Training the Next Body Confidence Ambassadors with #FreeBeingMe

"When you comment on a picture on the internet, make it about the person/how you feel" - this was just one of the many suggestions this weekend on how to encourage friends and family to become body confident.

With some great timing to coincide with International Day of the Girl on Saturday and Body Confidence Week this week, I was excited to be leading a training last weekend for 26 young members of Girlguiding to become peer educators. 

4 Peer Education

4 Peer Education is Girlguiding's peer education initiative and something I have been part of since 2007. Through 4 I have delivered sessions for my peers on everything from bullying to alcohol abuse and the skills and knowledge have come in useful when helping friends through personal situations. Currently, Girlguiding's peer educators can lead sessions for members, other youth groups and schools on three topics: Youth Health (developed with Department of Health), Healthy Relationships (developed with AVA), and Free Being Me. This last initiative focuses of body confidence and was developed by the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts and the Dove Self Esteem Initiative. it is being delivered all over the world and the goal is to reach 3.5 million girls by 2016.

Free Being Me

This weekend's training for 26 young women in the Anglia region of Girlguiding concentrated on the Free Being Me resource. First we defined the image myth that dominates our media and society and then we broke it down. We covered practical skills for challenging this myth including spotting the changes in airbrushed images and talking to their friends about the subject. The suggestions in the photo above were their ideas on how they can break down the image myth in their day to day life. 

I was honoured to witness their development over the weekend - leaving on Sunday afternoon as confident and enthusiastic peer educators and ambassadors for body confidence. It was fantastic to hear that some of them are even leading their first sessions for Girlguiding units this week! 

Body Confidence For All!

I hope to help Free Being Me to grow and develop girls body confidence across the UK but it would be great if politicians would take notice of the impact of this programme, learn from it and ensure that all young people in the UK can be body confident by providing similar activities through schools. 

How do we get true gender mainstreaming in the post-2015 agenda?

When I was reading through the issue briefs (downloaded from http://www.wcy2014.com/resources.php ) for the various themes and cross cutting issues that we will be discussing at the World Conference on Youth 2014 this week, I was struck by the dramatic variation in how the authors had tried to mainstream gender considerations. 

For example the brief on "realising peace, reconciliation and ending violence" did this extremely well by dedicating an entire section to specific impacts on youth and women and ensuring there were specific items to resolve these impacts in the recommendations. Turn to "youth and waste management" and you will find no mention of how this issue may differ based on gender identity for the entire piece (perhaps the research hasn't been done?) or, perhaps what I personally feel is more concerning, have a look at "full employment and entrepreneurship" and the phrase 'young women and men' has been used in the place of 'youth' throughout.

Whilst this latter approach does succeed  in ensuring 'youth' is not read as exclusively male, it does nothing to recognise that the issue is experienced in a different way dependant on gender identity. UN Women have touched on employment issues in their brief for the "gender equality" strand and have the following to say: 

"Women suffer discrimination in accessing labor markets; they are over represented in vulnerable employment; and are paid lower wages than men for work of equal value." 

So in this respect there has been research and consultation done to find the gendered aspects of employment issues and so this needs to be thought about in discussions this week. I believe the structure of the conference will help to facilitate this - the participants from the gender equality sessions in the morning will disperse to be part of seven different thematic areas in the afternoons. This, I hope, will mean  the gender perspective is brought up in each of these themes to truly mainstream gender in the conference outcome documents and participants mindsets.

My challenge now is to see if gender equality can be thought about in the other six cross cutting issue sessions each morning, not to mention whether we can get consideration of minority gender identities in there too! 

Facilitating the World Conference on Youth

This week I received some very exciting news - in under a month (23 days according to the countdown on the website homepage) I will be travelling to Sri Lanka to act as a facilitator at the World Conference on Youth 2014. This event, running from the 5th - 10th May in Colombo, will be focusing on the role youth can play in, and ensuring youth issues are reflected in, the international development agenda that will come into effect in 2015 after the completion date of the Millennium Development Goals.

I have yet to find out which 'Themes' or 'Foundations' I will be facilitating on, but my preference definitely includes the 'Gender Equality' track. As with most UN events, it is incredibly difficult to go from a blank page to an outcome document in under a week (and nearer to four days!) and so a 'Zero Draft' of the outcome document has already been released for comment. This document has 70 paragraphs based on text and wording previously agreed at other UN events. You can download this document and feedback your own views on it here.

Global Youth Forum, Bali, 2012. I hope the outcomes from Sri Lanka will be as progressive.

