YMCA World Magazine - From Subject to Citizen

June 2011. N

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From Subject to Citizen

The new WAY on the way … …………………………

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From Subject to Citizen ………………………………

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Protests, democracy and the challenges of regime change in the Middle East and North Africa

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Over half of Africa lags behind in human development … …………………………

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Kenya and Liberia From Subject to Citizen Ambassadors courageously lead the way with civic action initiatives

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Madagascar Economic Renaissance initiative set to bring improved economic realities to youth

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Zimbabwe Current gender strategies are perceived as “an attack” on men

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Finding Che Guevara in Senegal … …………………………

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Strengthened Sierra Leone YMCA now leads in the West ……………………………… P21

YMCA World – No 1 – June 2011 A biannual publication of the World Alliance of YMCAs Published in English and Spanish President: Mr. Ken Colloton Secretary General: Rev. Dr. Johan Vilhelm Eltvik 12, Clos-Belmont, 1208 Geneva, Switzerland Tel: (+41 22) 849 51 00 Fax: (+41 22) 849 51 10 E-mail: office@ymca.int Website: www.ymca.int Facebook: www.facebook.com/ymcas Twitter: www.twitter.com/ymcaint Editor: Carlos Sanvee Editorial Assistant & Distribution : Suzanne Watson Graphic Design: Messaggio Studio Resource Material: Gil Harper, Claude-Alain Danthe Printing: Sro-Kundig, Geneva, Switzerland

Editorial

My inspiration for this editorial came from the story of Jesus sleeping in the boat while a storm nearly destroyed the entire crew. Related in Matthew 8, 23-27, this story painted two distinct scenerios The first one, which I will call the internal scenario, is about peace as Jesus was quite “Zen” amidst the storm. The second external scenario is about things falling apart.

Nature and human beings were out of control.

These two scenes, if painted, would look like what I experienced in the first week of April 2011. Internally, the leadership of the world YMCAs was gathered in Geneva, a peaceful city, to launch the NEW WAY. This encapsulates the new directions of the World Alliance of YMCAs and is aimed at positioning the global YMCA as the leading youth movement which creates space and opportunities for young people to have a credible voice and influence on situations that affect their lives.

Externally, it appeared that the world was going “mad”. From the burning of the Quran in Florida, USA, a week ago and the reaction in chain in Iraq, Pakistan and other Arab countries that week, to the breaking down of the second nuclear reactor in Fukushima, Japan, from that the unrest in Libya and Syria in the Middle East, to the massive killing in Côte D’Ivoire, it seemed that besides the awful event of the wars, the world had reached an unprecedented level of dysfunction.

Internally, the YMCA adopted a new strategy with a key focus on a global brand centred on young people as global citizens. Externally, different strategies were confronting each other with the sole aim of power and control.

While externally the threat of the nuclear consequence in Japan was raising the questions of sustainability, YMCA leaders applauded their wide range of YMCA activities addressing environmental and sustainability issues.

While internally YMCAs were celebrating their contribution to peace (peace is in the YMCA DNA we said), Syria, Libya and Côte D’Ivoire were as far away from peace as could be imagined. Outside, thousands of refugees were seeking asylum from violence, while inside YMCA leaders were exposing their positive impact in the lives of migrants and asylum seekers around the globe.

Challenges and despair outside and several years of solid experience inside.

But wait a minute... the story in the Bible had a happy ending. The external forces were confronted by the internal peace and the storm was stopped and peace prevailed.

We wish the long and solid experiences of the YMCA worldwide could assist in calming the storm outside in our world today. Unfortunately, as acknowledged in one of the researches initiated under the Partnership in Progress initiative (PIP) in most cases the YMCA impact is more at the local level, as its strategies are mainly deployed at community level and do not necessarily have a deliberate intention to influence policy makers. In the YMCA we think globally and act locally.

The NEW WAY is an awakening process. YMCAs are in the WAY to develop a credible global voice on Youth issues. With the NEW WAY, YMCAs around the world will be able to unite their voices to say “Stop!” to the storm - and it will stop.

This issue of YMCA World is focused on a special initiative of the African YMCAs: From Subject to Citizen, S2C. It is about empowering youth with Voice, space and ability to influence.

More specifically, S2C connects local and global realities and uses different strategies to address issues confronted by youth. More importantly, it equips youth with the ability and strength to confront systems that produce the issues they are faced with.

Moving forward for global citizenship for all!

Carlos Sanvee

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s g n i t e Gre Johan and Ken from NEW WAY Strategic Plan Youth Empowerment

Goal Include

Engage

1 2 3 4 5

Goal

Resource Mobilisation

Goal

Advocate

Analysis and development

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Innovations

2

Advocacy

3

Governance and structures

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Planning Fundraising within the global movement Resource mobilisation from new sources Coaching and mentoring for increased capacity

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1 2 3

2 3 4

Movement Strengthening

Planning Extension of Movement Strengthening Increase capacity worldwide

Goal

1 2 3 4

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Standards and guidelines , code of conduct.

World Council planning Safe space for dialogue and debate Global governance model

Visibility

Goal

2

Constitution/Governance

Branding/Communications

Internal assessment and preparation Core competences and key messages Communication on impact Deepen culture of knowledge sharing

Building a new way The 17th World Council of YMCAs came together under the theme “Striving for Global Citizenship for all” and celebrated the strength of the YMCA Movement as a worldwide fellowship. It was a journey to witness the signs of our time and a rededication towards the spiritual foundation of our YMCA Movement. The World YMCA movement jointly agreed to intensify efforts to empower young people to act as Global Citizens, increase the YMCA’s brand and visibility and build a new strategy for resource mobilisation for movement strengthening. The voices were heard and input gathered from the participants of the 17th World Council and the International Youth Forum, and incorporated with the 2008 statement of commitment to youth to develop the NEW WAY Strategic Plan for 2011-2014. neral: Secretary Ge ik (left) n Vilhelm Eltv ha Jo .

Dr v.

Re (right) n to llo Ken Co President: Mr.

Ken Colloton, WAY President, and I are happy to report that this NEW WAY Strategy was unanimously adopted by the 61st meeting of the Executive Committee, April 1st, 2011.

NEW WAY has five interconnected goals, with Global Citizenship as a cross-cutting perspective: 1. Youth Empowerment 2. Movement Strengthening 3. Resource Mobilisation 4. Branding and Communications 5. Constitution and Governance This Strategic Plan envisages a NEW WAY, a new brand, a strong brand, which will reflect the full relevance of the YMCA movement for the years to come. It has a strong Commitment and vision for social change as stated in our Challenge 21.

The NEW WAY will mean a new kind of World Alliance of YMCAs. A NEW WAY that provides new opportunities for Area Organisations and National Movements to operate cohesively and collaboratively in a new manner with WAY to implement the Global Strategy and both build and share resources.

NEW WAY is based on its Christian mission to serve, include, engage, empower, and unite people so ‘‘That They All May Be One” – John 17; 21.

NEW WAY will become a thriving hub for the best initiatives in the YMCA, a meeting place for multitalented resource people from the YMCA and a facilitation centre for an effective worldwide movement strengthening process.

NEW WAY will give collective ownership to all the stakeholders and invite Areas and National Movements to increase the potential for Resource Mobilization and an effective branding process.

NEW WAY will be able to do more and be more for the movement, making the distance between local and global communities shorter than ever.

NEW WAY will also give us a new communication strategy. Over a period of 2 years we will reduce the number of YMCA World issues from 4 to 2 per year and we will outsource the production of the magazine to the Area Organisations and focus especially on their programmes for young people.

We will gradually move to a web based magazine with a reinforced presence through social media.

A printed version of our key communication will be made available for to those who have limited access to internet connection.

We are happy to launch this series of publications on Area related programmes with Africa and “from Subject to Citizen”. This will give to all of us the opportunity to learn more about S2C and explore ways to reflect the vision and philosophy of S2C in our NEW WAY Strategy. S2C is born in Africa, developed by African youth, and is a very exciting programme for Youth Empowerment, which we think will have potential for other geographical areas as well.

We wish to thank our faithful readers over many years and do hope that all of you will continue together with us into a digital information sharing.

God bless us all as we are setting out to build the

NEW WAY together.

NEW WAY will engage with Area Organisations and National Movements as a joint venture and benefit from the talent, knowledge and resources of the Area Organisations and National Movements.

NEW WAY will be an open invitation to the family of YMCAs to give and get more and be more for the greater good of all. www.ymca.int • YMCA WORLD • JUNE 2011

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Y A W w The nhee way on t The Executive Committee of the World Alliance of YMCAs met from March 31st to April 2nd in Geneva. It was the first official and full meeting of the Committee after its election in July 2010 in Hong Kong The key agenda of the meeting was to set the new directions of the organisation. These directions are encompassed in a title “the NEW WAY” - WAY as in World Alliance of YMCAs but also as the Way, the direction and the process or new operating principles.

