The Power of Youth: SOS Advocates Reflect on Women Deliver
More than 8,000 world leaders, influencers, advocates, academics, activists and journalists from 165 countries gathered in Vancouver for Women Deliver – the world’s largest conference on gender equality and the health, rights, and wellbeing of girls and women.
The 2019 Women Deliver conference focused on the theme of power and how it can drive or hinder progress. Throughout the conference, participants were invited to reflect on their own power and how they will use it to create a more gender equal world.
Divine Usabase and Joseph Ssendikaddiwa, two SOS Children’s Villages youth advocates who grew up in SOS care in Burundi (Muyinga) and Uganda, were among the 1,400 young people who attended the conference. They shared with us some of their reflections and key takeaways from their experience at Women Deliver.
“Spaces such as this conference bring people together to align forces to solve some of the world’s greatest problems. Throughout the week, I could not stop myself from being inspired and motivated by the true words of powerful women who have taken their power, started groundbreaking initiatives, and fight in the trenches of gender equality,” Joseph said.
The importance of engaging and empowering youth as agents for change was a reoccurring theme throughout the conference. For Joseph, one of the main takeaways was that “there is a need to engage young people in the front lines of decision making, and at every stage of the process in order to solve the very issues that affect them.” The moment that reaffirmed this idea the most was when youth activist Natasha Wang Mwansa from Zambia took to the stage alongside world leaders to declare that “you cannot speak for us without us.”
The 18 year-old Zambian activist also left her mark on Divine. “She stood up, owned her power and filled the entire room with her authentic, unapologetic asks to be listened to and taken seriously. I am several years older than her but I am proud to say that I want to be like her when I grow up,” Divine shared.
Another critical point raised during the conference was the importance of using the unique power that we each hold in stepping up for gender equality. “We cannot be complacent. The need to fight back against gender-based violence, racism, and injustices on marginalized populations grows with every ounce of silence to injustice. We have to break the silence within our communities and fight alongside those who are affected,” Joseph said.
In the closing day of Women Deliver, SOS Children’s Villages hosted a side event focused on the need to empower young women in care as they transition into adulthood. During the event, Divine shared the stage with Ashley, an SOS youth advocate who grew-up in alternative care in Canada. Together, they reflected on the personal strength it took in overcoming barriers to accessing education and employment opportunities.
“Being on the panel with Ashley was a true testament to the universality of the challenges faced by young women transitioning into adulthood, having grown up in alternative care. Although we come from vastly different cultural backgrounds, we echoed each other in some of our discussions. I knew I could freely share my experience, knowing that the person sitting next to me not only understood me, but could also relate to my experiences” Divine said.
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