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‘It taught me to celebrate people’s identities, stories and history’

Posted on by Yasmin Aktar

‘I came to South Africa eager to learn from the young leaders of SAAYE and what I ended up finding out had a huge impact on me.’

I have been working as a community organiser with Citizens UK for 4 years in one of the most diverse boroughs in London – Tower Hamlets, where over 55 languages are spoken.

My colleague, Emmanuel Gotora and I were the main facilitators for the recent Learning Exchange between Citizens UK and SAAYE. I came to South Africa eager to learn from the young leaders of SAAYE and what I ended up finding out had a huge impact on me. I saw politically engaged young people and individuals working together to create social change in the world. They had hope despite the huge challenge of youth unemployment and the slow progress or seeming in-action of their governments to address it. I also saw young people rooted in their history and culture, who readily shared their different identities.

Social change has been a part of their day-to-day lives. It has shaped who they are and made them proud of their country. Music and dance were a regular feature of our workshop energisers. This was a stark difference from the leaders that I work with in the UK. I attribute this difference to the heightened political awareness of the participants and a strong identity shaped by recent history, that of the liberation struggle. Social change has been a part of their day-to-day lives. It has shaped who they are and made them proud of their country.

What was even more remarkable was the speed at which SAAYE members grasped, challenged and understood the concepts, teachings and universals that we were delivering. Their ability to challenge and question what was being presented showed us that they were reflecting upon it within their own contexts. They were definitely the right people for the task. I could see light bulb moments within each one of them.

We adapted the trainings based on the needs and experiences of the participants, but the training proved to me that the universals that we teach in community organising are truly universal. SAAYE members were able to grasp the concept of understanding power and how to build relational power as if it was natural to them. I saw this from the first day, during our Athenian-Melian role play. Irene, who had assumed a lead role, refused to leave the negotiation table when Emmanuel asked her to leave[1]. Instead, she stayed throughout the negotiations acknowledging that what mattered at this moment was the deal on the table because it concerned her future.

As a facilitator, we are trained not only to teach the content of our training but to adapt it according to the context of the room. This can be challenging at times but because SAAYE members were clear on adapting Citizens UK’s experiences to their own, it became natural and easy. One of the main case studies that we shared was Citizens UK’s Good Jobs Campaign that focuses on creating employment opportunities for young people. Based on participant’s reflections and drawing on the experience of Good Jobs Campaign, I introduced an issue based organising model – an adaptation of the broad based organsing model, which also brings together principle partners from the state, market and civil society to meet the needs of people at grassroots levels.

The Learning Exchange with SAAYE provided me with a lot of learning about Southern Africa and for myself as a community organiser. It taught me the value of understanding the context in the room and it made me realise that I need to do more at Citizens UK to celebrate people’s identities, stories and history.

[1] During the Athenian-Melian role play, in order to change the dynamics of the negotiations and get the actors to think on their feet, the facilitators often create an intervening scenario. In Irene’s case, she was called to an important meeting, but then refused to go.

Read the full multimedia story on the learning exchange here

The occasional hum of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize

Posted on by Vijay Krishnarayan
ABOVE: Regional Winners in Singapore from left to right: Ingrid Persaud (for Caribbean region), Tracy Fells (for Canada and Europe region), Nat Newman (for Pacific region), Short Story Prize Judge Jacob Ross , Anushka Jasraj (for Asia region) and Akwaeke Emezi (for Africa region).

 

“And occasions being occasional, are a reason to hum…” It’s one of my favourite lines from this year’s group of regional Commonwealth Short Story Prize Winners and was crafted by Nat Newman in her short story “The Death of Margaret Roe,” which won the Pacific Prize. The line kept coming back to me as I watched people gather at The Arts House in Singapore to hear which of the five regional winners would be awarded the overall prize for 2017. There was definitely a hum in the air.