The Zero Draft

This morning I sat down with the Zero Draft and started to note what I would like to change to make it more progressive and ambitious. If the outcome document only contains statements that have already been agreed to elsewhere within the UN, we can rightly say this conference will have been a waste of time and a copy/paste exercise. the text at the moment has a few paragraphs that I will whole-heartedly champion (e.g. ending violence against women and girls) however I want to push these even further - lets end all gender based violence including that based on sexual orientation and minority gender identities. What I am hoping for is some progressive new language that would further the rights, inclusion and development of young people beyond what has been agreed to before!

 Regular blog readers may remember my trip to the Global Youth Forum in December 2012 - a youth focused event hosted by the UN Population Fund as part of their ongoing 20 year review of the International Conference on Population and Development. That outcome document, The Bali Youth Declaration contained a lot of progressive language on topics such as SRHR (Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights) and supporting marginalized populations (including minority sexualities and gender identities). However, its downfall is that it was essentially a consultation document going forward - the forum was a lot more youth and a lot less governments, meaning we were making really strong recommendations, but that governments are not obliged to listen to the ones that don't fit with their priorities. The action as a result of that event came from the youth constituencies, those who used it as a document to aid the lobbying in a wide variety of national and international political processes.

The World Conference on Youth 2014 will be attended by just as many young people but, if my understanding is correct, there will also be representives of a large number of governments and UN agencies. The zero draft contains a paragraph calling on the Secretary General to refer to this document in ongoing Post-2015 Agenda negotiations and reports and also for the UN General Assembly (the body which every government is part of) to recognise the outcome document of the conference as a 'critical contribution' to the Post-2015 debate. It is this potential influence and recognition which will make the World Conference on Youth's outcome document more important and influential, but at the same time it's these same factors that may make it more difficult to make it progressive.

The 'I'm thinking how to edit this UN language' face.

My Edits

Having gone through the document this morning I have tried to achieve three things:

• Ensure the needs of those with minority gender identities and diverse sexual orientations are recognised - especially under gender equality paragraphs.
• Strengthen and include more rights based language - especially relating to sexual and reproductive rights. 
• Make it grammatically correct. This may be the pedant in me, but if it doesn't read write then what it legally means is even more up for debate!

I have only made a brief starton improving these areas so far and, whilst I hate to reiterate merely what has come before, I will need to show the precedent for the phrases and insertions I have made before I submit my feedback later this week.

What issues do you want to see included in the outcome document? Let me know and I will try and include them with my feedback.

That time of year again. A Roundup.

Today, March 8th, is International Women's Day - a day to celebrate the achievements of women worldwide and to raise awareness of the gender inequalities and how we might address them. I'm not heading out to any big event this year, but hearing great things about several from home and wearing my Stop The Violence t-shirt whilst cleaning the house and tidying the garden for solidarity.

This week, and today especially, has seen an explosion of gender equality messages on social media. If you're on Twitter there's plenty of events to track through their hashtags including #IAmVisible, #WOWLDN (including an inspirational and much quoted speech from Malala Yousafzai this morning), and not to mention #IWD2014 itself. Then there's the infographics, quotes and all round Factivism going on to. Take a look at UN Women's #HeForShe campaign, and this great image from DFID.

Some of the WAGGGS delegation to CSW 55!

Monday also sees the start of the 58th UN Commission on The Status of Women in New York City - I an tell because my email inbox is swamped with different organisations promoting their side events and sharing inside knowledge on the negotiations that have already started. There's a fabulous delegation from the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts to follow - yes I know I'm biased, but these young women do some amazing work every year. The policy coordinator for the delegation is my fellow WAGGGS Post-2015 Ambassador from Australia, Erin Wicking, and you can follow her Tumblr blog here. Also worth following is Amy Graham, a member of the WAGGGS advocacy staff team, who also blogs here.It's also very exciting this year that there are remote delegates who will be contributing to the CSW discussions from their home countries and WAGGGS have produced an engagement document for the national guide and scout organisations to take the key messages forward.

Another Book - Persepolis

For the next book giveaway, due to the date and upcoming events, a fitting book is needed. That book is Persepolis. I first read this book shortly after I came back from my first UN Commission on the Status of Women event, and have since watched the film adaptation.

This graphic novel tells the story of a young woman's childhood in Iran, her travels to Europe to study and her subsequent return. The artwork is simple yet atmospheric and, I think, the graphic novel format helps you feel closer to the characters than in a traditional novel - but that might have something to do with dyslexia and reading images rather than words...

