By Eric Ortega | Programmes Manager
We are closing the first half of the year and it has been quite a ride so far. We’ve had the opportunity to amplify our work as an organization and reach young changemakers from new regions. Over the last couple of months, we have focused on creating new spaces for changemakers to convey and adapting our existing content for new geographies. This has created a unique opportunity to directly support the work done by young people in Spanish speaking communities as well as integrate them to a global network of like minded people.
Take a look at how we have been able to maximize our reach and get to new communities of changemakers in the last six months:
Menstruación, Salud Sexual y Reproductiva para Changemakers
We brought our course on Menstrual, Sexual and Reproductive Health to Spanish speakers, specially curated by remarkable health young professionals in Latin America. We’ve made great progress on health topics around the world, however, in 2023, Menstruation and Sexual health are still a taboo conversation. We know the importance of addressing this information in a way that makes it easy and friendly to understand and discuss among young people. Since its launch on March 8th we’ve had over 400 enrolled students from different countries in Latin America, broadening the efforts we have done in previous years with the translation of the Project Management Course and the Virtual Youth Summits we’ve had in Spanish and Portuguese.
African Youth Summit
For the first time since 2019, Global Changemakers is excited to announce the return of our Youth Summit which will be hosted in the beautiful Cape Town, South Africa, from October 17th to October 20th 2023. The African Youth Summit is a life changing opportunity for young changemakers to develop their skills and connect with their peers to amplify their impact and strengthen their local initiatives. The summit is transformative for its young participants as it is often the first program that defines their youth as a strength and supports their innovative ideas to bring change to their communities.
This year the African Youth Summit welcomes all activists, social entrepreneurs, campaigners, volunteers, and leaders for change who live in or are from Africa, aged 21 to 28 to apply for this life changing opportunity. As an organization dedicated to making opportunities as accessible as possible for young people, the event will be fully funded to cover the accommodations, meals, domestic travel in and international travel to South Africa during the duration of the event for the 50 selected changemakers. Alumni from the upcoming African Youth Summit will also be eligible to receive grant funding from Global Changemakers for their initiatives and will have continual mentorship and support.
First Grant Cycle of 2023
The beating heart of the work we do has always been the changemakers and their continuous drive to create positive change, however, our years of experience have also taught us that without the proper support it is hard for changemakers to sustain their projects over time. This is the reason why we continuously search for ways to support youth work and 2023 has been no different. Our first grant cycle was launched in February and we selected four amazing recipients from the Project Management for Changemakers Course alumni. These changemakers are working directly in their communities, educating and creating opportunities for a better environment and way of life. This marks the start of a strong year for the changemakers out there as we want to open more grant cycles throughout the year.
Virtual Events
As part of our constant efforts to amplify the voice of young changemakers we are celebrating monthly events with remarkable guest speakers. These online events explore deeper some of the topics we cover in our online courses and give our students new platforms to connect with each other and broaden the conversation.
Our event for March was celebrated on the international Women’s day to accompany the launch of the Menstrual Sexual and Reproductive Health Course in Spanish. This event had as guest speakers the teachers and young medical professionals who were involved in the creation of the lessons for the course. All of our past events are available online in our youtube channel for the attendants to re-watch and get the answers they might have.
On the other hand, for April we had a phenomenal Live session with speakers Mitzi Jonelle Tan, Rivalni Septiadi, and Marie-Claire on the crucial role youth play in climate action and creating a sustainable future for our planet. The guest speakers shared insights on youth involvement, strategies for accelerating activism, climate literacy, and solutions.
Finally this past May we had to keep up with what our students for the MSSR Course were asking and we held a second event focused on the myths and taboos from Menstrual Health. We gathered a lineup of incredible speakers: Athena Charanne, Joanne Joloy, and Adriana Gonzalez for a live discussion into the most common menstrual myths and to provide essential hygiene recommendations, emphasizing the vital role of menstrual education.
As always, our work could not have been possible without the help of the people who belive in our mission.
Sincerely,
The Global Changemakers Team
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