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Innovations There were many innovations at this 61st Executive Committee meeting. The most visible one was in the style of leadership. The committee was structured around three main leadership poles: Global Governance, Finances, and Image and impact. Not only were the discussions around those topics, they were also led by the chairs of those task forces. Participants felt a breeze of “freshness” with the diverse approaches of leadership, which was not restricted only to the President. The NEW WAY is about decentralised leadership.

The orientation session to new members was another highlight. In style and content the session set the tone for the next four years.

The outcome of the orientation is that members of the Executive Committee were better prepared to take on responsibility in leading and governing the Movement.

The second visible innovation is about the role and place of the Youth. Youth occupied the space and led several discussions in groups and in plenary.

They shared their vision of the world by 2050 and their responses to the challenges expressed in the 2050 outlook. A special session on youth strategy gave the opportunity to the committee to interact with the young leaders of the Executive Committee.

New plan for the new WAY The Executive Committee unanimously passed the NEW WAY Strategy 2011-14 with an overall strong focus on young people and with five strategic priority goals : Youth Empowerment, Movement Strengthening, Resource mobilisation, Branding and Communications, and Constitution and Governance.

Ethiopia YMCA

National General Secretary: Tezera Wolde Medhim National Chair: Berhanu Tadesse Year of Creation: 1951 Member of World Alliance: 1996 Number of local branches: 9 Number of members: 3,408 Number of Men: 2,087 Number of Women: 1,321 Number of participants/ members under 30: 2,384 Population of Country: 88,013,491 Human Development Index: 0.414 Programmes: Adolescent Reproductive Health Education/HIV Prevention | Character Building, Life skill and Leadership Training | Sport and Physical Fitness Training | Theatre and Music Training | Ethics and Moral Development Training | Vocational and Basic Skill Training | Foster Family Support | Alternative and Basic Education | Child Care and Support

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Celebrating our Legacy Immediately after Hong Kong the Partnership in Progress (PIP) initiative was launched. The aim was to map and communicate our impact in key programme areas.

Each area was given a topic to research and this was reported to the Executive Committee: Migration, Peace and Reconciliation, Environment and Alternative Tourism, Global Philanthropy, Youth Leadership and Civic Engagement.

The basis of the research was the quadrennial survey of the World Alliance. Many YMCAs around the world were interviewed, and sent information on their programmes. Data collected through the PIP exercise was impressive - the results outstanding. The audience was impressed by the level of engagement of National Movements in those specific fields. Many programmes have demonstrated good impact on the life of thousands of youth and community members.

Many YMCAs have been awarded by various authorities for their relevance to their communities.

The Executive Committee supported the proposition to continue with the PIP exercise but with different focuses.

On Programme related issues (Migration, Peace and Reconciliation and Environment) the committee recommended that YMCAs shall continue to “tell their stories” by researching the impact of those programmes in a more systematic manner. More analytical data will be required.

On issues which are now embedded in the new WAY plan (Global Philanthropy, Civic Engagement and Youth Leadership) there should be more research to support the branding process. The research should go beyond YMCA borders and find out what others are doing in those areas and how we can better create more space for youth empowerment and produce more leaders for social transformation.

YMCA: Global Brand for Youth Empowerment Discussions around branding focused on how to find the “raison d’être” of YMCAs worldwide.

The brand being about involving internal and external stakeholders with their head, heart and hands, the meeting clearly indicated that Youth should be at the heart of the global brand.

A process was discussed and draft change model was discussed. A special meeting with YMCA leaders worldwide will take place to define how to identify the key messages which will unify the movement in telling our story as the global brand.

Estes Park will host the 18th World Council The 18th World Council will take place from June 29th to July 5th in the USA at Estes Park.

This is the second time Estes Park wil host a world gathering. This This World Council will constitute an important milestone for the NEW WAY and will show-case the firm commitment of the leaders to place youth at the centre of the YMCA new direction.

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leman.

YMCA USA tine, Kate Co r right), CEO er, Tom Valen ey M Neil Nicoll, (fa nt Ke : ) (left to right and his team

t c e j b u From Sizen to Cit

bi, Kenya

remony, Nairo

ors Award Ce

ad S2C Ambass

issance a n e R n a ic fr A e eople for th P g n u o Y g n ri e w Empo The YMCAs in Africa have “packaged” the S2C Since 2008, the Africa Alliance of YMCAs has rallied National Movements towards addressing the challenges and charting a new course for this continental movement. The Africa Alliance spent time taking stock of the issues faced by young people in Africa who are key beneficiaries and also implementers of the community work of the YMCAs; assessed the institutional capacity of the National Movements to execute their roles within the communities; and challenged the leadership towards new thinking and contribution to the Continent.

The result was a new philosophical direction for the African YMCAs based on a need to increase the voice, visibility and influence of young Africans through the YMCA Movement towards achieving greater impact in addressing and solving the African Continent’s challenges regarding attitude, value and development. The Flagship Initiative “From Subject to Citizen” or S2C is the rallying call for all Africans, steered by the YMCAs in Africa.

“From Subject to Citizen” was developed following a baseline survey conducted by young people in East, West and Southern Africa. 1,200 youth were interviewed regarding their participation in economic enterprise, governance and social realm. The conclusions of the survey pointed to a state of extreme exclusion of young people. The marginalisation of young people forces them towards social vices in search of identity and dignity and a sense of significance. The S2C initiative aims to create positive change in how young people ascend to, practise and engage with leadership in Africa.

Ghana YMCA

National General Secretary: Kwabena Nketia Addae Acting National Chair: Emmanuel Osafo Year of Creation: 1890 Member of World Alliance: 1958 Number of local branches: 80 Number of members: 10,005 Number of Men: 6,502 Number of Women: 1,058 Number of participants/ members under 30: 2,445 Population of Country: 23,837,261 Human Development Index: 0.467 Programmes : Local Branch Programmes | Bible Studies and Devotions | Singing, Drama & Choreography | Leadership Training | Talks and Debates | Games and Recreation | Excursions | Development Programmes | Leadership Training | Sports | Civic Engagements | Life Skills and Livelihood Training | Youth Advocacy | Youth Conventions/Conferences | Community Service | Women Empowerment Programmes | Projects | Early Childhood Development Programmes

concept into four key components and strategies for action. These are: Civic Action, Economic Renaissance, Youth Justice and Transformative Masculinity. Civic action targets youth to equip them with skills and develop self-definition to advocate and influence for change. The pilot project is ongoing in Kenya, Liberia and Zimbabwe.

In Kenya 10 “catalysts” have been trained and they subsequently trained 1,852 youth in 2010 in Mombasa, Nairobi, Nakuru, Ngecha and Busia.

The transformative masculinity component targets young men and the dominant social structures in which they live that disempower women and distort masculinity. The intention of the project is to redefine, reorder and reorient youth masculinity. With this re-orientation, we expect young men to treat women with dignity and sensitivity. The pilot project is ongoing in Zimbabwe in the cities of Kadoma and Bulawayo.

On Economic Renaissance, the projects implemented aim to reach young people and seek to move them from disempowerment based on their inability to cater for their day to day living, through project financing, entrepreneurship training and mentoring on business development/ management, savings and investments. The pilot project is ongoing in Madagascar in the areas of Antananarivo and Fort Dauphin.

The Youth Justice component is in the development stage. In the first instance, this will use community paralegals training and peer education to mitigate against the vulnerability of those at risk, and to intervene in the justice system to provide assistance to youth in police stations, courts, prisons and in reintegration.

S2C also includes a leadership development component referred to as the “Ambassadors’ Programme” which entails recruitment and grooming young people as transformational leaders through a three year programme that builds values and develops skills for effective leadership of our communities and continent.

Participants have been drawn from 10 National Movements from across Africa: Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, the Gambia, and Zimbabwe.

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cognition of lds a «f» in re A protester ho ’s role in the ok k site Facebo social networ revolts North African © Reuters

, s t s e t o Pr cracy demo hange c e im g e r f o s e g and the challenEast and North Africa in the Middle ndo

Omore C. Ose

When a 26-year-old graduate’s unlicensed cart was confiscated by police officers in Tunisia in December 2010, the graduate opted to set himself ablaze. The effect of this one act has spiralled into revolts since January 2011 in no less than 11 countries – Tunisia, Algeria, Jordan, Yemen, Egypt, Sudan, Palestine, Iraq, Bahrain, Iran and Libya.

The scenario painted by this indicates some of the governance and economic issues that Africa continues to struggle with, namely repressive political regimes characterised by police brutality and impunity; inequalities and inequities in resource distribution as Tunisia’s coastline has benefited from a skewed allocation of resources over much of the inland areas; and high youth unemployment and under-employment.