The Prize is a major feature of the Foundation’s work on creative expression and it’s delivered by our cultural initiative Commonwealth Writers, which inspires and connects writers and storytellers across the world. Well told stories can help us make sense of events, engage with others and take action to bring about change. The Prize itself was established in 2012 and built on the Foundation’s long tradition of awarding prizes for literature but offers something different to the array of other awards.

The Prize is awarded for the best peice of unpublished short fiction in English from the Commonwealth. As well as being open to entries translated into English from any language, it’s the only prize also open to entries in the original Bengali, Kiswahili, Portuguese and Samoan – to be joined by Chinese, Malay and Tamil in 2018. It’s free to enter and accessible to all writers – both published and unpublished. Speaking to winning writers in Singapore it’s clear that the key to the Prize’s growing popularity is that it provides an introduction to a global audience.

It’s judged by an international panel of respected writers, which represent each of the Commonwealth’s five regions (Africa, Asia, Canada and Europe, the Caribbean and the Pacific). This also sets the Prize apart as it’s truly international rather than judged in a geo-political centre. This year the judging panel was chaired by the Pakistani novelist Kamila Shamsie. She captured the essence of the Prize when she said of this year’s process “The judges weren’t looking for particular themes or styles, but rather for stories that live and breathe.”

The Prize goes from strength to strength. In its first year we received 2,000 stories from 42 countries. This year there were 6,000 entries from 49 countries and the shortlist list reflected this diversity with 21 writers from 10 countries making the cut. The regional winners came through a large and competitve field and it was a privilege to get to meet and talk with them and see them interact with each other – the mutual respect is palpable.

I think that’s the reason for the hum in the hall. The knowlegeable audience realises that they are in the presence of some of the most talented new story tellers:

  • Africa: Akwaeke Emezi (Nigeria) for “Who is Like a God”
  • Asia: Anushka Jasraj (India) for “Drawing Lessons”
  • Canada and Europe: Tracy Fells (United Kingdom) for “The Naming of Moths”
  • Caribbean: Ingrid Persaud (Trinidad and Tobago) for “The Sweet Sop”
  • Pacific: Nat Newman (Australia) for “The Death of Magaret Roe”

It’s noted that all the winners are women. In introducing the overall winner Jacob Ross – a member of the judging panel – suggests this is because the short story provides an accessible format and perhaps this is a space that’s been overlooked or vacated by male writers. Catherine Lim, Singapore’s most prolific writer of English fiction, was our guest of honour. She opened the envelope and read out Ingrid Persaud’s name to loud applause. I’m delighted that a fellow Trinidadian wins. Her story evoked language and images that would resonate with any Trini but her main theme of the complexity of the relationship between father and child is universal. Afterwards all the writers gather around to offer warm and genuine congratulations – they’re joined by last year’s winner Parashar Kulkarni from India and you can feel the sense of community that the Prize engenders. I wonder how such a competitive prize can engender this kind of fellowship.

Vijay Krishnarayan and Overall Commonwealth Short Story Prize Winner 2017 Ingrid Persaud

As we pack away I reflect on the enormous amount of work that my colleagues have put into making the awards evening such a success. They’ve also benefited from the help of several partners. The Arts House in Singapore provided a wonderful venue and the Holiday Inn Express Clarke Quay accommodated the writers and our staff. The National University of Singapore’s Centre for the Arts provided excellent musicians and dancers who helped interpret the readings of excerpts from the five stories by the authors. The National Arts Council of Singapore gave good advice and guidance. These in-kind contributions are priceless but we also need financial sponsorship to keep running the Prize and continue to improve it. This year we benefitted from the contributions from the Jan Michalski Foundation. The search for sponsors is underway and the hum for the 2018 Prize has started to build…

Explainer video: what is the Commonwealth Civil Society Forum?

Posted on by Commonwealth Foundation

The Civil Society Forum, supported by the Commonwealth Foundation, takes place annually in Geneva prior to the Commonwealth Health Ministers Meeting and gives Commonwealth civil society a chance to discuss policy issues raised at the Commonwealth Health Ministerial Meeting (CHMM). This video provides a summary of the process and its potential value to participants.

