Washington DC Youth Force: Day 1

AIDS 2012 is taking over Washington DC and YSAFE is plugging in the event represented by Luize Ratniece and Maya Koumanova. To share our experience during the conference and help you get involved in the process, we are going to blog about the different activities taking place and our personal experiences during the conferences. 

Our first stop in Washington is YouthForce 2012. The AIDS 2012 Youth Pre-Conference (18-20 July 2012) is an event bringing together young people from all over the world representing communities and organizations working with or being affected by HIV/AIDS. The conference gives participants the opportunity to build strong messages, plan and organize campaigns and activities for the AIDS 2012 Conference and build partnerships and networks. Established in 2000, this year the youth pre-conference aims to come up with a Declaration for Change on youth and HIV/AIDS. The declaration will lay the foundation for how youth organizations, networks and activists will collaborate and mobilize over the next years to reach the 2015 goals of the Political Declaration on AIDS. Participants and people from all over the world have the opportunity to contribute through submitting, voting or editing ideas that will form the future declaration. To do that visit : Declaration4Change

During the first day of the pre-conference both YSAFE and IPPF as whole hosted and visited a number of sessions. We started early morning when YSAFE took part in the opening Turning the Tide Plenary, which highlighted the main topics related to SRHR, youth and HIV/ADS. Maya talked about the impact of sexuality education, and most importantly ensuring it is provided in a comprehensive and holistic way. Panelists from UNFPA, Dance4Life and Advocates for Youth gave overview on research and trends among youth globally, reaching and meaningful involvement of key populations and shared examples of youth leadership and advocacy (highlighting success in anti-stigma legislation in Nigeria).


During the day, Luize co-facilitated a session on peer education, specifically focusing on gender. You can find her presentation on our IHBG Blog:

Bringing Gender back ointo Peer Education

Annaïs, IPPF’s Social Media and Movement Building Intern, held a session on Comprehensive Sexuality education. Meanwhile, Lady and Anzaira shared their personal experience in the Philippines with the humanitarian emergencies, the issues related to SRHR they bring and the best ways of responding to those events. 

The event closed with a performance by Ugandian artist, Nsubuga Moses, sharing his experience as a person living iwith HIV/AIDS in Uganda and suporting and inspiring other people living with HIV/AIDS. 

Original Video by Stigmaless ft Supercharger can be found here!