It's an easy to follow introduction to a little bit of the history of that area as the events are explained to the child character as they happen.

Like before, this is free to the first person to comment below, message me or send me an email (pippa@myriadit.net) and I'll update this post once it has been claimed. The only requirement is you pass it forward when you're down with it.

UPDATE - This book is heading to MaLau in Costa Rica!

Three Years On...

Outside UNHQ in 2011

Time Flies!

I set up this project in October 2010 after an inspiration week at the Young Women's World Forum. I then set up this blog proper when I set off to New York as part of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts delegation to the 55th UN Commission on the Status of Women. My first day at the UN as part of that delegation was exactly three years ago today - and that week was a catalyst for my advocacy and adventures since.

The 22nd February is also important in Guiding and Scouting circles as it marks the founders' shared birthdays and is known as Thinking Day. And so it seems apt to make some important changes to this project on such a day.

The Big News

So the big news today is that this project has changed its name. I've changed it to be about the intended outcome, rather than the actions undertaken. 'Speak Out', 'Reach Out' and 'Camp Out' will still be the names of the three strands of activities with their respective logos (and badges) but the overall project, from now on, will be known as 'Out For Equality'. 

With the Post-2015 International Development Agenda building pace, and the previous commitment to the MDGs becoming clouded, it felt like the right time for a change. Regardless of what we call the big movement for positive global change, this campaign seeks to ensure the gender equality is right at the heart of it. I also don't want this campaign to get lost in the interntional context with it's terminology and processes and big big meetings. To achieve gender equality, we need to think about the little things, the everyday things, and everything in between that and the UN.

I also want to make sure that when we're talking about gender equality, we're talking about it in a true sense. It's not gender equality if we ignore issues of intersectionality - it's got to be equality for gender minorities (not just women and men), its got to be there for all sexual orientations (not just heterosexuals) and its got to be there regardless of disabilites, ethnicity, economics or age. That's why it's 'Out For Equality' - we're setting out on the road to equality, but it's important to be out about who I am to be that reminder that we need equality for all. 

Change And The Same

What I blog about won't really change and I will continue to develop activites within the three strands. It's the structure around it that needed to change to fit what I'm doing. The same issues are still at the heart of it.

It's a new logo, a new name, and a clearer, straightforward aim for everybody to see.

Getting Stuck In

I've still not got over the reality of speaking to the UN. A few years ago I would have run scared from speaking to any group of more than 10 people, but now I actually really enjoy it. There's kind of a buzz. I think speaking out is difficult for a lot of people at first, but it becomes something that you train yourself to do and you want to do more of. 

There was a great discussion on one of the side events I went to whilst in New York about activism and young people. Many have come to see the term activist to describe someone who potentially gets arrested for the actions they take to speak out, not someone they identify with being themselves. One of the panellists preferred the term 'active citizen' as it conveyed better the sense of working specifically to improve the lives of the people around you. I think the word 'advocate' has a powerful ring to it too, but perhaps focuses on the seaking out rather than the taking action. 

That said, the term used to title that event is one that I have grown fond of in a few short days and one that I think will inspire some of the next phases of this project. That word is 'factivist' or 'factivism'. The definition given was that of young people - the teens to 30s age group - who are using fact based approaches, often powered by social media, to try and bring about change through their network and peers. 

That is exactly what I set out on this project to do. 

So I am setting out on producing some fact images for social sharing. Girlguiding UK do an annual survey on the attitudes of girls (and now boys too) on a range of different topics. You can explore the reports here. Here is my first factivist artwork, based on one of the photos currently on display in the 'We Discover, We Grow' exhibition at Peterborough Museum. I just wish I'd been given this inspiring idea sooner and could have worked it into the exhibition!

What do you think?

A Million Voices And Some Really Engaging Stories

Yesterday saw a busy 12 hour schedule of meetings and events. We started with a gathering of Youth in a cafe to finalise our lobby points document and put the finishing touches to the speech I am to give tomorrow at the High Level Political Forum.

UK Priorities

I then dashed over 10 blocks away to a meeting with the UK Special Envoy on Post-2015, David Hallam. We put forward civil society views on the Post-2015 process so far and heard about the priorities of the UK government. I was pleased to hear that the UK is fully behind a stand-alone goal on gender equality in the Post-2015 framework, as well as gender mainstreaming throughout. There were further discussions on how civil society can engage with the UK delegation, talk about financing the future development agenda, and a difference in opinions on the role of the private sector in development.