Find out more 
www.chpa.co
www.commonwealthfoundation.com/project/ccsf

With thanks to our contributors
Hon. John Boyce, Minister of Health, Barbados
Maisha Hutton, Executive Director, Health Caribbean Coalition
Prof. Tony Nelson, Commonwealth Health Professions Alliance

© Commonwealth Foundation 2017. All Rights Reserved.

Down the Mountain by Sunila Galappatti

Posted on by Commonwealth Foundation

The first time I heard Jayanthi Kuru-Utumpala speak about climbing Mount Everest (Sagarmatha or Chomolungma), it was to a small room crowded with colleagues and friends, at the Women and Media Collective, where Jayanthi started her working life.

A fortnight after her return to Sri Lanka from Nepal, newly anointed the first Sri Lankan to summit Everest, Jayanthi was going to tell us about her climb. I had received an informal invitation to attend the small gathering and immediately asked if I could bring my husband, my mother and a friend. The reply was generous – of course that would be fine.

Jayanthi hugged and greeted everyone before she began her talk. She stood before us: her slight figure now wasted by the efforts of the climb, she seemed barely to be there at all. Full of smiles she said she would do her best to speak both in English and Sinhala (the two Sri Lankan languages she speaks, with differing levels of fluency) to address a mixed crowd.

We were also a crowd still more captivated by Jayanthi’s symbolic achievement than the rigour of her mountaineering — reading it first as a feather in the cap of our feminisms. For this unseasoned group, Jayanthi charted the stages of the climb. She spoke with an enthusiasm of discovery, as though she was herself standing with her novice audience, looking up at the challenges of Everest. It was the first time I had heard of the Khumbu Icefall or the Death Zone above 26,000 feet. Even as Jayanthi described the technicalities of the ascent, she took time to illustrate amusing details, like the ever-more rudimentary toilets at every level.

Several times, Jayanthi, animated, proceeded for minutes in one language before remembering to come back and translate herself as she led us to the final summit. By the end of the talk, we were still more awed by the feat Jayanthi had performed and also thrilled by her humility and charm in the way she shared the experience. The evening ended with a pot-luck meal of dishes brought by colleagues; Jayanthi moved among friends, ready to talk more or take a photograph with everyone who asked.

The next time I heard Jayanthi speak about the climb, with her climbing partner Johann, was six months later, at the Galle Literary Festival on Sri Lanka’s south coast. This time we waited for the Prime Minister to take his seat before the talk could begin. When Jayanthi and Johann appeared on stage in matching blazers, I remembered the spontaneous charm of the earlier event. We were seeing them now as they appeared in the media, meeting the President or their sponsors, or addressing conferences on leadership. The pair presented the Prime Minister and his wife with an illustrated book that detailed their climb and official photographs were taken. After formal introductions, the event began. Johann spoke first — that feminist feather wavered briefly — but throughout the talk he and Jayanthi passed the baton seamlessly between themselves, now a practised and polished double-act, accompanied by slides.

*

I ask Johann Peries where the story starts and he says it starts with his father’s adventurous spirit. Johann’s childhood holidays were all outdoors; camping, fishing, hunting. Later his father began climbing, alongside work that took him out of Colombo. Towards the end of Johann’s schooldays, he started to join his father on these expeditions, climbing whatever there was to climb in Sri Lanka.

With his father, and later other friends, Johann explored new routes of the Knuckles range, made his way from Belihul Oya to Horton Plains, ventured up hills in Hakgala and Nuwara Eliya.  He rattles off the names of Sri Lanka’s higher peaks and ranges: Great Western, Piduruthalagala, Kirigalpoththa, Ritigala. Johann progressed to mountains on the Thai-Burmese border, to Borneo, to Kilimanjaro. In 2010, he joined a group trekking to Everest Base Camp. He remembers looking up at the scale of the mountain and wondering how people did it.