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Tunisian youth came out in their numbers and revolted against the oppressive regime, driving the President out of the country and setting the agenda for democratic change. Young people in the 11 aforementioned countries (and possibly still counting) have all been at the centre of the respective protests calling for democracy, freedom, economic growth, equality, and other rights. Technology and media have ensured that these youth are part of a globalised world, have access to information and are able to organise and mobilise without a clear leader. Political change is not necessarily guaranteed through the use of technology and social media. Some of these repressive regimes attempted to shut down the Internet and mobile telephone use. This was unsustainable as the whole economy relies on them, including banking, manufacturing and trade. The fact remains that without the ability to control the reach of communication, the people will galvanise support in a short period of time.

An interesting survey, the Silatech Index, representing Gallup’s comprehensive poll of young people living in the League of Arab States made some startling revelations in 2010 just before the revolt: there was a high level of optimism among the youth, despite the rising cost of living, shortage of affordable housing and unemployment, which are their key concerns. However, only 26% of Egyptian youth believed their country was headed in the right direction. Lack of commitment to reforms and general lack of democracy could have contributed to the low optimism in Egypt.

The Silatech Index also indicates that Kuwait, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are the top three countries where youth prioritise living in a democratic country over everything else.

Democracy was even ranked higher than good civic infrastructure, access to quality education and fair wages. While youth in some sub-Saharan African countries tampered with the vote, youth in the Middle East are becoming martyrs for their counterparts to get the right to vote and the ability to change their leaders after a predetermined term limit. Whereas Arab youth have always been perceived as conservative, the survey reveals that a majority of them believe that they are part of the global citizens. With these results, the study had indicated that the youth will be the main drivers for change in the future.

The Washington based Population Reference Bureau projects that the number of youth in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region will peak at 100 million by 2035 and decline slowly thereafter. The youth bulge poses opportunities as well as challenges for development. These countries need to re-engineer their educational systems, healthcare provision and labour markets to cater for this increase.

Gambia YMCA

National General Secretary: Sam Thorpe National Chair: Oreme Joiner Year of Creation: 1979 Member of World Alliance: 1991 Number of local branches: 2 Number of members: 6,500 Number of Men: 4500 Number of Women: 2000 Number of participants/ members under 30: 3500 Population of Country: 1,705,000 Human Development Index: 0.456 Programmes: Community Development | Safe Drinking Water | Skills Training | Horticulture and Agriculture | Poultry Farming | Adult Literacy | Day Care Centres | Co-operative Shop | Advocacy | HIV/AIDS and People Living With AIDS (PLA) Programming | Sports & Aerobics Classes | VTC & Junior Secondary School | Information Communication Technology | Digital studio | E-Learning & TOEFL Exams Test Centre | Work in Juvenile Prisons

Tanzania YMCA

National General Secretary: Stewart Lyatuu National Chair: Seth Msinjili Year of Creation: 1959 Member of World Alliance: 1965 Number of local branches: 14 Number of members: 35,000 Number of Men: 18,000 Number of Women: 17,000 Number of participants/ members under 30: 12,800 Population of Country: 42,746,620 Human Development Index: 0.530 Programmes: Education Programmes | Youth Empowerment Programmes | Agricultural College | Hotel | HIV and AIDS.

According to the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) Global Employment Trends 2011 Report, the downward trend in the regional unemployment rate in the Middle East was interrupted by the global economic crisis, and estimates for 2010 show a level of unemployment at 10.3%, which is the highest regional rate in the world. The youth unemployment rate is almost four times the adult rate. Gender inequalities continue to be a major concern, as the gap between male and female employment-topopulation ratios, at 47.2 percentage points, is twice the global average. In North Africa, the ILO report states that the region was not hit as hard as other regions by the economic and financial crisis, yet pre-crisis labour market challenges have persisted. Women face a much higher unemployment rate than men (15% versus 7.8%), which is particularly worrisome because female labour force participation rates are extremely low.

An alarming 23.6% of economically active young people were unemployed in 2010.

Regardless of how different the revolts have been across different countries, it is clear that democratic change is the main objective, a change that will translate into a government that will be responsive to the holistic needs of its people. This unresponsive leadership has been displayed in two ways. One, in some of the countries, people is tired of autocratic rule vested in one person who has presided for more than their fair share of time. Their revolutions have one goal: to overthrow an individual and their respective cronies. Two, other countries may not necessarily have an issue with their respective leaders, but rather the institutions and systems that govern their civic engagement. Elections are reasonably free but their monarchies have the final say on key governance matters. These revolts are geared towards power being divested into elected legislatures and independent judiciaries.

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sit next to ent protesters Anti-governm ring du n graffiti sig Cairo a «Facebook» hrir Square in Ta e sid in ns demonstratio © Reuters

Many pundits have argued that the protests in the Arab world have been demonstrably easy to organise due to the relatively homogenous characteristics of the religion and culture of these countries. Indeed, it has been argued that this kind of revolt would not succeed in, say, Kenya, because of the myriad of ethnic communities and cultures making it difficult to rally the people behind a single cause. However, it is instructive to note that the nature of the regimes differ quite significantly (literacy levels of the people, strength of their institutions, foreign policy), hence we are seeing varying results and outcomes of the revolts.

Stephen R Grand, Director of US Relations with the Islamic World at the Brookings Institution, says the last half of the 20th century was the hour of the big man in Arab politics and the first decade of the 21st century was the hour of the extremist. We are now witnessing in the streets of Cairo, Tripoli, Tunis and the rest, the hour of the citizen. The African youth, denied a voice by repressive regimes, an opportunity to freely assemble and associate and a decent livelihood, end up not having a stake in the economy and being treated like subjects instead of citizen.

The hour of the citizen is for these young people to reclaim their rights and be restored as citizens of their land. The youth in these countries seem to have been transformed overnight from subjects to citizens. It is commendable that these youth did not resort to destructive protests as do many of their counterparts with no stake in the economy.

Despite the general celebration across the region and the continent of these citizen-driven changes, there are certain post-revolt challenges. In subSaharan countries significant political change has taken place, such as transforming from single party to multi-party or instituting constitutional changes that have eased out long serving dictators for democratic administrations. Often, new administrations elected on change platforms following long periods of corrupt regimes easily renege on their commitments when the corruption 10

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networks rope them in. Africa has numerous examples. Also, after a national campaign that results in change, sub-regions within the countries begin to agitate for equity in resource allocation and recognition of their distinct characteristics and contribution to the national economy. The secession in Sudan and Somalia, for example, could spur similar thoughts in other countries that have internal wrangling based on regional marginalisation.

The onus remains on the public to continue engaging so that the will of the people is the driving force for reforms. The people must understand that it may take some time to institute reforms, including new constitutions that may have to be approved in a referendum, new legislations to safeguard human rights, electoral processes and equalisation of every community and region. Elements of former repressive regimes quickly read the mood of the people and with the intention of retaining political power and fiefdoms, infiltrate the reform process and ensure it does not conform to the will of the people, in its entirety.

The Africa Alliance of YMCA’s programme to transform African youth from subject to citizen recognises these challenges and opportunities and employs the elements of civic action, gender and transformative masculinity, economic renaissance and youth justice. The effects of these elements will be felt in the continent as young people get to embrace their rights and responsibilities and set the agenda for their leaders to deliver a just society.

Omore C. Osendo is a Programme Officer for Democratic Governance with the Royal Danish Embassy in Nairobi. He has previously worked for the USAID Parliamentary Support Programme in Kenya and Transparency International-Kenya and was also a member of the Task Force on the Africa Peer Review Mechanism in Kenya. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics and Political Science from Moi University and is completing his Master’s Thesis in International Relations. The views expressed here are his own and not those of his employer.

a c i r f A f o f l a h r Ove ehind in human lags b pment develo The 2010 United Nations Human Development Report (UNHDR) presents a unique study of the current status of worldwide social development.

At the heart of the report is an understanding of the living situation of the world’s citizens and the potential for growth of the countries in which they live. With this in mind, Helen Clark, the Administrator of the UNHDR states, “A country’s success or an individual’s wellbeing cannot be evaluated by money alone. Income is, of course, crucial: without resources, any progress is difficult. Yet we must also gauge whether people can lead long and healthy lives, whether they have the opportunity to be educated and whether they are free to use their knowledge and talents to shape their own destinies.”

The Human Development Index (HDI) created in this report monitors an aggregate measure of health, education and income to create a benchmark for growth on which a country’s development is then evaluated. This crucial ideology informs the research and has resulted in a “profound effect” on policy makers and development specialists worldwide.

