2010 Finalists
We wrapped up the 2010 Young Visionaries nomination and voting period on Thursday, March 25th with more than 70 nominees from 27 different countries. Our panel of esteemed judges selected our winner: Sunita Basnet of Nepal.
Sunita Basnet, Nepal
If I am selected as a winner of the Young Visionaries Contest grant, I will organize an awareness program which includes drama and free heath check ups for both men and women in my community as well as in some other rural parts of Nepal. I choose to organize a play by mobilizing young people rather than teaching health education to men and women because about 80% of the total populations of my community are illiterate. Even the 20% of the population which is literate does not care much about of women’s health.
Furthermore, I want to start from grassroots level by educating both men and women through the means of play. The social issues such as early marriage, birth spacing, class & caste system, maternal health problem, use of contraceptives, safe abortion, gender discrimination, and issues related with single women will be themetized in the play.
The reason why I have chosen as the location the Village Development Committee office area is that it will be an accessible for most targeted people so that it can have greater influence on a greater mass of people. I believe that, to make women aware of their rights, we also need to include men especially in a patriarchal community like mine so that they will also be aware and support their daughters and wives’ activities – therefore the participation of male members is equally important.
Here are our other finalists and their visions – click on the names to see each nominee’s full profile.
Ador Leanda Hurtado, Phillipines
The Young Visionaries contest grant will be a big help towards our youth organization, Waray-Waray Youth Advocates (WARAYA), which is currently facing issues of sustainability on programs and activities, and of retention of members. It will help make way for a program that will help regain and rekindle old spirits towards youth activism, on adolescent sexual health and rights advocacies, and instilling hope that there’s still a better future ahead of us. Through the retraining and reorientation program, it will align the direction of our group towards the goals and objectives we want to achieve, and the vision we foresee. Through that refueling of hearts, we may be able help other youth organizations as well through program support and in ensuring that youth’s voices are heard, loud and clear in various platforms and issues. Ripples of hopes are created as well as ripples of change.
Anina Hewey and Amelia Graves, United States
If we win the $1000 grant from the IWHC Young Visionaries contest, we will establish a non-profit organization that facilitates malnutrition prevention programs for pregnant and lactating mothers in Managua, Nicaragua. We plan to provide access to Supplementary Plumpy, a ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF), to empower mothers to give their future children healthy starts to life. The project will entail training health promoters to operate the program; obtaining and distributing Supplementary Plumpy, providing consult on its usage for the women; and coordinating with local clinics and/or Nicaraguan-run non-profit organizations to provide prenatal care and monitor the expecting mothers’ health throughout pregnancy and through six months of breastfeeding.
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Our project connects resources from the “Global North” to the “Global South”–we will serve as the link between a Rhode Island-based non-profit company that produces Supplementary Plumpy and the organizations that serve women and children in Nicaragua. Supplementary Plumpy has been used in many parts of Africa and Asia to alleviate malnutrition in children and pregnant mothers. We seek to introduce this RUTF to communities that have been overlooked not only by their governments, but also by international aid organizations, as most of the malnutrition alleviation efforts involving RUTF have been concentrated in other world regions. Our project addresses the needs of women in both rural and urban communities in Nicaragua and connects them to one of the most effective RUTF products available today.
Aysel Asgarova, Azerbaijan
In almost every Muslim country women experience gender-based discrimination and inequality. Azerbaijan is not an exception. So, if I win a $1000 Young Visionaries grant, I’d organise a 5-day Theatre-based Training of Trainers in the field of Peer Education and Reproductive Health in one of the regions of Azerbaijan. The training would be held based on this Youth Peer Education Network UNFPA manual for peer educators (PDF document).
In the end all participants will develop a scenario and stage an interactive theatre performace. The theatre performance staged would stress the importance of healthy lifestyle and gender equality and cover such topics as gender relations, reproductive health, family planning, risky behaviour, STIs, HIV/AIDS and stigma and discrimination associated with it. Thus, our performance will promote responsible behaviour. The performance will be done before the large audience at local youth centre with involvement of media. However, spectators will not sit passively – after the performance they’ll be able to put the questions to actors and ask anything that’ll come to their minds. The trained peer educators in their turn will further lead such training in their own communities. Thus, this action will influence many others and its sustainability will be ensured.
Felistah Mbithe Ngui, Kenya
Because of the number of young women infected with HIV/AIDS increasing every day, with the Young Visionaries contest grant I will implement a project known as I WEAVING MY LIFE targeting 10 young women ages 15-24 years living with HIV/AIDS and affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The aim will be to reduce stigma and discrimination and increase accessibility of HIV/AIDS Care and treatment among young girls/women living with and affected by HIV/AIDS.
The project location will be 2 slum areas of Dandora and Mukura in Nairobi, Kenya, where the rate of infection among girls and young women is very high due to poverty, ignorance, illiteracy, gender based violence, drug abuse, and increased involvement in risky sexual behaviors. The project will empower the young girls/women by training them on sexuality rights and reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, and home-based care.