Two years later, Johann went back to the Everest region to climb Island Peak (or Imja Tse), this time with a group that included Jayanthi. Meeting for the first time, they became friends and Johann tells me Jayanthi was the first to raise the question: would he consider climbing Everest? Unlike Johann, Jayanthi had never been on the mountain before at all.

From the moment they decided to do it, there was work to be done. They had to start by working out how to prepare their sea-level bodies to survive a high altitude. Jayanthi was put in charge of research, Johann in charge of fundraising and the uphill challenge of convincing people that they weren’t crazy. At weekends, they would run up and down Piduruthalagala, Sri Lanka’s highest mountain, only a quarter the height of Everest. One day, on Horton Plains, Johann says he passed the same tour party several times as he ran back and forth. Finally the party’s guide stopped him and asked koheda mechchara duwanne?; ‘such a lot of running, to where?’ Johann told the man he was in training, but didn’t say for what.

Continue reading…

Healthy discussion: but will Ministers listen?

Posted on by Vijay Krishnarayan

Anton Kerr, former Director of HIV/AIDS alliance and chairman of Commonwealth Health Professions Alliance, makes the case for increased spending on health. Photo credit: Leo Kiss

But will Ministers listen? That was the thought that nagged away throughout the short flight from London to Geneva as I travelled to attend this year’s Commonwealth Heath Minister’s meeting. They meet in the wings of the World Health Assembly and we work to bring civic voices to that Commonwealth ministerial gathering. Naturally civil society organisations across the Commonwealth have an interest in trying to influence the outcomes of the ministerial meeting. To do this we convened a policy dialogue at the Commonwealth Civil Society Forum that addressed the themes that would come up in the Commonwealth Health Ministers Meeting, which met under the banner “Sustainable Financing of Universal Health Coverage as an Essential Component for Global Security Including the Reduction of All Forms of Violence. But would they listen?

I came away from Geneva understanding that I had been asking the wrong question. It’s not a question of getting ministers to listen – rather the challenge is getting ministers, officials and civil society to talk with each other in order to find workable solutions to the health challenges we face. The approach we took this year was two-fold.

Firstly, we broadened the debate so that a wider cross section of civil society was able to participate in the discussion. Not only did this bring a Commonwealth agenda to a new audience – it also provided an opportunity for voices less heard to be given a platform. We convened a working group comprising the Commonwealth Health Professionals Alliance, Third World Network and the International Community of Women Living with HIV in Eastern Africa so that civil society organisations were designing and steering the process. They also delivered the three policy papers that formed the basis of the discussions at the civil society forum. Those papers included policy asks of Commonwealth Ministers. Those policy asks drew on the inputs of more than 100 other civic voices from across the Commonwealth through a survey. The process also drew in new stakeholders.

Secondly we deepened the discussion so that Ministers were provided with perspectives from civil society that they might not have considered or previously been exposed to. The three papers explored each of the strands on the Ministerial agenda: adding a gender equality dimension; exploring the utility of the concept of well-being; and provoking a discussion on the financing of universal healthcare.

The papers stimulated discussion in different ways. The paper by Saamah Abdallah on the Politics of Wellbeing challenged conventional metrics of development. It posited wellbeing as a sustainable condition that enables the individual to develop and thrive. Its holistic approach encourages ministries and agencies to collaborate. In data collected to date it seems there is a correlation between high levels of wellbeing in a population and “good” governance. The paper on structural violence and its impact on women’s health was powerfully delivered by Lillian Mworeko. She cited instances of forced sterilisation of women living with HIV. She made the point that when institutions visit this violence on women they foster discrimination and stigma and this despite progressive laws and policies. Tony Nelson presented on financing Universal Health Care. The provocative thesis suggested that spending more on health care doesn’t always result in better health outcomes and that greater accountability is needed on way that resources are allocated and spent.