Overall, the UNHDR measures 135 countries which includes 92% of the world’s population. The 2010 report marks the 20th anniversary of reporting and claims that most countries have shown large gains, with the poorest often leading the way in creative development strategies. Alarmingly however, although many countries in Africa show laudable improvements, some have shown slow growth rates and others have fallen below the benchmark set in 1970.

When looking at the past 20 years, the 2010 report claims that, “The world’s average HDI has increased by 18% since 1990 (and 41% since 1970), reflecting large aggregate improvements in life expectancy, school enrolment, literacy and income,” with only three countries, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Zambia and Zimbabwe, having a lower overall index rating than those evident in 1970. That all three countries are in Africa and have experienced ongoing political and economic instability leaves little doubt as to the reasons for the decline in their development capabilities, and serves as a warning to other countries in the region.

Zambia sees a decline in life expectancy, school enrolment and income primarily because of the ongoing depression caused by the fall in copper prices in 1980, the mass influx of refugees in the 1990s from civil warring neighbours Angola and Mozambique, and a devastating HIV epidemic which ranks Zambia as the fifth highest prevalence HIV rate in the world.

Zimbabwe similarly has been heavily affected

by HIV prevalence, political instability and economic collapse caused by “poor economic management”. While literacy rates improved, general poverty in Zimbabwe rose from 42% in 1995 to 62% in 2010.

The report indicates that sub-Saharan Africa typically faces “the greatest challenges in human development” and represents the lowest HDI of any other region. Despite this, the report highlights great progress made in African human development, with Egypt rising to the 11th position and Botswana, Benin and Burkina Faso all appearing in the top 25 positions on the index.

Despite the successes in some African countries, others (most notably in sub-Saharan Africa) show the slowest progress overall because of high adult mortality rates (particularly through the effects of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa), and this has affected education, health and income levels in the region. In addition, while health advances generally may have been large over the past 20 years, they are in fact decreasing worldwide and are so low in some areas that 9 countries worldwide saw a life expectancy lower than that established in the 1970s. Of those nine, six of are found in Africa (the DRC, Lesotho, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe) and their current status is largely attributed to high HIV prevalence and multi-dimensional inequality.

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South Africa YMCA

National General Secretary: Rev Sipho Sokhela National Chair: Bonga Chiliza Year of Creation: 1940 Number of local branches: 21 Number of members: 10,000 Population of Country: 49,991,300 Human Development Index: 0.683 Programmes: Youth Justice | Y-Zone after-school-programme | Advocacy

The report goes on to suggest that, despite what we may assume, countries steeped in ongoing political conflict do not necessarily show a decline in the health index. In some cases, “conflicts... have not adversely affected nationally measured outcomes, while some countries have even made health advances despite conflict, thanks to extensive humanitarian efforts to deliver basic services.” With this in mind, it is clear that the influx of humanitarian support has become crucial to overall development, and that ongoing work by development organisations such as the YMCA has helped to create a culture of growth in health, education and income throughout the world.

When looking at health, the report goes on to suggest that health services (such as improved vaccination projects, medical care during childbirth, women’s education and improved nutrition education) have contributed largely to the improved global increase in health and wellbeing.

Despite this though, the report is quick to note that hunger continues to be a large problem “and a stubborn one” at that. Of the world’s one billion malnourished people, over a quarter are found in sub-Saharan Africa, while in comparison only one percent of the world`s malnourished population are found in developed countries.

Looking at education levels worldwide, the report shows perhaps the most positive growth when compared to other index categories.

Since 1990, literacy rates have increased from 73% to 84% and no country monitored for the 2010 report showed a decline in literacy rates. Youth educational development shows very positive growth with, “100% or higher for primary education in both developed and developing countries, and both groups have made substantial strides in higher levels of education as well.” With this in mind, primary school completion rates have increased from 84% to 94% since 1991, and expected years of schooling have risen from 9 years in 1980 to 11 years in 2011 for developed countries.

In low level HDI countries however (poorer or developing countries), total years of schooling are still markedly lower than in higher level HDI countries, despite rising to 8 years in 2010 from 5 years in 1980.

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The report further indicates that school enrolment for girls has increased faster than that amongst boys, but this could ultimately be attributed to a repeal of common cultural beliefs that girls require little education, or financial constraints that prioritise the education of boys over girls.

Despite gains in education however, there are clear differences between the education attained in developed and developing countries.

As the report indicates, “Children at the same education level in developing countries as their counterparts in developed countries score on average about 20% lower on standardised tests.”

This strongly indicates that an evident increase in educational access does not necessarily mean that the quality of the education has equally improved. Instead mass improvements only suggest that more children have access to education, not that education is suitable or internationally comparable.

In addition, the report shows a strong correlation between social inequality and development, arguing that “countries with less human development tend to have a greater inequality” in a variety of social spheres. One such sphere is the inclusion of measures of gender equality. Simply, “the disadvantages facing women and girls are a major source of inequality” and they regularly face discrimination in the “health, education and labour markets”. African countries listed as facing high levels of gender inequality and unequal distribution of human development include the Central African Republic and Mozambique. Overall the report indicates that over a quarter (458 million) of those living in poverty are found in Africa with large variances evident across the continent. For example, South Africa experiences a poverty level of 3%, whilst Niger sees a massive 93% poverty index and Gabon, Lesotho and Swaziland see a deprivation share of 45%. Of the 49 least developed countries grouped in the report, Africa takes the largest majority with 33 African countries listed as being the least developed. Considering that Africa has only 52 countries, having 33 listed as being the least developed indicates that over 63% of Africa is considered to be amongst the lowest ranked in development.

Nigeria YMCA

National General Secretary: Sam Ehuwa National Chair: John Evboifo Year of Creation: 1925 Member of World Alliance: 1965 Number of local branches: 45 Number of members: 55,000 Number of Men: 35,000 Number of Women: 20,000 Number of participants/ members under 30: 30,000 Population of Country: 152,217,341 Human Development Index: 0.511 Programmes: Youth Empowerment | Gender Sensitivity | Poverty Alleviation | Leadership Development | Political and Civic Education | Capacity Building towards Self Reliance | Adolescent Reproductive Heath | Computer Education and Skills Acquisition Programme | Vocational Training (Printing, Carpentry, Fitting) | Under five Clinic Programme | Community Development and Education | Youth and Children Camping and Recreation | Youth Leadership Training and Conferences Perhaps most surprisingly then, the idea that economic advancement is vital for improvements in social services, healthcare and education, has been challenged by the report. The report argues that rapid economic growth does not necessarily lead to improvements in health care services or education, and indications from the study show that advancements in health and education often surpass advancements in income. In many ways, this can again be attributed to the ongoing involvement of development organisations in much needed sectors, as their influx of resources and training has quickly been able to provide sustainable growth when income is not available.

In addition, the advancement of technologies and societal structures has led to “significant gains” for poorer countries and an “unprecedented flow of ideas” about health-saving technologies, political ideals and productive practices between countries. The use of new technologies for this type of information sharing will greatly improve over time and we can only hope that it will serve to improve similar technologies that advance social development in future. The report finds crucial evidence of this in that most developing countries monitored in the report show significant progress in the non-income based categories of health and education because of the employment of cheaper and more readily accessible advanced technologies.

The report went further to note that while global technologies improved access to development, global political and economic strategies tended to do the opposite. Specifically, one potential area that undermines human development is the introduction of global economic policies, a “one size fits all“ approach that makes little reflection for a country’s unique problems. “The shortcomings of that intellectual project are now evident and widely accepted. They underline the need to recognise the individuality of countries alongside the basic principles that can inform development strategies and policies in different settings.” A clear example of this being the adoption, at the urging of the World Bank, of the Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP) in Zimbabwe with little accounting for the instability the global policy would create. Although ESAP had worked in other countries, its effects were devastating for the Zimbabwean economy as little thought had been given to the ways in which it should be adapted for Zimbabwean culture, resources and labour practices.

In the end, the report shares an important hope for Africa: human development is not ultimately dependent on economic growth and “substantial achievements are possible even without fast growth” through creative solutions and the support of humanitarian and development organisations.

With full utilisation of available technology and creative individuated policies and strategies, Africa has the potential to close the human development gap with developed countries and establish creative development strategies that give a unique strength to the continent.

