Social Norms
Social norms action with informed and engaged societies
Social Norms
After nearly 28 years, The Communication Initiative (The CI) Global is entering a new chapter. Following a period of transition, the global website has been transferred to the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in South Africa, where it will be administered by the Social and Behaviour Change Communication Division. Wits' commitment to social change and justice makes it a trusted steward for The CI's legacy and future.
 
Co-founder Victoria Martin is pleased to see this work continue under Wits' leadership. Victoria knows that co-founder Warren Feek (1953–2024) would have felt deep pride in The CI Global's Africa-led direction.
 
We honour the team and partners who sustained The CI for decades. Meanwhile, La Iniciativa de Comunicación (CILA) continues independently at cila.comminitcila.com and is linked with The CI Global site.
Time to read
2 minutes
Print
a- a+
Published 21 years ago
Last updated 1 year ago
Read so far

Young Women and Leadership Program - Global

0 comments
The Young Women and Leaderhip Program is a global effort to create spaces in which young women can articulate their priorities, speak out about their concerns, and build leadership. It is an initiative of the Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) - click here for a Programme Description. Goals include:
  • Connecting, providing support for, and facilitating ongoing dialogue among young women activists
  • Recognising and supporting existing efforts by young women activists by disseminating their experiences and analysis and supporting the production of analysis on critical issues
  • Getting more young women involved in the movements and building their capacity to do so
  • Facilitating inter-generational dialogues.
Communication Strategies

A central strategy in this programme is the participation of young women. The Young Women and Leadership International Advisory Group, made up of 8 young women from around the world who are committed to women's rights and gender equality, guides and shapes the vision and strategic capacity of this programme.


This programme draws on both technology and face-to-face encounters to bolster the capacity of young women and to enable them to connect with each other. Specific elements include:

  • Young Women and Leadership Email list - provides a space for sharing ideas and information and initiating debates around issues that affect young women. The list also sends out a bi-weekly digest containing updates on jobs, fellowships, announcements, and news for young women
  • Mentorship Program - an e-based programme whose purpose is to facilitate a process for participants to share skills and experiences, and to create networks with their peers from different contexts as well as women with different levels of experience. The idea is to enable younger women to learn from each other and feminists, practitioners, activists, and policy-makers who have been working in the field of human rights and development. Specifically, over a period of 16 weeks (1 hour per week), mentors and young women participate in email exchanges, having been provided with guiding questions. Community mentoring is also part of this process; groups include no more than 4 participants. Feedback and peer exchange are hallmarks of this component of the programme; for instance, the Mentors' Forum allows mentors to discuss their experiences and obstacles.
  • Young Women and Leadership Glossary - an online tool with searchable information about key terms related generally to women's human rights and gender and development work.
  • Young Women and Leadership Institutes (YWLI) - aim to build young women's capacity to strategically work towards women's rights in their regions and globally. The Institutes bring together young women to focus on critical issues that impact on their lives and to explore the linkages between the personal, structural, and institutional challenges to developing young women's leadership. For example, the 5-day YWLI 2003 - 'Tackling HIV/AIDS and poverty in Africa' - took place in Cape Town, South Africa. A group of 35 young women from all over the African continent, as well as from Australia, India, Uzbekistan, and Barbados, analysed, strategised, and mobilised around the HIV/AIDS pandemic while examining the intersections of the pandemic with local, national, and global economics; human rights; and a leadership crises.
  • Resources for Young Women - posters, resource guides, and job listings.
Development Issues

Women, Gender, Rights, Youth.

Key Points

AWID is an international membership organisation with headquarters in Toronto, Canada that connects, informs, and mobilises people and organisations committed to achieving gender equality, sustainable development, and women's human rights. Communication strategies include facilitating ongoing debates and building the individual and organisational capacities of those working for women's empowerment and social justice. These strategies support AWID's goal of bringing about policy, institutional, and individual change, thereby hopefully improving the lives of women and girls around the world