But would Ministers listen? The chances of giving the issues raised by civic voices a proper airing is constrained by the format of the Ministerial Meeting so we invited policy makers to sit with civil society at the Forum and respond to the policy changes being suggested. The Minister of Health for Barbados, Hon. John Boyce provided new insights on the potential of alliances between civil society and Ministries of Health. He described moves to address sugar in soft drinks in Barbados, where collaboration had worked well. Dr Jabbin Mulwanda, the Permanent Secretary for Health Services in Zambia affirmed how helpful civic inputs were for civil servants charged with finding solutions to public health challenges. Their willingness to engage at the Forum helped to achieve our objective of dialogue. Without them the Forum would have been one more civic gathering and there are plenty of spaces where civil society can talk to itself. I know colleagues from governments valued the exposure and I dare say we enhanced their Commonwealth Health Ministerial Meeting experience.

We provided a Commonwealth space that encouraged the co-creation of new policy thinking in a collegial and informal setting. We went some way to making room for less heard voices and south-south exchange. The process worked well and everyone got a boost from the attendance and participation of the Commonwealth Secretary-General, Hon. Patricia Scotland QC. It was the first time that an SG had actively listened to what civil society had to say about the Health Ministers’ agenda and her assurance that the policy asks made would be given proper consideration was widely appreciated.

But did Ministers listen? The crude indicator in these matters is the final statement that Ministers issue at the end of their meeting. These statements are brief and summarise the main points. In the Commonwealth system they generally serve to signal intent rather than bind governments to specific commitments. Last year the Ministers’ statement included the line: “we note the civil society participation and contribution to discussions on sustainable financing and encourage their ongoing participation in health policy.” This was a disappointing result and perhaps responsible for that nagging refrain that wouldn’t go away – “Will Ministers listen?”

I looked at this year’s statement with hope restored. In paragraph 12: “Ministers noted the report from the Civil Society Forum Policy Dialogue which highlighted the need for a universal health system that provides basic minimum package of services to all as a key priority; emphasised well-being as core to health policy and being more than just absence of disease; and, raised the issue of structural inequalities and violence and their impact on the utilisation of healthcare.” This year it seems, at least the substance provided by civil society at its Forum had been registered.

Yes, Ministers of Health did listen to what civil society organisations had to say but now I was left with a new concern. If the priorities in the Ministers’ statement are going to be implemented – the position of Health Ministers in national administrations needs to be strengthened. My new question was “Does anyone listen to what Ministers of Health have to say?” Surely dialogue and alliances between health ministries and civil society for a common cause can only improve the chances.

What next for peacebuilding in Africa?

Posted on by Commonwealth Foundation

At Wilton Park’s third meeting on ‘Peacebuilding in Africa’ series, participants were asked about the biggest opportunities or hindrances to sustainable civil society engagement in the African peacebuilding process.

Myn Garcia, The Commonwealth Foundation’s Deputy Director, spoke about the importance of localised civil society action to peaceful development and the need to acknowledge the multitude of national and local perspectives in the African context.

Previous events in Wilton Park’s ‘African perspectives on peacebuilding’ series have assessed the development of African approaches to peacebuilding in response to the changing dynamics of conflict and emergence of new conflict actors on the continent.

For more details explore Wilton Park’s website.

Commonwealth Health Ministers Meeting: Civil Society Forum 2017

Posted on by Commonwealth Foundation

With support from the Commonwealth Foundation, the Civil Society Forum was jointly hosted by the Commonwealth Health Professionals Alliance, International Community of Women Living with HIV Eastern Africa (ICWEA) and Third World Network, and took place on 20 May 2017 prior to the World Health Assembly and in conjunction with the Commonwealth Health Ministers’ Meeting (CHMM).

Objectives: to present the Commonwealth civil society position on issues discussed at the Commonwealth Health Ministerial Meeting 2017, and produce a policy statement that will be heard by Ministers attending the  CHMM 2017.

Methodology: The forum followed the format of a policy dialogue bringing together civil society representatives and policy makers.  It included a presentation of policy briefs that are the result of a consultation process in which civil society voices throughout the Commonwealth were reflected.

