We are launching the latest State of Youth Civil Society report – Young, Feminist and Fearless: Holding the Line.
Restless Development will launch its flagship State of the Youth Civil Society report titled “Young, Feminist and Fearless: Holding the Line” at the Women Deliver 2023 Conference in Kigali. This youth-led report offers a unique opportunity to gain insights into the biggest challenges facing feminist youth movements at the frontlines of democratic struggles around the world. The report delves into the creative and resilient strategies and partnerships developed by these movements to combat growing authoritarianism, shrinking civic space and democratic regression.
Wednesday 19th July 2023: 15:30 -17:00 hrs CAT
Speakers
Chido Mpemba, African Union Youth Envoy, Zimbabwe
Lopa Banerjee, Executive Coordinator of the Generation Equality Forum and Director of the Civil Society Division, UN Women, USA
Nour Nahhas, WE LEAD Community of Action Facilitator (CoAF) and SOYCSR Youth researcher, Lebanon
Omowumi Ogunrotimi, Feminist Lawyer and Founder of Gender Mobile Initiative
Vanessa Zammar, Founder of Jeyetna, WeLead CoA and feminist activist, Lebanon
Olufunke Baruwa, Program Officer – Gender, Racial & Ethnic Justice, Ford Foundation Office of West Africa
Vinitha Jayaprakasan, Queer Feminist, India
Maria Malomalo, Senior Research Manager, Restless Development, Zimbabwe
Moderator
Yande Kalengo, Powershifting Director, Restless Development, Zambia
Participate:
Our survey has now closed. Click here to read the report.
This report is an opportunity for us to tell herstory. Young feminist movements are central to disrupting the status quo and challenging harmful ideologies. We must celebrate them and understand the obstacles they face. We need to ask ourselves: What can we do to ensure a level playing field for young feminist movements?
Maria Malomalo, Senior Research Manager, Restless Development
This year’s report ‘Young, Feminist and Fearless: Holding the Line’ will provide an important opportunity to identify and understand the biggest issues impacting feminist youth movements who are at the frontlines of democratic struggles around the world. In particular this research will focus on exploring the resistance, creative strategies and transnational alliances of these movements in the face of rising authoritarianism, shrinking civic space and democratic backsliding.
If you have any questions or want to know more about the report, please do not hesitate to contact yande@restlessdevelopment.org.
Recap of our launch event.
Our event ‘Being Young, Feminist and Fearless: Creating Safe Spaces for Feminist Youth Movements’ aimed to provide a creative and supportive space for young feminist activists to connect, explore and share strategies. Through storytelling and discussion, young feminists will spoke about the major threats they currently experience towards their activism and talked practically and critically about the measures they take to ensure safety and solidarity for their networks.
Jump in and be nervous and be scared – thats what fearless means to me.
Catherine Rogers, Feminist Leader and Head of Engagement at Greenpeace, Kenya
The discussion during this event will directly feed into Restless Development’s 2023 State of Youth Civil Society report research, which includes a learning question on self-care and safety measures used by different feminist youth movements to protect themselves and their networks.
Specific event objectives included:
- Creating a supportive space for young feminists to share solidarity and experiences, and to learn from each other.
- Creating awareness of the upcoming SOYCSR and identify potential report contributors and allies.
- Kickstarting the Feminist Movement Map of the Youth Collective, by inviting participants to join/put themselves on the map to continue connecting and supporting each other.
Read last year’s report:
