relationships were the ones that were frowned upon, that caused kids to be bullied by their peers and disowned by their parents, and ultimately to see no other escape than through taking their own life? It's definitely a thought provoking video.

Then came this video from upworthy - a series of people in the street are asked 'a question gay people have been asked for years'. It's the 'made a choice' vs 'born this way' debate. By asking people when they chose to be straight it highlights the point that a) people probably don't get to choose their sexuality at all and b) there's at lot of people in the middle ground on the LGBT rights issue who, with a little bit of thought-provoking education, could come to support LGBT rights.

I didn't choose my sexuality, I didn't choose to fall in love with the person I did, but right now, I would really like the choice to be able to get married to that person and have our relationship recognised in the same way a heterosexual couple do.Come on the UK, let's make it 14 soon.

P.s. I spell checked this post and LGBT, Transgender and Facebook are not in the dictionary. Sort it out blogger.com!

A Slice of Mental Health

Inspired by a friend's post a few days ago (well more than a few by the time I've got this finished) I want to say something about mental health.

It was mentioned on the news today that GPs have been recommended to watch out for signs of depression and anxiety in carers - those who take on the demanding role of caring for a family member, friend or neighbour. As a particular susceptible group, I think that's a great idea, but then I think - 'Shouldn't we be looking out for the signs of poor mental health in everybody?'.

If you limped into a GPs appointment then they'd ask if everything's ok with your leg. Signs of poor mental health can be much less obvious, so to me it would seem imperative to do something proactive about it. Especially as there often feels like a taboo around the subject.

A few years ago, after a series of incidents, I started experiencing panic attacks. Having been asthmatic since 11, and with nobody ever really talking to me about the physical symptoms of a mental health problems, I had no idea what was wrong with me - I thought it was some kind of asthmatic attack combined with feeling feint. It was only after the attacks were exacerbated by taking on a stressful job that I sought out medical help. A nurse at the local walk-in centre diagnosed it from my description and gave me information on panic attacks.

My GP referred me to a counselling service, but because I said I wasn't suicidal there was a 3 month wait for my first appointment. I'd never been good at expressing how I felt in words and I chickened out and cancelled before that first appointment ever happened.

I've been recommended a counsellor, or giving information about such a service, several times since. Not once actually going.I was scared.

It's only since being with my partner, who grew up with the US health care system and absolutely loves therapy and the support it's given her, that I've a) been able to talk about my emotions and thoughts more readily, and b) come to think that mental health is as, if not more, important than physical health. I also think it's been many years since I was as mentally healthy as I am currently. Right now I wish I'd gone for that counselling the first time it was offered, that I'd learnt to talk about how I feel sooner, and how to process things that have happened to me in the past.

I've been thinking about all the things I've heard about health in the global development sphere - particularly the planning of the Post-2015 Agenda. Rarely is mental health mentioned. If we want to see true development for everybody, then we need to start taking a holistic view of well-being. It's particularly relevant for including gender-based violence - indeed violence in any form - as whilst the physical injuries may be treated, the mental repercussions of such experiences need treatment too.

We need to start talking. About mental health and about gender based violence. The two are often linked. 

Ciao!

So I have been in Italy for the last few days facilitating a workshop with the UK Youth Climate Coalition as part of an event co-ordinated by the Italian Youth Hostel Association -  Five Days to Zero Impact.

We worked with about 25 young people from the Campania region (the bit around Naples and Pompeii that sits in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius). I've studied the ancient history of this region a lot doing Latin at GCSE followed by Archaeology and Geography at University - I even wrote my uni application personal statement about how this area epitomised the connections between the subjects I wanted to study. Safe to say that I was excited about the trip!

I knew a lot less about the current situation of the region, and I have learnt a lot in just a few days. The young people taking part in the session are clearly passionate and driven - really wanting to see improvement in their local area. This is great and inspiring. I usually talk a lot about the international scene with post-2015, MDGs, UN, CSW and COPs, but I think this work is only ever meaningful when we think about the local to. That's something organisations like UKYCC and WAGGGS do well I think. Global-local thinking. Glocal...

Pollution is a hot topic here, as is the inefficiency of the local government. But they've got the solutions to. This group is well on it's way to stepping in and cleaning up their region.

I've also learnt a lot about training and working interculturally. I've regularly worked with groups with mixed backgrounds through WAGGGS - but usually in English. It's eye opening when trying to lead a workshop and you don't speak the majority language in the room. With a little bit of translation the group picked up the concept we were trying to convey very quickly and ran with it. Once they had the idea we handed them the pen and flipchart to take notes in Italian - they kept us in the loop with the conversation, but it was clear they could go into a lot more depth in their mother tongue than trying to explain in English.

They have a few more days and sessions to go - and I'm sure many new and exciting environmental projects will spring up in this region as a results - but I'm waiting at the airport, about to head back to the UK. 

I'm getting on top of my emails, collaborating on ideas of how we can communicate the Post-2015 work of WAGGGS, and contemplating my job-hunting options - hoping I can find something as rewarding as the voluntary work I do!

Radio Silence

Apologies for the delay between my last blog post and this - there's been a lot happening in the last couple of weeks. My partner and I had our civil partnership ceremony just over a week ago, followed by a lovely weekend in Yorkshire. On top of this I've job hunting in earnest with a string of interviews lined up.

So back to the advocacy work.

My role as a co-ordinator for WAGGGS post-2015 volunteers has started. We had a great conference call with the whole group last week, planning our objectives and work over the coming weeks and months. My person goal is to get plenty more votes, especially from the UK, on the MyWorld platform. It takes just 5 minutes, and you can really have your voice heard in the future development agenda! Do it today!

And I'm also preparing to go to Italy next week with the UKYCC. We'll be running a workshop on climate change and the EU climate strategy - hopefully inspiring a group of young Italians to become environmental activists, creating change in their communities. My training in Guiding is coming in very useful in the ability to take topics and learning objectives, and turning them into fun activities.

I'll be back later in the week with an update on both of these!