The policy briefs presented to ministers can be downloaded below:

Regional multi-stakeholder dialogue on gender equality

Posted on by Commonwealth Foundation

Convened by EASSI, the multi-stakeholder dialogue intended to present and discuss the findings of the pilot implementation of the EAC Gender Barometer and to lay the foundation and build partnerships for an evidence based advocacy tool for promoting gender equality in the East African Community (EAC). The Commonwealth Foundation supported the dialogue, which was held in Kampala in May 2017.

Under EASSI’s leadership the dialogue provided a space for civil society, government representatives from Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda as well as women’s rights activists to interact on the findings of the EAC Gender Barometer.  Some of the highlights from the pilot:

  • Need for bold steps to address gender redistributive justice, and to reorient entitlements of women and men. All governments achieved low scores in this regard
  • Gender-based violence:  need for issue based conscientization campaign and the need for accountability channels, where currently none exist.
  • Sexual and reproductive health and HIV/AIDS: there has been a reversal of gains in countries like Uganda; social responses need to be strengthened.
  • Rwanda taking the lead in institutionalising gender budgeting. Macro economic frameworks still largely impervious to gender and equity concerns
  • Good progress made on legislation; challenge is in implementation.

At the dialogue a government representative from South Africa offered the SADC experience on the use of the barometer in the Southern Africa region and spoke of how important the collaborative partnership to advance gender equality is.

In addition, five policy briefs based on identified gender priority issues were developed to include targeted policy recommendations on realisation of gender equality in the EAC.

Priorities for the way forward: 1) Popularising the Gender Bill nationally, 2) National ratification, 3) application of the Gender Barometer

Ophelia by Breanne Mc Ivor

Posted on by Commonwealth Foundation

Ophelia’s words are sprinkling, tinkling in my ears. They smell like cut grass just washed with rain. I want to breathe her. Strip her. Peel her skin like sunlight strained through cinnamon and get to the heart of the woman that is buried under her layers of poise.

We are at rehearsal in the sprawling National Academy for the Performing Arts. The empty red seats roll back in waves before us. Ophelia is on her cell phone, making arrangements to go to the spa.

I wait until she hangs up. “Ophelia?”

“Yes?”

I want to lean forward and press my fingers on the hardness of her collarbone before pulling the plumpness of her bottom lip between my teeth. A kiss, I imagine, would start slow and rise in crescendos.

“Marcus?”

“Yes?”

“You called me?”

“Oh, yes.”

She sits on the stage, script spread out before her with all her lines meticulously highlighted in yellow. She is not wearing stage make-up but she already looks like the lead actress.

How could a woman named Ophelia not be an actress? I wish we were performing Hamlet. She would be herself, of course, peering out at me from the wings.

I can hear myself. To be or not to be– that is the question. My words are the choking smoke that heralds the start of a fire. Whether ’tis nobler in mind to suffer–

“Marcus?”

“Sorry.”

Ophelia’s forehead crumples. “I was wondering if you wanted to meet to brainstorm on Saturday? I still think we can work on our first scene together?”

Ophelia whips her phone out of her purse. Her fingers find her calendar. The light illuminates her face as she opens it. “What time on Saturday?”

“One?” I say, hoping. Hoping… Please God. Give me this. Give me this one thing. Give me an hour with this woman in a coffee shop. Give me her hair, twisted into ringlets that sink into one another. Give me the stomach-shudder when her shirt slips off her shoulder and I see her flesh crossed by a bra strap. Give me–

“Can you do one-thirty?”

I can do anything you want.

“Marcus?”

“Yes, of course – Jardin in the mall?” I try to say this as if I’m just flicking the words out of my mouth; as if I am the type who goes to Jardin des Tuileries instead of Tecla’s Vegetable Stand where I would haggle over the price of an avocado.

“Sure,” Ophelia says. “That sounds like a treat.”

Could she hear the vibrato in my voice? Would she taste my desperation if we kissed? That sour, morning-after taste that I can never brush out of my mouth? I won’t mess it up; I won’t think crazy thoughts in my head – all mixed metaphors and fantasies spilling from one part of me to another while I remain tongue-tied.