Felix Scholz, Australia
If I receive the grant from IWHC’s Young Visionaries contest I intend to develop an online forum aimed at young adult men, where they can, in a non-judgmental and supportive environment, discuss issues of sexual health, practice and identity. Broadly speaking the forum would promote a model of sexual identity and expression based within theories and practices of sex positive feminism.
I believe that inclusion of men, and younger men in particular are vital in the promotion of women’s health and rights, particularly reproductive and sexual health. These issues aren’t just women’s issues, and I believe more can (and needs to) be done to include and educate men in this area. Furthermore I think the inclusion of men in these conversations and dialogues is vital in creating lasting and meaningful change.
The money from IWHC would go primarily towards the development & maintenance of a site, but a portion would also be used to provide me with some further tools and resources to better meet the needs of young adult men and engage with users in a productive way.
Fsahat Ul Hassan, Pakistan
I want to promote activism among young people for their sexual and reproductive health and rights in Pakistan. I want to sensitize young people from all over the Pakistan to the promotion and integration of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) at policy level. A National Youth Policy has been approved first time in the history of Pakistan and now provincial governments are going to legislate and finalize the Provincial Youth Polices according to the national policy. I want to integrate the SRHR in the provincial youth policy by strengthening the capacity of young people on issues around SRHR and enhancing their leadership skills for promoting SRHR of young people in Pakistan. I also want to develop networking and collaboration among young activists for prompting SRHR of young people in Pakistan.
Using the Young Visionaries contest grant, I shall organize a 4-day national level training workshop on SRHR, HIV/AIDS, youth participation, and leadership skills. At the end of the workshop the participants will develop action plans for the promotion of SRHR of young people in their communities. I shall develop a SRHR Alliance with the help of other focused organizations for networking and collaboration among young activist for prompting SRHR of young people in Pakistan. It will help young people to know their rights!
Kalindy Bolivar, Ecuador
El proyecto en el pienso invertir los 1000 dólares es en la realización y reproducción de un CD de HIP HOP. El proyecto busca convocar a grupos de HIP HOP, exclusivamente de mujeres jóvenes, en Ecuador, que quieran hacer canciones que hablen de la vida de las mujeres y las cosas a las que tenemos que enfrentarnos en un sistema patriarcal, las mismas que no nos permiten decidir sobre nuestros cuerpos y vidas (sobre cuándo y cuántos hijos tener, sobre cuándo tener pareja, sobre anticoncepción, etc.)
This project would invest the $1000 in the creation and reproduction of a hip hop cd. The project would look to convene hip hop groups, exclusively of women and young people that want to make songs that talk about the lives of women and the things that we need to face within the patriarichal system, the things that prevent us from making decisions about our bodies and lives (when and how many children to have, contraception, relationships/sex).
Meitar Moscovitz and Emma Gross, United States
With the $1000 grant from the IWHC Young Visionaries contest we will fund a sexual health education and empowerment video campaign that highlights the reality that we learn about sex from disparate sources in many locations. The heart of this campaign, which we call SexEdEverywhere (“SEE”), will begin with a competition calling for submissions of 30 to 90 second videos that will be reviewed and featured on a network of 5 (or more) microsites over time. The campaign will be based at SexEdEverywhere.com, a website that will actively engage the people to whom it will speak: women and youth across the globe.
Each microsite will portray a scene in which real-life sexuality education happens, such as a doctor’s office, the back of a school bus, a mobile phone conversation, and many more recognizable places. We would subdivide the $1,000 grant into funding and prize money for the best 5 videos as based on creativity and educational impact, among other criteria. The winning videos would receive $100 and be posted on one of the first 5 microsites along with other vetted entries. There will also be a second phase, in which all entries are tracked over a set period of time. The video with the most views during that period will receive a $150 award for “going viral.”
Mustafa Barood Haroon, Sudan
If I win the Young Visionaries contest I will organize symposium targeting young people that will address the issue of sexual violence in countries where there is conflict, particularly Darfur.
Sexual violence takes place as women flee their homes and villages, within internally displaced person (IDP) camps, and within the home. Women have been raped and attacked when going out to fetch firewood, find grass or straw to sell, build huts, or farm and mill. As the conflict continues, there are increased reports of the violence inside the IDP’s camp, including domestic violence and women involvement in high risk.
Rape destroys individual lives, traumatizes the population and fractures society. Rather than care, the women and children who are subjected to sexual violence receive rejection. The horrific practice we have seen in Darfur of actually imprisoning the victims of rape rather than providing them medical care, adds to an already appalling pattern of neglect and abuse. All too frequently the victims of rape find inadequate care even when they do make their way to a clinic. In many places the fear of mistreatment and stigma stops people from searching for necessary assistance.