Liberia YMCA

National General Secretary: Edward Gboe National Chair: Sam Hare Year of Creation: 1881 Member of World Alliance: 1953 Number of local branches: 7 Number of members: 8,000 Number of Men: 5,250 Number of Women: 2,250 Number of participants/ members under 30: 6,750 Population of Country: 3,955,000 Human Development Index: 0.300 Programmes: Membership/Community Development Youth Leadership Dev./ Training | Peace Building and Civic Education | Sexual and Reproductive Health Programme | Youth Entrepreneurship Programme | Youth Leadership and Governance Programme | Youth Amateur Radio Programme | Youth Livelihood Support Programme/Apprenticeship Skills Training | Computer Training Programme | Sports and Recreation Programme | Primary and Secondary Education | Psycho-Social Services | Youth Camp Programme | Core Education Skills for Liberian Youth

www.ymca.int • YMCA WORLD • JUNE 2011

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: a i r e b i L d n a Kenya ously e g a r u o c s r o d a s n Ambas e iz it C o t t c je b u initiatives n From S io t c a ic iv c h it lead the way w

The revolutionary Subject to Citizen (S2C) programme could not have been rolled out at a more appropriate time in Africa’s history. As Africa’s youth rise up and publicly take a stand against corrupt leadership, the events in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya serve as a loud testament to the potential power youth hold as leaders and shapers of the country’s politics. In this way, the Civic Action aspect of the S2C programme is currently equipping the youth with the motivation, skills and tools needed to, according to the S2C mission, “understand, analyse and influence the political and economic arenas so they are better able to participate in societal decision-making processes in their communities and nations”.

Three key sites of this project can be found in Kenya, Liberia and Zimbabwe, all of which have experienced recent political upheaval and social insecurity. This article focuses on Kenya and Liberia.

A core strategy in the creation of the educational programme is the establishment of Y-Clubs which target school-going youth, and R-Clubs for professional and tertiary education level youth.

To achieve this in Liberia, the local YMCAs work closely with school authorities to introduce the S2C concept at high schools, with S2C being incorporated into 17 already existing Hi-Y clubs in Monrovia alone. Similarly, in Kenya, positive results are found with the implementation of S2C in Hi-Y Clubs in Mombasa and Nakuru. Mombasa has already adopted the programme into 26 Hi-Y clubs.

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Amongst the numerous successes of the S2C training in Kenya and Liberia is the remarkable adoption of the S2C model by the Liberia National Elections Commission. The Liberia YMCA has been accredited by the National Elections Commission to conduct civic and voter education in preparation for Liberia’s 2011 general and presidential elections. In doing so, not only does the Liberia National Elections Commission align itself with the Liberia YMCA, but it also shows strong support and trust for the ethos of the S2C initiative and the role S2C can play in voter education. As Aminata Foeday, Liberian S2C youth worker, explained, “The Liberia YMCA has recently been invited to major training and consultative forums focused on civic education. All these gatherings have largely focused on engagement with youth in the civic and voters’ education process.”

Beyond the R and Y-Clubs and their ongoing role in voter education, Liberia’s youth workers have also actively introduced 35 young people to governmental processes with numerous visits to the seat of parliament in Monrovia to observe discussions in the chambers of the House of Representatives and Senate of the Liberian Parliament. As Alston Armah, Liberian S2C youth worker, explains, “The visits exposed these young people to governance practices. Through this medium, we are empowering the youth to be able to engage with duty bearers in an effort to highlight the problems of young people for possible actions and solutions from government and other stakeholders.”

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Nations Offic i, S2C Ambass ng wa M to the United y on th An to d ar Aw presents an

The Liberia YMCA’s relationship with government became more firmly entrenched when in August 2010 the 35 youth visited the office of the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Defence and National Security to follow up on a letter in which the Liberia YMCA sought his sponsorship on the ratification of the African Youth Charter. In fact, their involvement was instrumental in the final ratification of the Charter in February 2011.

A core component of the civic action activities is the training of change catalysts in each region.

Change catalysts are trained in civic competence and the S2C curriculum manual is made open to the public, which has helped minimise public suspicion and encourage a public audit of the S2C curriculum. Change catalysts function exponentially, by approaching and training those around them. For example, in Kenya, 10 change catalysts have been able to reach 1,852 youth countrywide.

In Kenya, John Wamukoya, Liberian S2C youth worker, believes the programme has been instrumental in placing the youth “in the forefront of day to day leadership process” by incorporating “the change catalysts in our leadership positions and committees”. Doing so will ensure that youth interests are represented vocally within the leadership sector and will provide youth with an opportunity to fully develop their leadership abilities before accepting positions of political authority.

In addition, Kenya sees a uniquely casual approach to engaging political administration with the creation of regular Coffee Bar meetings which ensure that the youth are provided with spaces to meet and discuss issues with the administrators of justice in Nakuru and Naivasha.

According to John, the Coffee Bar meetings have helped the youth address issues that include the rectification of the “delay of official government identity cards” and educating the youth on the application procedure for the fund established by the youth ministry.

In addition, the Kenyan and Liberian youth are quick to acknowledge the importance of communicating S2C through the media in their countries by regularly having a presence on popular radio stations and electronic media in their region.

As Aminata explains, “I was invited to a radio talk show by the former Information Minister, Dr. Lawrence Bropleh, to discuss the topic: Change in Mind, Change in Attitude - the role of youth for the Liberian Renaissance” and Alston adds that, “we have produced several S2C jingles and they are being aired on leading national radio stations.”

Considering the level of energy and dedication shown by the youth working with S2C it is clear to see the support they feel for the initiative, with John saying the programme has opened up avenues for partnership, “by letting the young people lead from inside at all times”. He further states, “As a means of strengthening the process I have incorporated other partners like the Peace Corps in the S2C process in Nakuru.”

Alston, for his part, speaks of the way in which the programme addresses crisis in the community.

“The S2C concept continues to have enormous influence as it creates a conscious youth with the voice and influence to effect positive change beginning at the community level and onto national levels and beyond.”

Kenya YMCA

National General Secretary: Jared Musima National Chair: Michael Mwangi Year of Creation: 1910 Member of World Alliance: 1961 Number of local branches: 25 Number of members: 438,000 Number of Men: 240,900 Number of Women: 197,100 Number of participants/ members under 30: 306,600 Population of Country: 40,046,566 Human Development Index: 0.470 Programmes: Environmental Conservation | Early Childhood Education | HIV/AIDS Programmes | Vocational Training | Recreational Programme Activities | Hostels Services | Community Health Care Programmes | Christian Programmes | Civic Competence Programmes | Leadership Development

www.ymca.int • YMCA WORLD • JUNE 2011

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: r a c s a g Mada

tive set ia it in e c n a s th is a n Economic Re oved economic realities to you to bring impr

To improve the lives of youth in Africa, the Africa Alliance of YMCAs (AAYMCA) through the Subject to Citizen (S2C) Programme, has employed a unique Economic Renaissance strategy to address livelihood issues and encourage the youth to save, invest and create their own enterprise development opportunities. Funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) and in partnership with KFUK/KFUM - Y Global, Norway, the Economic Renaissance project has been rolled out in Madagascar’s Ankazomanga and Fort Dauphin regions and is already seeing increasing support.

As Nantenaina Rajaona, Madagascar S2C youth worker, explains, “The overall project outcome is to move the youth from a state of economic inertia to empowerment through project financing, entrepreneurship, training and mentoring and through strategic investments.”

The intention of the project is to:

Currently, the ability of the youth to compete against established corporations results in difficulties when placing and pricing their products and services. As a result, the youth tend to employ older entrepreneurship models, working most commonly in small commerce such as food and beverages, groceries, second-hand clothing and house materials. The research indicates that 72% of youth entrepreneurship occurs in the informal sector, meaning there is little protection or support for their initiatives.

Going forward, the coming years will see the creation of a total of 6 saving schemes, (3 in Antananarivo and 3 in Fort Dauphin) which will attract a total of 120 savers to ensure deposit mobIlisation. In addition, 4 youth investment clubs will be created and each will target 10 energetic and successful young entrepreneurs. Finally, the Economic Renaissance project will bring together 20 entrepreneur experts from each region to contribute to reflections on the projects so further responses to youth economic empowerment can be developed.

• Empower young people to engage in transformative economic processes through project financing; • Train and mentor young business owners on transformative entrepreneurship; and • Increase the purchasing power of young people by creating collective resources for investment.

Work in Madagascar began with baseline participatory action research conducted in the selected regions, with 261 and 198 research participants in Antananarivo and Fort Dauphin respectively. In addition, 3 focus groups consisting of 15 youth were held to establish the contextual reality of those living in the regions so that an appropriate project curriculum could be designed to meet the specific needs of the project beneficiaries and communities.

Key questions asked by the research focused on the extent to which the youth were able to access finances in Madagascar while the research also evaluated the ways in which youth are able to access credit and market spaces. In addition, the research determined the gaps youth could fill through the adoption and adaptation of existing youth entrepreneurship models youth could innovatively engage with.