Whilst I agree with my fellow civil society representatives that we can't let corporations activities go unchecked - especially as we endeavour to move towards sustainable consumption and production - there is a critical role for entrepreneurship and especially social enterprise in a development agenda. When unemloyment is a critical global issue, we really can't afford to ignore the role of the private sector in creating the world we want.

The Power of Tehnology

My key tool in the last week, that has made my participation more effective than at previous UN events, has been my first proper smartphone which I got this summer. In the past I had my laptop that needed me to sit close to power sockets and have the right adapter in order to be connected with the conversations beyond the room. Now, my phone allows me to tweet and email through the UN wifi with greater ease.

This is clear from the two side events I went to in the afternoon. The first, A Million Voices, was a launch of a report produced from global contributions through platforms like www.worldwewant2015.org and www.myworld2015.org, as well as through global conversations. During the event I scanned a paper version of the report, highlighting the area related to WAGGGS - gender equality, violence against women and girls, and education. I tweeted my thoughts with the #amillionvoices tag for the session, including a number of questions. Others tweeted their thoughts, but not with that all important ? on the end. I kept tweeting to keep ideas of gender equality, WAGGGS and education on the feed displayed on the big screen throughout the session.

When it came to questions from the floor, the first one was taken to twitter, and mine was the one they saw! Gender was mainstreamed throughout the report, mentioned as a factor in so many topics, but I couldn't see the recommendation for a specific goal on the subject. I put that to the panel and heard messages of strong support for such a goal from the chair of the Latin American Regional commission, and from a high level member of staff from UNDP. The idea of a target on women's economic autonomy was put forward - a idea that would most likely help to reduce the levels of violence against women.

I stayed in the same room for the next session, intriguingly titled 'Millennial Generation Factivists' by the One Campaign. I took to Twitter with the #Factivism tag and was taking part in conversations across the room and with many back home in the UK. It was an inspiring session and I took away many ideas from the stories of factivism that I want to implement in the future - not least combining facts with the photos for the 'We Discover, We Grow' exhibition for a powerful message to share online.

How Do They Do That?

I'd alway wondered how and when the flags went up so fast and in the right order every day at the UN HQ building. On leaving the building I saw the security team doing just that! There's a team of about 10, relaying from pole to pole. They flag comes down and instead of being removed from the pole, it is gently folded into a small box at waist height and the lid closed for the night. A fascinating ritual that creates the famous and beautiful avenue of flags for every day.

I hurried off to grab some dinner before our delegation debrief. At the Olympia Cafe, I found my favourite US treat - Cookie Dough Ice Cream that is both gluten and diary free. I obviously had to get a tub and without a freezer finish it that evening...

I finished the day on a real high, and with the excitement building for my speech later today, I think I will be leaving New York on Wednesday inspired to take action and create change at a grassroots level.

To achieve real, sustainable development we need to take action at all levels. Everybody can be an active citizen and the grassroots action is as, if not more, important than the big talk at the United Nations. I'll leave you with my favourite quote from the day: "Great leaders are just average people who took the decision to stand up."

Thinking For The Future

Day three of my little (big) New York adventure, and the theme for today is definitely 'thoughts for the future'. It was a reversal of my expectations of the day really, with an event I thought wasn't going to tell me much being really informative, and an event I thought was going to be great, being very uninspiring.

WAGGGS Delegates Hard At Work At The UN

The Post-2015 Roadmap

This morning, Mitch, Fezile and I set out early to pick up tickets for a couple of events inside the UN today. With the High Level events (the ones with ministers and heads of state in attendance) starting tommorrow you can definitely see the security stepping up in and around the UN area and these tickets to certain events are becoming crucial for entry.

I wasn't expecting a lot from the first event of the day - a stakeholder briefing about the potential sustainable development goals - because other members of the delegation attended the first half of this two part briefing on Friday and gained little from it. But I was wrong. Ambassador John Ashe, the current President of the General Assembly, attended and gve us some real insight into what he is doing to guide the intergovernmental stage of the negotiations on the Post-2015 agenda (I think my next blog might be a glossary of terminology - sorry for the jargon!).

We also heard about several different digital tools currently in use to gather civil society voices including: www.worldwewant2015.org , www.sdgseinventory.org , and http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org. On hearing about this my mental cogs started whirling, thinking about how we can get more girl guides and girl scouts involved in giving their grassroots perspectives on creating the world we want. We also heard about events that I think it will be important for the WAGGGS post-2015 amassadors to try and influence. John Ashe is organising a high level event on Women, Children and Civil Society (We're all three at once!) and there's a session of the committee looking into the possible sustainable development goals where they will talk about gender and youth in Feburary 2014. Two critical points at which we can get our messages heard.