“Great,” I say. “I’m looking forward to it.”

Ophelia tucks her curls behind one pixie-pointed ear. Touching her would feel like the sun hitting my face first thing in the morning, like a piccolo playing notes that hum in my throat, like waking up after eight hours sleep.

Already my head-voices are telling me that this is madness. How could somebody like Ophelia – how could somebody like her – ever want anything to do with me? She probably rolled her eyes when she first saw my name on the cast list.

Ophelia smiles – more a lifting of the lips – before returning to her script. Already, her lines are consuming her. Our director wants us to spend ten hours simply reading the lines, and living the characters before we begin performing, but I can already see her weaving her character’s clothes over her own. Her pink dress – which only a moment before was elegantly gathered around her wasp-waist – seems to hang off her frame as if she has made herself thinner.

I return to my script and try to ignore her. I imagine my character as he is portrayed in Act One: young, grasping – a ghetto youth determined to claw his way out. Not such a hard thing for me to be. I even look the part – dark and scrawny like a weed springing up from a pavement crack.

Continue reading…

Breaking circles through youth employment

Posted on by Irene Garoës

Irene Garoës is a feminist youth activist and a member the The Southern African Alliance for Youth Employment (SAAYE) working group, representing young women, LGBTI issues and youth-led civil society in Namibia. SAAYE, an advocacy network, was formally established in February 2016 with support from the Commonwealth Foundation. SAAYE’s vision is a Southern Africa where young people have access to gainful and productive employment that enables them and their communities to be lifted out of poverty. 

As a young black lesbian woman living in a developing country, the challenges one faces are interlinked. As a young women growing up in a society that is rooted in religious and traditional believes, my voice is often silenced. Due to the apartheid element in the history of Namibia, being black can also put you in an economically disadvantageous position. I am lucky enough to grow up in a family where education for girls is encouraged but the issue is affordability. If you cannot afford quality education, you do not have access to a good paying job which in turn means you cannot afford access to health, education and good housing. Not only for yourself but for your family members. And the circle keeps going. Likewise if you are a young entrepreneur, you cannot access finances because you don’t have collateral even if you have the skills to start a business. That is why access to information is such an important aspect of living in this world for me, especially for young women who don’t know about their basic human rights or how to empower themselves and others, economically or otherwise.

“If you cannot afford quality education, you do not have access to a good paying job which in turn means you cannot afford access to health, education and good housing.”

If one takes time to listen to what’s happening in other African countries you get the sense that Namibia is in a better situation. It often is. But this view does not account for the fact that 39.2% of youth who can work are still unemployed. The women’s movement in Namibia has done a lot, evident today in the fact that 47% of parliament is female However, during the liberation struggle women in general suffered from torture, imprisonment, rape, social and economic hardship as their rights did not matter compared to the common good of the people – which was to fight for the independence of the country first. This and other factors such as religion and cultural practices has translated into a post-independent Namibia where women remain marginalised.

“How can you bring about change if your approach is not gender sensitive or gendered?”

It is therefore important that any struggle that we as young people develop and get involved with today is informed and shaped through gender lenses. Women make up more than half of our population and yet they are the ones that are most disadvantaged, so how can you bring about change if your approach is not gender sensitive or gendered? These are exciting times, young people of Africa are rising and demanding spaces in political and economic spheres, the time to rise and act is now, for the future of our continent and the world. Access to information is on the agenda, youth issues are on the agenda, women’s issues are on the agenda. And SAAYE is here to drive that. We need to be conscious of what is happening around us, develop those around us, and march on!

About Women’s Leadership Centre
Established in Windhoek in 2004, the Women’s Leadership Centre (WLC) is a Namibian-based feminist organisation that envisions a society in which all women actively engage in shaping the politics, practices and values of both public and private spaces. The WLC facilitates the voice and expression of Namibian women through information sharing, education, research, writing, photography, and the publishing of critical feminist texts that we distribute within Namibian society.