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Madagascar YMCA

National General Secretary: Lantonirina Rakotomalala National Chair: Jose Rambinintoa Year of Creation: 1924 Member of World Alliance: 1996 Number of local branches: 8 Number of members: 1,000 Number of participants/ members under 30: 380 Population of Country: 20,000,000 Human Development Index: 0.571 Programmes: Vocational Training | Youth Livelihoods | Youth Entrepreneurship | HIV prevention and Peer Education | Intergenerational Dialogue | Youth advocacy on Sexual Health and Development | Sports and Recreation | Nutrition and Education Support

: e w b a Zimb egies t a r t s r e d n e g t n on men Curre ” k c a t t a n a “ s a are perceived

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“We men don’t show our feelings... we can’t have any... now men feel that a woman has the right to insult them and men can’t fight back.... it has a bearing with the way men express feeling... at how gender is brought up”, a male research participant remarks with a tense frown and exasperated sigh.

His frustrated words throw a sharp light on men’s increasing mistrust of gender-related training and policies in Zimbabwe today and hint at the root cause of the increase in gender-based violence in the region.

Following a decade of political and economic instability (much of which resulted from government economic policies), Zimbabwean men have found themselves feeling powerless and emasculated within cultures that have always prioritised the economic and physical positioning of men in their families. The pressure of the high cost of day-today living and the exclusion of men in government gender policies has resulted in a confused state of conflict and destabilisation of traditional gender roles in the region. This has left many men feeling like they have little place in the new system and little way to discover new roles for themselves both within the family and in the work place.

Zimbabwe YMCA

National General Secretary: Rev Jacob Maforo National Chair: Langton Mabhanga Year of Creation: 1968 Member of World Alliance: 1985 Number of local branches: 5 Number of members: 5,000 Number of Men: 3,500 Number of Women: 1,500 Number of participants/ members under 30: 2,000 Population of Country: 12,521,000 Human Development Index: 0.140 Programmes: Talent identification and Development in Sports | AIDS Awareness and Education | Access to Health and Reproductive Health Facilities | Create Networks within Civil Society to rebuild a strong united movement | Peer Education

In recognition of this, the Africa Alliance of YMCAs (AAYMCA) undertook a piece of large scale research in two key areas in Zimbabwe (namely Kadoma and Bulawayo) to inform the development of a Transformative Masculinity component to its Subject to Citizen (S2C) programme. The ultimate intention of the Transformative Masculinity project, funded by Norad and in partnership with KFUK/ KFUM Norway and Y Global, is to provide young men with new models of behaviour that ensure they contribute meaningfully to their families and find rewarding positions in an ever-changing world.

Conducted in June 2010 and January 2011 with close to 1,300 Zimbabwean youth, the AAYMCA research suggests that the way in which Zimbabwean men perceive themselves has become confused and frustrated by economic and political policies in the region. Men are often frustrated, distrustful of women, and only after self-gratification in the world in which he feels marginalised and excluded.

Findings from the research further suggest that one of the biggest failures in state policies has been the emasculation and isolation of men through and from gender-mainstreaming and gender-based rights education. Amongst the Ndebele, government policies have so often been repealed or used to oppress men that many research participants in Bulawayo indicated a deep mistrust or general apathy towards policies that are supposed to develop or better men and the community… As one male participant remarked on the way his gender-training is met by the community, “[They say] ‘One day you will come back and you will say ‘I should have listened to you and beat my wife’. For many in the community, gender-training is just a temporarily popular political trend that will ultimately give way to traditional approaches. Problematically, many hold onto the idea that the long history of domestic violence in traditional cultures still has value. The idea that longevity equals success is perhaps the biggest hurdle gender-equality initiatives will have to overcome.

Male participants in the study argued that “the nature of the approach of the government and the NGO partners” has led to male mistrust of, and irritation towards, all gender-approaches. One participant remarked that gender education “is more of an attack on men than a connection to social issues... men feel like they are being attacked”. Another stated in agreement that “men feel subtly attacked by gender... men need to go to men to learn to treat their women right” through new strategies that do not marginalise the importance of men in their economies, communities and families.

www.ymca.int • YMCA WORLD • JUNE 2011

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Zambia YMCA

National General Secretary: Annie Ngwira National Chair: Moses Chilangwa Year of Creation: 1958 Member of World Alliance: 1968 Number of local branches: 12 Number of members: 48,000 Population of Country: 12,935,000 Human Development Index: 0.481 Programmes: HIV/AIDS | Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship | Economic Empowerment

From the research, there is a definite indication that gender-mainstreaming instituted by the government has given the impression to men that women are often favoured and employed over men. Such situations exacerbate feelings of powerlessness experienced by men and further increase the difficulty men have in understanding their role within the family and economy as one 20-year-old man in the research remarked, “As an accountant I can’t get a job, but my girlfriend is an accountant and she can get a job… No matter how good you are as a man, you might be overlooked.” He said further that, “Once a man is earning less than a woman things are bound to get physical... there are many cases where men are paid less than women…

In Bulawayo 5 or 6 out of 10 women make more money than men”. Statistically, it is difficult to verify employment figures, but what is of concern is the perception amongst some men that women are stealing their jobs. As with all complex social relationships, perceptions are often more damaging to relationships than fact. Indeed, this participant’s perception of the situation creates his own truth and a truth for those he would communicate with.

It can be argued then that men in the region are reacting to gender-training based on their perception that gender-training creates an environment of favouritism for women, a perception that must be overcome by Transformative Masculinity training.

A crucial role, then, of Transformative Masculinity, is to change the perception of gender-training and gender-equality in the region and to develop a model of gender-education that is inclusive of the interests of men and women and one that is concerned with the improvement of communication and negotiation between men and women.

The existing gender-initiatives in the region tend to focus on the empowerment and advancement of women. It is not surprising then, for men to perceive “gender” as a term that people use to denote policies and practices that better the lives of women. Similarly, when there is talk of developing balanced gender roles, men often feel that cultural norms which dictate their social and economic responsibilities and shape their identity are not considered. The vital need to overcome this misinterpretation of gender-equality would therefore act as the core and ground the AAYMCA Transformative Masculinity project so as to develop a model of gender-education that includes men and women.

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The way in which gender-based policies are rapidly enacted within communities has given men very little opportunity to understand and create their own positions; instead they feel forced to respond, without a practical understanding of the change, to what they perceive to be discriminatory practices that favour women. As one male participant in Bulawayo suggested, education is not enough to generate change; instead experiences of mutual respect and support must also become a key tool. “I think exposure is better than knowledge... experience is a great teacher. I had a hard upbringing and a lot of anger but if you are exposed to different methods and see what it means, you get a paradigm shift”. Without spaces for experiential learning, such as working sideby-side with women to achieve a particular goal, men in both regions currently find it difficult to understand their place, relationship with women and the power dynamics between the genders in the ever-changing social and political situation. The changes to the roles men play have become difficult to accept to many men who often turn to alcohol and domestic abuse as a means to release and express their frustrations.

The frustration and impatience of men has made already difficult gender-relations harder to resolve, as women adopt a dual contradictory strategy of silence and “nagging” when dealing with their partners.

As a woman in her 20s remarked, “We don’t say anything… because we know he will drink, and get angry… and we must take care of our children”.

Men for their part, see little of the silent wall women feel trapped behind, instead arguing that women are allowed to nag and insult them while men are themselves prevented from responding because of new legal frameworks that protect women.

As one male participant in the study argued, “I grew up in a society where men have the final say... nowadays women can argue day in and day out so it [physical abuse of women] is the last place I feel powerful.”

Another expressed similar thoughts about his own feelings of powerlessness, “There is only one part that I knew she will never beat me, and that is the physical.”

When asked about the verbal abuse of men, women responded that “they nag because men don’t allow women to work”, and that “women are factual, they have the facts… men feel threatened and they use violence as their power”.

The fact that men perceive domestic violence as the only way in which to respond is problematic and needs to be addressed by Transformative Masculinity initiatives. Men must be introduced to ways of dealing with conflict through dialogue, negotiation and even debate rather than simply resorting to inflicting physical abuse on their partners. Similarly, women who may feel empowered by their new gender identities but should be made aware of the difference between their strength gained from personal confidence and the damaging strength they may gain through verbally abusing their partners.

From the women interviewed, there is little understanding that men feel isolated from their families and so withdraw often through alcohol.

Instead women believe men have become lazy and dismissive of family needs. One woman in her 30s stated: “Women are actually the backbone behind subsistence farming… husbands rarely do anything… they are looking for alcohol…. when we harvest, the man takes the money for alcohol.” With the changing role of women, men have not been equipped with the necessary skills to reposition themselves, while women perhaps perceive this difficulty as a lack of interest. Transformative Masculinity is therefore designed to ensure the reorientation of men, with the inclusion of women, so as to undo the problematic isolation of men and women from each other.