Drained/Inspired

As the briefing overan we moved quickly to the second event, skipping lunch as the UN cafeteria was closed, and we arrived at the Trusteeship Chamber to an announcement that no food or even water is allowed to be consumed in the room. So that put us in a really drained mood ahead of the session.

There were some interesting points raised in the speeches of various panelists but after a lot of repetition of messages over 2 hours and with stomachs rumbling we gradually left to go to other meetings and to find lunch.

I returned to our hotel and switched on the live stream of the Social Good Summit (using the tag #2030NOW). I think in 10 minutes I was more inspired than I had been in those 2 hours of civi society speeches. I want to watch more, but that might have to wait for when I am back in the UK. I caught a presentation on 4 different ways that mobile phones are being used to address malaria followed by the start of a discussion about volunteering. You should check it out here.

Having fed back on today in our evening delegation meeting, we looked ahead to tommorrow. I have several interesting meetings with different people and groups and I'm particularly looking forward to an event in the evening called 'Millennial Generation Factivists'. I think that combined with the ideas from today will help me shape what I want to do back in the UK after this event.

Day Two in New York

Today I have had my daily intake of vitamins many times over in an attempt to not get sick. Last night I slept for over 9 and a half hours, and I'm hoping for more tonight to get my immune system bck in shape. Physical and mental exhaustion on the second day isn't particularly helpful for UN advocacy. Despite my attempts to take it relatively easy so that I can acclimatise to the time zone, I still attending two events today.

Two Very Different Events

The Group Photo from Yesterday's Youth Blast

This morning Mitch and took the subway downtown to the People's General Assembly in Thomas Paine Park. It was an interesting set up, with some really passionate speakers, and Mitch, a Philippino Girl Scout, managed to get on the Philippines TV news within five minutes of our arrival. The combination of different kinds of messages was nice to see - a photograhic exhibition abot Bangladesh Garment Workers was there to look at between an alternating programme of speakers, comments from the crowd and creative performances.

There were lots of valuable messages spoken about, but I struggled to see how the calls for a development agenda reflecting the needs of the people were going to be heard by the UN decision makers when the crowd was largely made up of active members of the NGOs who were putting on the event. I think it was a valuable event for the people involved but I'm not sure what the outcome is on a larger scale.

After my pharmacy trip to stock up on vitamins, we headed to the Beyond 2015 campaign's meeting to organise civil society for the coming events. I don't think I could have been to 2 more opposite civil society events in one day. The highly organised network, with key messages based on thorough consultations and participatory research, started out with an outline of where we think the process will go from here, how we can influence it, and who's able to give insight on the current position of various countries. It was great to see a diagram on how the various different strands of the process might ultimately combine, helping me to envisage how the WAGGGS Post-2015 Ambassadors might engage with the process.

What Can I Achieve?

We also heard that the negotiations of the outcome document from next Wednesday's Special Event on the Millennium Development Goals, have already concluded. The good news is that gender equality is mentioned. However, it does make me wonder about what impact we will be having here in New York without the tangible document to get our key messages into. I had a little 'it's time I should be going to sleep in bed at home' crisis of confidence about this to my partner on Skype this evening. And I think sometimes I can be to involved in the details to see the big picture.

I've realised that actually I need a little perspective on what I've even already achieved from this trip. Through this blog, social media and press coverage in local media, I've already brought the topics under discussion to a fairly wide audience. Would you be following the events in New York this weekend usually? Some of you, perhaps, but I doubt most of the readers of the Northamptonshire Telegraph would even have thought about it. 

So, back to my thoughts from last night - what do I want to get out of this week for WAGGGS, Girlguiding and myself?

1. WAGGGS. I can raise the visibility and reputation of WAGGGS as an advocacy organisation by being present and by communicating. I think there is a point where people remember they need to think about girls and young women, just by seeing a WAGGGS delegate - sometimes we don't even have to speak.
2. Girlguiding. I want to raise awareness of what opportunities you can have through WAGGGS with members of Girlguiding. I'd love more people to have a chance at put themselves forward to get involved in international advocacy work. It's also great to see some recognition of the advocacy work done across the organisation already, and I hope getting some media coverage achieves that at least a little. 
3. Me. This is perhaps the hardest one to quantify. Why did I want to come? Because I have the insatiable desire to always be part of the next step in this long and ongoing process. Because I believe I'm good at what I'm trying to do. Because the adrenaline rush is somewhat of an addication. But, really knowing what I will take away is something I'm not so sure of. 

