NETWORKS FOR CHANGE AND WELL-BEING Girl-led ‘From the Ground Up’ Policy Making to Address Sexual Violence in Canada and South Africa
Dear Partners, Colleagues and Friends of Networks4Change Welcome to what we term ‘the Imbizo Edition’ of the newsletter. The word imbizo in isiZulu means ‘a gathering,’ and that is exactly what we held on July 15, 2021 in the form of a virtual coming together of girls and young women from sites in Canada and South Africa to celebrate their achievements in Networks for Change and Well-being. The Imbizo had been postponed due to COVID-19 from 2020 when it was meant to happen, and reconfigured from an event where everyone would convene face to face in Durban, South Africa to become what could only be termed a hybrid: everyone on Zoom but with some groups in small face to face clusters, other girls, unable to gather because of lockdown, in their own homes, and some only getting to experience the event asynchronously. But it took place, organized around testimonials, screenings of newly created videos, song, poetry, a book launch of a collection co-edited by young women across Canada and South Africa, and the launch of a new podcast series. The preparation for the event sparked so much creativity with this issue of the newsletter offering some of the highlights. We thank the girls and young women themselves who participated in building the Networks4Change movement to what it has become today. Through their generosity, creativity, hard work, and activism, as you witnessed in the work we shared in previous newsletters of the Network, these young people have made a huge contribution towards making their communities safe and inclusive for young people. We celebrate them! We acknowledge the tremendous contributions of the site leaders, coordinators, researchers, aunties and mentors, the mothers, fathers, guardians, and significantly the elders and traditional leaders, the teachers and others, for supporting the young people in the important work they engaged in across Canada and South Africa. We want to appreciate the support of our academic and community partners in the project for coordinating and supporting the work in the various sites in the two countries. A special thank you goes to the McGill interns whose planning, coordination, and support in our many activities was simply outstanding throughout. In keeping with this year’s theme for International Day of the Girl, October 11, 2021—“Digital Generation. Our Generation” we of course celebrate what seemed like a feat to get so many groups of girls together virtually on July 15. We acknowledge though that our work is not done, not only in terms of access, but in relation to what needs to be done to address gender-based violence. Our aim in this newsletter is to celebrate our international partnership, and especially the hard and creative work and achievements of the young people in the project. What they started—the Networks4Change movement—is a powerful initiative that not only needs to continue, but also needs to grow to other parts of our two countries and beyond! A LUTA CONTINUA! Claudia and Lebo
Issue 13: October 2021
Content Imbizo
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Circle Back Book Launch
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Circle Back Podcast Launch
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Networks Fieldsites
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Timeline of Youth-led Work Biographies COVID-19 Timelines Updates Announcements & Celebrations Recent & Future Graduates 9th McGill Cellphilm Festival Orange Shirt Day
6 7 15 17 22 22 27 28
New Publications
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The Circle Expands
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Thank You McGill Summer Interns
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Partners & Stakeholders
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