Another female participant believed that the absence of men in families has forced mothers to migrate to different areas in search of income, leaving behind young girls to care for their siblings in their parent’s absence. This has led to additional abuse of women as they become dependent on risky survival strategies such as prostitution and transactional sex. As she explains, “8 or 9 out of 10 women will work in South Africa, so young girls are taking care of other siblings… some of them will become prostitutes and go to the mines.”

Togo YMCA

National General Secretary: Gerard Atohoun National Chair: David Ohini Sanvee Year of Creation: 1903 Member of World Alliance: 1991 Number of local branches: 21 Number of members: 30,000 Number of Men: 12,000 Number of Women: 18,000 Number of participants/ members under 30: 11,500 Population of Country: 6,619,000 Human Development Index: 0.428 Programmes: Countering STI’s, HIV and AIDS | Youth Justice Action Campaign | Justice and Rehabilitation for Young Offenders | Children’s Education Project | Peace Building, CAFAP Summer Camps

As a consequence of this, men now have access to numerous sexual partners who easily negotiate sex in exchange for money or “gifts”.

This situation provides an easy escape from the often constrictive traditional models of family and contributes to the degeneration of marital roles.

In the end, the consequence of the struggling gender-relations in the region has resulted in the polarisation and isolation of men and women. As one male participant argued, the changing gender roles have left men with little place to understand or recreate their manhood and as a result, “you find men isolating themselves… men meet other men [in pubs and bars] to strategise and that affects the family psychologically and financially”. Similarly, women meet with other women to discuss their problems and arrange their own financial solutions, such as collective finance groups. The isolation of men and women from each other ultimately results in strategies being developed outside of the family relationship, strategies which are often reactionary to each other. As a gender strategy concerned with the development of healthier gender roles and relationships, Transformative Masculinity focuses on the need for men and women to meet with each other to develop strategies and discuss difficulties. In this respect then, while existing gender-education strategies have contributed to the isolation of men and women from each other, Transformative Masculinity looks to the ways in which men and women can equally include each other in their individual lives.

Findings from the research will be used to inform the development of the Transformative Masculinity project curriculum for implementation in Kadoma and Bulawayo. The curriculum will address issues of gender-based violence and the gender-based economic survival strategies in the region. The curriculum will also provide men and women with role models who provide a better understanding of the ways in which men and women can develop a system of mutual respect that will allow for the successful negotiation of their roles within their relationships. www.ymca.int • YMCA WORLD • JUNE 2011

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a r a v e u G e h C Findingegal in Sen

is

Christine Dav

When people are starving, dying and struggling against the corrupt and unjust, why is the development of communication in Africa important, and why should we focus on improving press freedom and the access the youth have to public forums?

While theoretical explanations about identity, construction and the psychological need for expression can be made, recently my thoughts have been crystallised by a surprising source, through my stay in the small city of Ziguinchor in Casamance, Senegal.

As I was jostled around in the passenger seat, squinting against the heat and through the cloud of fine grainy sand which had sought to permanently ingrain itself onto my face over the past few days, we passed numerous, seemingly identical, clay buildings. These shop front walls stained from years of sand erosion, wooden crates and makeshift benches propped along the sides The frontof the store opened out to allow for the selling of the usual assortment of local snacks, cool drinks, trinkets and cell phone chargers by young smiling shop assistants. One shop stood out though, because an entire wall bore a vibrantly painted reproduction of the iconic photograph of Ché Guevara.

Perhaps in a western world, with stable politics and civilians who lead a generally privileged life, the importance of Che Guevara has been eroded by the fashion trending of his image, but in Casamance his presence tends to indicate more than just consumerist coolness.

Casamance has experienced what is almost dismissively known as a “low level” civil war between the Senegalese Government and the Movement of Democratic Forces in Casamance since 1990, resulting in sporadic violence.

Senegal YMCA, funded by Comic Relief and with technical support from Y Care International, has worked tirelessly in this area to ensure improved education, vocational training, infrastructure rehabilitation, malaria eradication, peace promotion, and landmine clearance.

The civil war has all but crippled the economy, weakening tourism and corporate investment in the region, and the only media produced here is through one radio station, so those in Ziguinchor have few ways of speaking of their issues or developing the profile of leaders they can stand behind and follow.

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To help address this, the Africa Alliance of YMCAs (AAYMCA), through World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) funding, is piloting a Young Women Communicating for Justice Project. Over six months, 16 women between the ages of 20-30, will publish monthly media products including radio dispatches, news articles, photographs and poetry. Working with professional female journalists during this period, the participants` first submissions will be published on the AAYMCA website in early April and will continue through to July 2011.

The presence of Che Guevara here is not about making fashion statements, according to the locals I spoke to. For many, Che Guevara represents freedom from oppression and political silence, his status rallying rebellion and civic empowerment. What Che Guevara represents has given many in Ziguinchor hope and purpose. His image, distributed through the media worldwide, has a very real, very personal relevance to the people of Casamance. Problematically though, without their own media, people in Ziguinchor have no real way of discussing their issues, developing their own leadership and finding ways to improve their own social situation. For them, the political agenda is still established by the media which they have no control over.

Ultimately, this can only result in one thing, prolonged conflict. Those in Ziguinchor will have little opportunity to learn to trust their government or find solutions that will end the decades-old climate of tension, fear and intimidation.

People have an inherent need to speak and express themselves… if they do not have space in the newspapers, televisions and radios… they will paint it on the walls and use imagery that does not necessarily represent them directly.

Senegal YMCA

National General Secretary: Jean Bassene National Chair: Adrien Coly Year of Creation: 1982 Member of World Alliance: 1991 Number of local branches: 9 Number of members: 5,000 Number of Men: 3,470 Number of Women: 1,530 Number of participants/ members under 30: 3,200 Population of Country: 13,711,597 Human Development Index: 0.464 Programmes: Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS | Kindergarten and Primary school | Patronage | Literacy | Multipurpose Hall | Camps | International Camp Counsellor | Entrepreneurship | Reconstruction and Peace Education | Driving School | Computer Science for Children | Basketball | Martial Arts (Karate, Taekwondo)

Strengthened Sierra Leone YMCA now leads in the West In their quest to empower young people for the African renaissance, the African YMCAs are determined to strengthen themselves in terms of leadership, governance, and organisational and capacity development. In order to make maximum impact through Subject to Citizen (S2C) and other youth-orientated transformational programmes, attention has been paid to strengthening movements through the Global Operating Plan (GOP) in particular, which is complemented by initiatives such as the Peer Review mechanism.

Sierra Leone YMCA is a GOP success story and was the first movement to undergo peer review in 2009.

When GOP began in 2004, according to Christian Kamara, National General Secretary, the focus was on “overcoming challenges in governance such as outdated policies, and absent procedures and manual systems for financial management; improving the competence of board members and quality and capacity of staff; and finally, dealing with poor resource mobilisation.”

Partners who joined the process were YMCA of Simceo/Muskoka in Canada, Germany YMCA, YMCA of Greater Missoula Family, Africa and World Alliances of YMCAs. Together, a strategic plan and road map was developed with harmonised direction and actions which ensured that activities were measurable.

“One of the biggest changes to resource mobilisation came from paying attention to our membership base. We have categorised our membership into gold, silver and bronze where people are not just contributing their funds but are also contributing their time. We have been able to raise a substantial amount of money from our membership. Besides the categorised membership, we also have the ordinary membership. Before we began this, income from membership was negligible but now stands at about 20%.”

During the AAYMCA maiden peer review, Senegal, Liberia and Ghana participated. The process involved scoring the movement against the AAYMCA sustainability criteria, and verification of some of the projects in the field.

“Their major strength is the quality and commitment of leaders that they have at both staff and volunteer levels. The team spirit between staff and volunteers was very apparent,” said Prosper Hoeyi, then NGS of Ghana, who wrote about the experience.

Now that all governance issues have been dealt with and the movement is headed by a capable and dynamic board and staffed with competent and committed people, attention is being paid to the domestication of GOP. “This involves using a similar process at branch level and is almost a GOP rollout locally. This is unique as it has not been done before,” said Christian.

Entitled SLOP (for Sierra Leone Local Operating Plan), it is being piloted in 6 of the 24 branches. Individual road maps have been developed and training has begun.

Although Sierra Leone YMCA should have graduated from GOP in 2010, the movement and its partners still adhere to the GOP principles of collective planning and responsibility. Now Sierra Leone YMCA is assisting other YMCAs. “This has mainly been in terms of sharing experiences and documentation primarily with Liberia and Ghana YMCAs. We will assist Ghana with the domestication of GOP, based on our progress and findings with implementing SLOP,” said Christian.

Perhaps one of the biggest measures of GOP success is that Christian has recently taken up a part-time role of Western Zone Coordinator for the AAYMCA. This is a testimony to both the leadership of Sierra Leone YMCA and their capacity to release their NGS for this portfolio. In this role, Christian will be coordinating GOP, Peer Review and other movement strengthening initiatives for the six national movements in the zone.