For Me?

Come Wednesday I will leave New York with a great story for the next time I play one of those ice breakers where you have to guess which improbable statement is a truth. I'll also have more contacts and more knowledge of the process. But what I need to figure out is how to use those in my daily life.

If I had a criticism of the WAGGGS UN Events programmes it would be the support for delegates after they leave the events. I know this is often left to the member organisations (of which mine is Girlguiding), but the specific skills and knowledge I have got is difficult to work out where that fits. Participating in these events has trained me to know how to participate in these events, and I've tried to impart that knowledge to the subsequent UK delegates (whether Haley, Maggie or Rosy really wanted to listen to me or not). I need to make these skills transferable and use them in different places.

I guess what I am is impatient. I know I cant change the world overnight, and I need to come to terms with the fact that I can't use every skill I have in my daily life straight away either. I have a dream - to have my own social enterprise combining my skills in some form of pop-up musuem scheme bringing interactive exhibitions and programmes on social justice issues to broad audiences - and I need to take the baby steps to keep working towards that.

Yes, come Thursday, I'll be back at my desk focusing on the marketing of a historic house. But that is teaching me other skills I need to reach my dream. Whenever I come to the UN, I meet people, and I come to understand more about many complex social justice issues that are both every so local and also completely global. When I go back to my day job, I will be learning the skills that we teach me how to reach and entice so many different kinds of audience to come to a heritage attraction. There are themes of biodiversity, good governance, ending discrimination, peace building and political participation - my current job will help me to learn how I can build those connections between historical artefacts and talking about the social justice issues of today.

And that was probably my longest blog yet.

Big Lights Will Inspire You

Time is a very wibbly wobbly thing that magically extends and contracts when you travel. I've been in New York for less that 24 hours, and yet contemplating a blog about everything that's happening seems like a mammoth task. In fact I think I have two entirely different blogs I want/need to write: this one as a WAGGGS delegate following UN processes, and the next to try and comprehend how I feel. Number 1:

A Day In The Life of A WAGGGS UN Delegate...

Having reached the hotel at nearing 1am last night, I was surprisingly awake by 5am (having slept on the plane) and kick started the day with some tweets for WAGGGS' #MDGRally. There's 100 weeks left in the scope of the MDGs and the rally aims to raise awareness of the ongoing work on them. Join in on social media.

Then 7.30am rolled around and time for our delegation breakfast meeting. We talked about the day ahead confirmed who was going where and what letter we needed to pick up what pass to get there. Entry to the UN site isn't too bad until Sunday - though still requires a lot of confirmation letters to be printed! From Monday, the high level segment begins when ministers and heads of state will be milling about. So your average jo representing a youth organisation will have a much harder time getting in.

I headed off to pick up my grounds pass at 9am - they're still using my photo from my first CSW in 2011 which was an awful photo where I look rather ill. Then I collected a secondary ticket from another location and made it onto the UN Grounds. Having met up with various people from the Major Group on Children and Youth (MGCY, the collective organising group of children and youth is sustainable development processes), I made it to the conference room for the 20th and final annual session of the Commission of Sustainable Development. This is a platform that was set up in 1992 by the outcomes of the first Rio conference on the Environment and Development. Based on the outcome of the Rio conference I attended in 2012 it is now being wound up, to be replaced by the High Level Political Forum that will begin next week as the new UN mechanism for moving forward on sustainable development.

The session was a great lesson in public speaking. I remember the engaging ones and haven't a clue what others said. My highlights were (obviously) the youth speeches - short, sweet and to the point - as well as a retrospective video on the work of the CSD to date, and some great points raised by Barbara Adams (you can read her report here). Overall the sentiment is that the engagement and participation of civil society groups is key to achieving sustainable development - the test will be whether the new forum delivers that.

In the afternoon I headed to the Youth Blast session, run by the MGCY to give a little training and orientation to any young people attending the General Assembly. I saw many familiar faces from Rio, and as many again new ones. I found it really informative to undertake a group timeline activity - each contributing our knowledge on the past, present and future of development processes to a colourful timeline. I then participated in discussions around communication, though with a warm and stuffy atmosphere it was clear we were all beginning to flag.

