Women Deliver Side Event Recap: Young People on the Frontlines of Crisis
Sunday 2nd of June 2019- 3-5 pm
The Compact for Young People in Humanitarian Action hosted an event at Women Deliver, in Vancouver, Canada. Women Deliver is the world’s largest conference on gender equality and the health, rights and well-being of women and girls, and was a perfect opportunity to share the work and mission of the Compact.
The overall objective of the event was to bring attention to the needs and priorities of young people in humanitarian settings, especially young women and female adolescents. This was accomplished by meaningfully engaging with the forthcoming Interagency Guidelines on Working with and for Young People in Humanitarian Settings. These Guidelines were developed by the Compact and provide concrete guidance on how to effectively consider the unique needs and experiences of young people in humanitarian contexts and how to ensure that young people are part of the decision-making processes that affect their lives. The event also sought to identify strategies and share practical examples of how to promote and increase age and gender responsive and inclusive programs that contribute to the protection, health, nutrition and development of young people in humanitarian settings.
First, a high-level panel discussed the forthcoming interagency guidelines on young people in humanitarian action. Participants in this panel discussed not only the importance of the guidelines, but some of the main challenges the guidelines seek to overcome. They also discussed how taking account of gender equality and the empowerment of young and adolescent girls in particular is of vital importance to ensuring youth needs are met in humanitarian contexts.
Second, following the high-level panel, an interactive and fun youth-moderated simulation challenged participants to think about how to put the Guidelines to use in a variety of sectors. Divided into sectors, the participants were asked to consider how they would prioritize youth needs (and meaningful youth engagement) in responding to a particular crisis scenario. Participants used a draft of the Guidelines to inform how they would develop key sectoral priorities and strategies and the young leaders reported back to the wider group on their key learnings and discussion.
A big thank you to our panelists and facilitators:
Danielle Engel, Technical Specialist, Adolescent and Youth, UNFPA
Lauren Rumble, Principal Advisor on Gender and Development, UNICEF
Ayah Al-Oballi, Senior Girl Center Officer, Jordan, Mercy Corps (Moderator)
Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen, CEO, Plan International
Fatiha Terki, Deputy Director of Nutrition, World Food Programme
Kevin Frey, CEO, Right To Play
Most. Maksuma Akter, Midwife, Cox’s Bazar
Youth Facilitators from Plan International and Restless Development: Nosfat, Poorvi, Fatu, Franklin, Pooja and Aude