Sierra-Leone YMCA

National General Secretary: Christian Kamara National Chair: Charles Siaka Year of Creation: 1912 Member of World Alliance: 1981 Number of local branches: 21 Number of members: 5,000 Number of Men: 3,000 Number of Women: 2,000 Number of participants/ members under 30: 3,500 Population of Country: 6,200,000 Human Development Index: 0.365 Programmes: Vocational and Technical Education

| Governance and Peace Building | Gender and Youth Empowerment | Reproductive Health, HIV and AIDS | Agriculture | Hostel and Business Centre | Youth Justice and Human Rights Campaign | Pre-School and Junior Secondary Education | Research and Documentation | Sports-Boxing Day and Basket Ball Teams | Youth Livelihood and Advocacy Programmes | Youth Livelihood and Governance Programmes | Subject to Citizen Programme

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n i e r u t u The f politics: youth ion 2 0 t u l o v e R ˙ For Africa, the first quarter of 2011 will be known for the remarkable surge of the youth into the political arena. The movement spread within a couple of months, first building in Tunisia, then to Egypt where millions marched in the streets, and on to Libya where political opposition against the ruling dictatorship still continues despite violent reprisals from the military.

Theorists will spend decades on the reasons for the growth of youth involvement in politics, especially in such a revolutionary way, but what is absolutely clear is the emergence of social media as a political force to be reckoned with.

Notable social commentators have come down on either side of the social media divide with well-known writers and thinkers like Malcolm Gladwell of the New Yorker claiming that how people choose to discuss their problems is “less interesting, in the end, than why they were driven to do it in the first place”. To their way of thinking, social media is incapable of creating powerful and sustainable social activism from spaces like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Social media activists would argue otherwise, and for good reason. Many believe now that the remarkable revolution witnessed in Egypt was born from Facebook, the world’s most popular website, through a page created by Google executive Wael Ghonim, to promote peaceful and organised protests in Egypt. The Facebook page had been dedicated to alleged state-murdered businessman Khaleed Saeed and had registered over 400 000 users by January 2011, providing many Egyptians with their first real space for discussion, organisation, dissent and hope.

Importantly, the Facebook page called for mass protests on 25 January 2011. At the same time, popular Egyptian social activist Aasma Mahfouz, known for her posting of videos in protest of the government, called for a gathering at Tahrir Square to demand democracy. Within days of these posts millions had gathered in Tahrir Square in a peaceful, organised protest that demanded exactly that, democracy.

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Since the uprising, Ghonim has been extensively interviewed on the importance of social media, he himself calling the events in Egypt, “Revolution 2.0”, and saying that “if you want to liberate a country, give them the Internet”. Before his arrest in Egypt during the political uprising, Ghonim even responded to Gladwell`s disbelief of the importance of social media by tweeting, “Jan 25 proved you wrong. Revolution can be a Facebook event that is liked, shared and tweeted.”

In many respects, social media has been underutilised by non-profits and those working in social development spheres. But the birth of Revolution 2.0 brings much opportunity to all working in the humanitarian and youth development sectors. For the work being done by the Africa Alliance of YMCAs (AAYMCA), the growth of political activism through social media is paramount, especially when you consider that over 50% of the world’s population is under 30 years old and 96% of those have joined a social network (Grunwald Associates National Study).

The AAYMCA has, for the past few years, actively strategised the incorporation of social media into their Subject 2 Citizen youth civic engagement work, with the creation of online blogs, widely distributed news articles, Facebook and YouTube pages, and a soon-to-be published fully interactive socially networked website.

A notable success in this regard is the Subject 2 Citizen song produced by the AAYMCA and popular Ghanaian musician Chemphe. From initial discussions with Chemphe in April 2010, to development, recording and posting of the song on YouTube in May 2010, the S2C song has been used throughout Africa as an inspirational message of youth political participation, civic education and political engagement. Through the phenomenal support of Chemphe, the message was spread to Hong Kong when he performed at the World Council of YMCAs in July 2010, and now to Norway for the annual KFUK-KFUM Global Week and Festival to be held from 23 June to 3 July 2011.

rs gesture as Demonstrato the g symbolizing fla they hold a th ent em ov m t es ot pr February 20 bat Ra in n tio onstra during a dem © Reuters

Angola YMCA

National General Secretary: Mantuila Sebastião National Chair: Arao Dongoxi Pala Canda Year of Creation: 1976 Member of World Alliance: 1985 Number of local branches: 6 Number of members: 5,104 Number of Men: 4,284 Number of Women: 820 Number of participants/ members under 30: 3,000 Population of Country: 18,498,000 Human Development Index: 0.403 Programmes: Basic Education | Vocational Training | Health and Humanitarian Assistance (emergency and rehabilitation) | Bible Study | Promotion of Civic Education | Human Rights | Sports and Recreation, Camps and Excursions

The 2011 Global Week and Festival, which is this year being developed in partnership with the AAYMCA, will a see strategised combination of social activism with offline real-world training strategies. Through the annual leadership training course in Norway, Chemphe will perform and conduct a songwriting workshop with youth from around the world. In essence then, a message born in Africa through social media is being shared through real-world training strategies in Norway, by those who initially expressed their message virtually.

If smartly strategised, social media can effectively act in conjunction with real-world development strategies and techniques for the benefit of all.

In this respect then, as many social activists are quick to point out, social media is merely a tool whose lifeblood comes from the strategy activists develop when they use the tools. Social media then, cannot replace social activism, but it can give people a way to more easily connect, share and coordinate their activism. It can also provide us with the opportunity to integrate social media into our work, so that we are drawing from those who can only speak online, to inform the strategies we develop with them to improve their real world conditions.

“YMCA Empowering Young People” WORLD YMCA CHALLENGE Get involved, get connected – You are part of something bigger!

The World Alliance is delighted to invite the World YMCA Movement to participate in a new initiative – a lifetime experience starting in 2012 that will demonstrate the relevance of the YMCA to itself and to the World.

The English YMCA movement presented this project to the World Council of YMCAs in 2010 and, together with the World Alliance, has been preparing it’s launch since then. A resolution supporting this initiative was passed at World Council, so it now needs to be executed by the World Movement.

This is an invitation for more than 5 million people to get involved and have fun, whilst helping the YMCA to send a strong message of unity and impact to the world. The challenge in 2012 is to invite our communities to join a worldwide YMCA Celebration of our activities and at the same time shoot basketballs, the 2012 Motivating Factor, with the aim to attempt a new world record for the number of people shooting basketballs simultaneously. This challenge will take place within the context of a celebration of the work we are achieving in every community where the YMCA has a presence, with the support of volunteers, staff members, governments and other partners

The Goal of the World YMCA Challenge is: To celebrate the daily life changing impact of the YMCA in local communities and our role in strengthening people: For the movement to learn how to better use its collective potential to raise awareness and visibility of the YMCA worldwide

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How will this work in 2012 A coordinated event will take place on one specified day in 2012 (date to be advised) Each local YMCA will invite members, volunteers, communities etc. for a genuine YMCA day, with games, recreation, expositions, YMCA related activities with one common element which will be

SHOOTING BASKETBALLS

For the event to be successful, it is crucial to identify and nominate a local coordination committee that includes young leaders and volunteers Each participating YMCA will need to register the time and address of the local event in order to help the global communication process. (Registration details to be advised.)

Each participating YMCA will need to provide a brief report after the event, stating the number of people involved in the initiative, and send 3 photographs of the event to the World Alliance of YMCAs through a special hot site.

You can invite potential new members/participants to take part in the activities; You can invite community leaders, government representatives, and famous personalities and develop new relationships; You can organise related events before and after the big day, such as expositions, workshops, courses etc.; You can organise basketball tournaments and invite your wider community; You can use your creativity and add or create many other opportunities for your YMCA.

Opportunities:

Local Branding and Communications Strategies

The 2012 YMCA World Challenge is a great opportunity for your local YMCA, and the World Movement, to develop Public Relations activities, and develop relations with the local media and your community.

Each national movement will be responsible to adapt its communications and activities to local realities and priorities. The common elements that should be preserved are:

Why get involved?

You can profile your YMCA as a modern and international youth organisation; You can promote your YMCAs as part of a world family that, together, will work to establish a new world record and achieve something unique;

- The core message is around young people - The event logo - A mass mobilisation of people - The 2012 Motivating Factor

Communications Initiative The World Alliance of YMCAs will work in partnership with Central London YMCA in producing complementary communications and promotional material such as video productions etc.

Further details will be sent to area organisations and national movements in the second part of 2011 – keep visiting your international website for updates – www.ymca.int

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