Working in marketing, I've never found a perfect solution to communication. It's either too much or too little, wrong method or medium. It all depends on the audience. We outlined a few ways we thought the MGCY could improve its own communication to be more transparent and easier to engage with, because, right now, it's a daunting prospect for someone new to the concepts to try and get stuck in through the email listserve.

We finished the session with a group photograph, and even though I know how valuable the socialisation time is, I couldn't face a trip to the bar with the other youth, so have retreated to eat some dinner, write this blog and desperately try to stay awake for another delegation meeting at 9pm tonight.

Today has been a day of learning, a day of getting back into the swing of things, and a day of figuring out what I can achieve for WAGGGS, Girlguiding UK and myself from these days in New York. More on that tomorrow.

The Weeks Ahead

Tonight I am packing for my trip to the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Facebook tells me other members of the delegation, who are arriving earlier and travelling further, are already preparing to depart. Together we will be representing WAGGGS, 10 million girls and young women and youth as a whole to a number of different events between the 17^th and 27^th September. 

Mitch and Erin are setting out for the Inter-Agency Network on Youth Development meeting this week. I’ll arrive just in time for the closing session of the Commission on Sustainable Development. Mirna will be at the International Women’s Earth and Climate Summit over next weekend. Then we will all be participating in the events building up to the special event on the MDGs on the 25^th where Fezile, from South Africa, will be taking part. 

Perfecting my public speaking skills

I also have the honour of speaking on behalf of youth, and civil society as a whole, at the first meeting of the High Level Political Forum. This is a new forum, taking over from the Commission on Sustainable Development, to talk about sustainable development in the highest level political arena. The other speakers at this opening session are heads of state and important ministers. I am nervous and excited to have 3 minutes of their attention and a very important message – we have one planet, we need to look after it, and ensure everybody can live dignified and fulfilling lives within its capabilities. 

Having first learnt about the Millennium Development Goals in my secondary school geography lessons, I have since been involved in a wide range of connected projects through Guiding. It seems incredible to think I know have the opportunity to ensure that the needs of girls and young women, and youth in general, the world over, will get to be reflected in the next global development agenda. 

If you’d have told the 11 year old me in those geography lessons that, one day, I would have the attention of world leaders, I wouldn’t have believed you. But to be fair I still need to pinch myself every now and again to check that I’m not imagining it all. 

There will be a series of blog posts over the next 2 weeks from the members of the delegation, explaining what we are doing in New York, and giving you an insider’s view of the events taking place. Make sure to check the WAGGGS website regularly.

The 24th September is a Very Big Day

Earlier this week I heard the fantastic news that I've been chosen by the network of youth inputting into sustainable development topics at the UN to speak at the High Level Political Forum in less that 2 weeks time. To simplify that - I'm going to be speaking on behalf of youth at an event where the other speakers are Prime Ministers and Presidents. Safe to say, I'm super excited!

Default 'Hard At Work on a WAGGGS delegation' Pic

Amidst my busy work schedule, getting everything prepared for New York, and putting the finishing touches to the 'We Discover, We Grow' exhibition (which also opens the same day I'm speaking) it has been a very busy couple of weeks. The 24th September is going to be a very big day and the build up is intense.

I hope to be able to share the link to the webcast of the UN event nearer to the time, although thinking that nobody is watching me would probably do a lot more for my nerves! There will also be the customary tweets from the @WAGGGSdelegates account and (hopefully) daily blogs on www.wagggsworld.org to keep you updated.

On top of this, if you find yourself in Peterborough, drop by the Museum and check out 'We Discover, We Grow'. It's up until the 3rd November so there's plenty of time, and I'd love to know what you think. Over the course of the exhibition I hope to do a few more blog entries further exploring the messages behind some of the photographs, so even if you are a million miles away you will see a few of the included works.

Till next time.

Learning to Love

I was listening to the radio on my drive home from work and caught a news programme discussing whether signs of domestic abuse should be taught in schools. The governments response that it shouldn't be compulsory because 'teachers know their pupils better than politicians do' seems a little contradictory to the whole notion of the national curriculum we have for other subject areas. They featured a lesson in a Welsh school and the comments from the pupils seemed to show that they genuinely took on board the signs that a relationship isn't healthy, and the sources of support they could seek out should they ever end up in such a situation.

The image featuring in 'We Discover, We Grow'

I needed that kind of lesson when I was a teenager and I didn't get it. I fell outside of the formal education system from the age of 13, so even if it was compulsory in schools it wouldn't have reached me. But I still think all schools need to put the information on how to deal with an abusive relationship in the hands of their pupils. And we need to cover the subject elsewhere too.

