Rise UP!

“I didn’t even know that I had rights. To be bold and transformative, you have to be included, respected, skilled, involved, connected... you always have to be like ‘I can do it’. If they can do it, why not me?”

Leadership for Young Women

Rise UP honors the importance of SAFE SPACES for young women as they learn about the Sustainable Development Goals, International Declaration of Human Rights, and the critical importance of service projects in their own communities. The project was piloted in Spring of 2022. 

The original 2018 guide was inspired by the young women of Solomon Islands whose groundbreaking work to reach communities of young women who had previously had no opportunity to ‘Rise Up’. The original guide would not have been possible without the ideas and contributions from the Young Women’s Peer Review group including: Vanessa, Daniela, Sophia, Sushila, Nirmala, Clarine, Naomi, Esther, Natalie, Kiri and Erica. 

Special acknowledgements for their work on the original guide also go to former World YWCA team members : Gladys, Rebeka, Hendrica, Rita, Daniela, Linnea and Juli for their particular efforts and insights. Special thanks to Daniela Varano for the guide’s visual concept and to Elisabeth Nash as consultant leading the original guide creation process.