On November 21, three well-known international organizations held a seminar on “Women’s Participation and Empowerment in the World.” With the collaboration of Entraide et Fraternité, the MIJARC (International Movement of Catholic Agricultural and Rural Youth), the FIMARC (International Federation of Catholic Rural Adult Movements) and the IYCW (International Young Christian Workers) agreed to organize this seminar, in which young and adult women from countries such as Paraguay, Nicaragua, Peru, Colombia, Brazil, Haiti, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic participated.
The seminar, which was held online, had the important contributions of three participants from Peru, Nicaragua and Paraguay, who explained what it means to be a woman in their countries and described the reality they face in all aspects of their lives.
IYCW News - The Americas YCW (JOCA) organised a virtual exchange on 9 and 16 July 2021. The aim was to share about realities, needs, challenges and actions re unemployment and precarious young workers in the world of work at the continental level.
Participants in the event were young workers, activists and adults from different countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, such as Paraguay, Chile, Peru, Guatemala, Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Mexico, Haiti, as well as a young German volunteer in Peru.
“The current global health crisis (Covid-19) has made even more visible the inequalities that we live in our societies; some of us have reinvented ways of work for survival while those who still have a job are submerged in long working hours and faced with double workload. Their salaries are often not enough to cover one or two meals a day plus other fixed costs. In addition, the cost of food, transportation and connectivity has increased,” Ana Cecilia from the Americas YCW team explained.
“I was impressed to see that YCW Nicaragua has a plan about their gender action. It is elaborate, with objectives and everything. It made me wonder why we don’t have such a plan in the Walloon YCW.”
This is a statement from Zoe, a fulltimer in the Walloon YCW, telling other French-speaking comrades about her experience in the Spanish-speaking exchange. When describing her action on gender in the Walloon YCW, she presented a national action group giving space to young women and LGBTQI to act together.
Just like her, other delegates from Gabon, Haiti, Congo Brazzaville, Germany, Ghana, Peru, Indonesia, Wallonia (Belgium) and Nicaragua accepted the IYCW gender commission’s invitation to meet in different spaces organized according to time zones and languages in order to exchange about their actions related to gender. When sharing experiences about gender-based violence and discrimination, it became obvious that existing inequalities increased even more because of the current global pandemic. As Rony from Indonesia reported:
“It is a real challenge that many women in Indonesia do not have any health insurance. This is always bad, but it is a real challenge in such a health crisis. Also, many health workers, who are the front-liners right now in our country, are females.”
As part of the celebrations of the "International Week of Young Workers" and "May Day", the IYCW organized an online debate on the impact of digitalization on work, life and action on April 30.
With the participation of activists of the movement from different countries and continents, as well as a large number of representatives of social organizations, trade unions, people involved in international cooperation and former activists, the online debate was able to clarify, in its different dimensions, the impact of digitalization on young workers’ lives.
Based on the testimonies and life experiences collected and analyzed, the IYCW noted that young workers, most of whom are forced into precarious work, without contracts or with short-term contracts signed by temporary work agencies, or working in "maquilas", in the informal sector of the economy or in rural areas, as well as students and unemployed youth, do not benefit from the social and economic opportunities presented as advantages of digitalization.
It has been almost a year since Covid-19 emerged and it is still hitting humanity very hard. Unfortunately as predicted, young workers have not been able to escape and they are strongly affected by the situation. They are experiencing the impact and consequences of the pandemic in their daily lives, in their social life, in their families and at work.
Taking this reality into account, the IYCW carried out a survey and collected testimonies from young workers around the world. The International YCW wants to share that information and those realities and will therefore organize a webinar on the impact of Covid-19 on young workers’ reality on December 12, 2020 at 2:00pm (CET-Brussels time).
The panelists for this webinar are from Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe, and they will share their analysis on the impact that the measures implemented after the surge of Covid-19 around the world have on young workers’ reality. There will be young activists of the International YCW, a representative of a Belgian social movement (WSM), the Deputy Director of the Bureau for Workers’ Activities (ACTRAV/ILO), as well as the former International YCW president (2000-2004) who fights for social rights in Quebec.
Our aim is
- To raise public awareness about how young workers have been affected by this global pandemic and about the impact of the measures implemented by the states on their lives;
- To give visibility to the actions carried out by young workers as an alternative to face the measures against Covid-19, as well as their demands to improve their living and working conditions.
You are most welcome to take part in this important WEBINAR!
Save the date: Saturday, December 12, 2020 at 2:00pm (CET-Brussels time).
Translation: Spanish/English.
If you wish to participate, please click on the link below and sign up: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_kzGL7k0BSMKV-8EKV5cgiw
The online event will also be broadcast live on our social media: Facebook & YouTube.
Please spread this information. We look forward to your participation!
- Details
The YCW, Has celebrated the 138th anniversary of the birth of its founder Joseph Cardijn. See in this video the testimonies of young workers and adults who were YCW militants, they share their testimony about the contribution of YCW to continue fighting for a world full of justice and peace. We would like to thank all those present at the activity and our invited friends from other institutions and networking organizations. 14.30 Music is played (artistic arrival) – (YCW Phillipines) 14.35 Greetings and Welcoming in the name of the two hosting movements (CIJOC/ Berhanu) and giving the floor to the moderator (Idy) 14.52 Moderator takes over, introduction to the agenda and give floor to the young (introduce the yw from Malawi) 14.55 How Cardijn impacts my life and action until today: testimony from a young YCW - Malawi 15:00 How Cardijn impacts my life and action until today: testimony from a YCW – Dominican Republic 15:05 Greetings and Birthday wishes: video message from other movements – Mijarc, JEC, Pax Romana, MMTC, Kolping International, ILO Bureau for Workers Activities, Anna Biondi, Deputy Director of the ILO Bureau for Workers Activities Luc Cortebeeck (ACTRAV) 15:15 Greetings and Birthday wishes: a greeting from WSM (Fons) 15:25 How Cardijn impacts my life and action until today: testimony from a YCW (Asia) - Pakistan 15:30 How Cardijn impacts my life and action until today: testimony from a YCW (Europe) - Portugal 15:36 Greetings - How YCW impacted my life: Video message from a former YCW 15:45 A Blessing to the young workers‘ today: Bishop of Dom Reginaldo Andrietta 16:00 Closing remarks in the name of the two hosting movements (JOCI/Sarah) Cheering on Cardijn‘s birthday and YCW 16:25 Music played as a good-buye celebration (Joc Japan)
The International YCW, with the support of the International Cardijn Association and the ACV-CSC, is pleased to invite you to a panel debate on the theme: "Popular education as an organizing tool”, its challenges and opportunities in the era of globalization, digitization, work precariousness/unemployment”.
The panel debate will be held on Tuesday 10 September in Brussels, (19 rue Pletinckx) from 5:00 to 9:00 pm.
The program is an integral part of the International Team’s plan of work and the international seminar and exchange due to take place in the month of September. It will be a great opportunity to meet friends, activists and long-time fighters, but also the current members of the International Team, leaders of different continents participating in the exchange and the International Team meeting, representatives of the Walloon JOC, KAJ, Spanish YCW and CAJ (Germany), some of whom will take part in the exchange, as well as friendly social organizations.