Youth Ambassadors Celebration and Training Event

I spent this weekend with some very inspirational people in Manchester at the Youth Ambassadors Celebration and Training Conference, and the experience is too exciting to keep to myself.

After being part of the Bridging, Bonding, Linking exchange with Northern Ireland and Kosovo, I was able to be put forward to become a Youth Ambassador for YMCA England, and through the support of my local YMCA and Area Director, it became possible.

To start with I wasn't quite sure what being a Youth Ambassador meant, yet I knew I wanted to be one if it meant I got to become more involved with and represent the national YMCA as well as learning ways to help my local YMCA.

As I sat waiting for my plane from Southampton Airport, feelings of excitement rushed through me as I knew I would see some old friends I met through the exchange, as well as meet new people who share the same passion for our organisation. I also knew I would learn more about my role as a Youth Ambassador and that excited me just as much.

 

With all the excitement also came nerves as I was to help give a presentation on the Bridging, Bonding, Linking exchange. I'm not a great public speaker and I have always been better in communicating in writing rather than verbally, so understandably I was nervous. The positive thing about the presentation was that I was with two of my friends from the exchange so I focused on the fact I would not be alone.

On arrival at the hostel everyone was so welcoming that my nerves about the presentation began to ease off a little. At least until two other Youth Ambassadors gave their presentations. Both of them were so confident and inspiring, not only with the content of what they were saying but the way they opened up and shared that content with us. All I could think was "how am I going to follow them?" They both made standing up in front of an audience look so easy and I hope to be like that one day.

 

One thing that may help me with my aspirations to be a better public speaker is the YMCA Youth Ambassadors Media Training. We touched basis on this a little bit when we learnt that we, as Youth Ambassador might be spokespeople for the YMCA. This sounded really interesting to me but at the same time I was a little apprehensive because of my lack of confidence in public speaking. In the session we learnt a bit about how to do TV interviews and it was great to hear some tips from Andrew and Liam and see them both act out a scenario. We then got to have a go at a couple of scenarios and I really hope I can attend further Youth Ambassador training around this, to build my confidence.

On the first day we also had our pictures taken by a photographer which will be used in to advertise youth ambassadors. This felt a bit odd but the scenery by the canal was beautiful and we had a lot of fun.

 

 

On Sunday we learned about international opportunities that arise in the YMCA and how we can represent our national YMCA Globally. I talked about my experience in Kosovo and we heard about Noel’s experience as a change agent. We also learned more about international conferences such as YES and the World Council Meeting. All these opportunities inspired us all and we were all excited about the opportunities we could be part of.

We then had talked a little bit about the importance of research and how we can be part of facilitating focus groups for qualitative research in the YMCA. Again this was something that really interested me.

The whole weekend was full of learning and passion. I am excited about the opportunities that will arise from being a Youth Ambassador and I am proud to represent the YMCA Locally, Nationally and Internationally.

 

Girls Education Forum 2016

On Thursday 7th July I was invited to attend the Girls Education Forum (GEF) in the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in London by Y Care International.

The forum was to review the work of the Girls Education Challenge and come to some "next steps". The Girls Education Challenge (GEC) is a working towards ensuring ALL girls not only receive an education but stay in education and receive the help they need to succeed. 63 million girls around the world are not in education, GEC focuses on the most marginalised girls in the world and how to overcome barriers to education such as child marriage, teenage pregnancy, domestic labour and much more.

When I first arrived I was given an official name badge and then I met some International Citizen Service (ICS) Volunteers and I went to their welcome meeting and training. We had training on what the event was about and how to Network. I got talking to many of the ICS Volunteers and heard lots of stories of their experiences on their placement abroad; from projects of hygiene in India, running Girl Empowerment groups in Zimbabwe to Entrepreneurship training in Tanzania, all the work they did in these countries was very inspiring.

Throughout the day we had the chance to attend various workshops. The first workshop I attended was on Reaching Disabled Girls. We heard from speakers from the Leonard Cheshire Disability Charity and their GEC project. They are working in 50 schools in Kenya to ensure girls with disabilities have access to education. They provide an accessible school bus to get to and from school and even talk to families and communities to overcome the myths of disability in local villages. They look at pointing out the girls abilities rather than their impairments to the communities. Only 41.7% of girls with disability complete primary education in Kenya and girls with disability are a lot more susceptible to violence and Leonard Cheshire are working hard to tackle this prejudice.

I also attended a workshop on Raising Self Esteem to Unlock Potential. I felt like this is also a really important subject because what is the point of teaching girls if they do not believe in themselves? I had a chance to hear from two organisations that look into building self-esteem in young girls; Child Hope who work in Ethiopia; IGATE who work in Zimbabwe. Both organisations not only look at building the self-esteem of girls in school but also look at changing the views of girls education in the communities so that they start to believe in the girls too.

IGATE also work with religious leaders as they are very influential in the communities of Zimbabwe and changing their views on girls education has really helped the girls believe in themselves and do well in school.

Child Hope work with CHADET and they have set up Girls Club and Life Skills classes that run extra tutorials for girls who cannot study at home. They also give the girls confidence to stand up for themselves and each other, as they teach them that they have a right to say no to child marriage and a right to their own bodies. they also run Community Conversations and Good Brothers Clubs to challenge the social norms to truly ensure the girls feel like they can thrive in education.

The Afternoon Plenary was about coming to conclusions about the next steps for the GEC. We heard from a variety of people and it was moderated by Nyaradzyi. We first heard from Fiona and Nasiwaka from CAMA who are advocates for GEC in Africa. We heard the stories of how despite all the odds they were able to succeed in education and finally become lawyers. With education comes choices which we often take for granted in the West, and all of these women who have done well are fed up of being the "exceptions" they want girls who succeed in Africa to be the norm and no longer use the word exception to describe those who do.

Pledges and commitments were made from different organisations. The UK's Department for International Development (DFID) pledged £100m to the GEC and say it will focus on girls who have never received and education and those who have dropped out early.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have pledged £25m to the GEC and are going to help set up Teaching Apprentice opportunities in Afghanistan.

The VP World Bank have pledged  $2.5Billion to education 75% of this will go to poorer countries to help education issues. Many other organisations also pledged large amounts of money to the GEC and lots of commitments to helping girls education issues around the world. Nzyaradzyi herself gave a commitment of eliminating child marriage in her village in Africa. She stated that with the outcome of this forum, she will go home smiling with one eye from all the pledges made; she looks forward to the day she can smile unconditionally with both eyes, when there are no worries of the barriers girls face to complete their education.

One of the things that came up was that if there were more positive role models in these countries and success stories of girls completing education and becoming successful in their careers, it would motivate future generations to follow in their footsteps. The GEC hopes that the girls they are helping will become that positive force for change and one day we can change the world. These girls need help now, their education cannot wait. Every single person involved in the GEC is dedicated to achieving the goal for ALL girls to complete education and I am very excited to watch it unfold; help anyway I can and watch the world change for the better. #GirlPower.