I have been fully behind the WAGGGS 'Stop The Violence' campaign since its launch and I think non-formal education activities delivered outside the school setting have a tremendous impact - especially peer education. And we need to talk about this subject with boys to - else we put the whole responsibility for solving this tricky social issue on the shoulders of girls and young women.

The idea very much at the centre of the 'Stop The Violence' campaign is to end the silence and to talk about all forms of violence against girls and young women. To do that we need to have lots of little conversations, create lots of moments where people stop, think about the subject, and learn from it, facilitated in safe environments where possible.

I haven't quite figured out the wording of the caption, but one of the photos I'm including in the 'We Discover, We Grow' exhibition touches on the subject of how Girlguiding helped me build my confidence back up and seek support during and after being in a abusive relationship as a university student.

I did my Master's research on exhibitions about violence against women, and the idea of portraying survival instead of violence itself really resonated with me. That's why I chose the image of my valentine's day flowers from my, now, civil partner to show that I have been able to move on from that relationship, I've learnt how to be confident and develop trust in a healthy relationship, and that I've been able to learn what love is.

The credit has to go mostly to my wonderful partner, and the relationship we've developed where we can talk about these things openly. But the confidence in myself to start this relationship? That came from the experiences I had in guiding, especially in training to become a peer educator myself.

A Once In A Lifetime Event

It's less than three weeks until I will be back, once again, in New York as part of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts delegation to the UN General Assembly. It's an historic occassion as it is a special event summarising the work so far on the Millennium Development Goals, and progressing the process to decide what will succeed them.

Outside the UN on my first WAGGGS Delegation

Side Events and Teamwork 

I'm super excited to have the honour of being part of the delegation, and have had a number of calls so far with the rest of the team from Australia, Bolivia, the Philippines and Armenia. I'll be liaising with the Working Group on Girls to organise a side event during that week, highlighting what WAGGGS' research has found to be the desires of girls and young women for the world in the future.

Take The Survey

Before then we have a week of action for the MyWorld survey. With the time left to influence before the big event in September, the UN Millennium Campaign (the organisation behind the survey) has organised a big push for even more votes during the week of the 2nd-8th September.

If you haven't yet, go to http://www.myworld2015.org/?partner=WAGGGS and vote today, then forward the link to your friends, family, acquaintances and people you passed in the street once, so that they can all have a say too. Share it to Twitter, Facebook, instagram it, make a youtube video, do whatever you can to get to survey out there this week.

Whilst I'll be trying to catch the ear of the decision makers by striking up conversations in New York elevators, you can tell them what you think from the comfort of your sofa. Many of the events that week will be livestreamed to, so order in the bagels and cheesecake and follow along from home.

Guest Post: Do you support Gender Equality? Then Girl Guides Australia is calling for your help!

As part of Girl Guides Australia's response to The World We Want For Girls campaign we are running a petition calling on our government to support a separate post 2015 development goal to 'empower girls and women'. To help show our decision makers that Gender Equality is an important issue all over the world we are collecting signatures through an online petition. We are calling on gender equality supporters from all over the world to visit the petition, sign up and share it with their friends and family via social media. Please take 10 seconds to click for equality at http://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/the-australian-government-and-opposition-support-post2015-un-goal-empower-girls-women-to-achieve-gender-equality Our aim is to collect as many signatures as possible by International Day of the Girl 2013 so we can help our Girl Guides take the lead in the fight for gender equality!

Girl Guides Australia is working hard to engage all our members in the Post 2015 Development Agenda my promoting the Gender Equality petition and My World survey to all our members, youth and adult. To try to catch the attention of the wider community we have started a social media campaign using Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as well as creating our own campaign video on Youtube! We'd love you to jump on board and help us share the amazing work that Girl Guides and Girl Scouts all over the world do to promote gender equality too. You can check out our campaign video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF79oF2Rvrg&feature=em-upload_owner and see the information hub we have started on our national website here http://www.girlguides.org.au/news-events/news-coverage/the-world-we-want-for-girls.html

We'd love to invite our Guiding and Scouting sisters to join us to shout out for gender equality. If you or your Guides/Scouts are empowered by our message please send us your own thoughts, photos, pictures or videos on the importance of gender equality! You can reach us at ewicking@guidesvic.org.au or through our blog at http://girlguidesclickforchange.tumblr.com/

This guest post was written by Erin Wicking.