Day 11: International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development – What Can You Do?

Today is the International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development. This year is also the tenth anniversary of the International Year of Volunteers in 2001. Today is a good opportunity to reflect on what you’ve done in the past to support gender equality and stop gender violence. What will you do in the future?

You can start by downloading IWDA’s list of 16 Simple Ways to Make a Big Difference. This list is full of big and small ideas for steps that you can take to support the human rights of women. Once you’ve read through the list, join us in expanding it! Get on Twitter and tweet your ideas using the hashtag #iwdaways. IWDA supporters can share great new ideas and we’ll add our favourites to the official list. (If you’re not tweeting yet, you can check out this friendly introduction to Twitter to get started—and make sure to follow IWDA!)

Take a look at what other organisations are doing for the 16 Days. Say NO UNiTE is a UN-sponsored campaign to end violence against women and girls. Their website contains an organiser’s toolkit along with suggestions for actions to take. You can also choose to join an action that is already in progress or take a quiz to test your current level of knowledge about violence against women. Although White Ribbon Day was on November 25th, their website has lots of ideas for ways that male allies can work to stop gender violence all year long. You can also follow the #16days hashtag on Twitter or just search the Web to find more 16 Days events, activities and groups. Or you could blog, share video and audio, or create a digital postcard with Take Back the Tech.

Gather other IWDA supporters together and form a group in your area, or join an existing group. Friends of IWDA have taken action together in diverse places around Australia. For example, the IWDA screening of The Whistleblower in October inspired Adelaide supporter Sue McKinnon to form a new IWDA supporter group in South Australia. They recently had a very successful first meeting where ten women ranging in age from their early 20s to 83 gathered together to discuss The Whistleblower and have a conversation about the question “What does security mean to me?” from the 16 Days campaign website. One attendee noted that adequate security enabled their ability to gather together that day around a common cause, saying “We can’t have freedom without security. We couldn’t meet if we didn’t feel safe.” IWDA also has a very active and longstanding group of supporters in Hobart, where friends of IWDA Yabbo Thompson and Jane Bange recently held an African dinner fundraiser to support IWDA. If you’re interested in starting a supporter group in your own area, you can contact IWDA for more information.

There are many more ways to work to support women and take action against violence against women. The fight against gender-based violence belongs to all of us and requires everyone’s support—what will you do?

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The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence is an international campaign originating from the first Women’s Global Leadership Institute sponsored by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership in 1991. For each of the 16 Days from 25 November to 10 December 2011, the IWDA website will be featuring a different piece to highlight the work of our partners and explore ways that IWDA supporters can take part in the effort to end gender-based violence.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 5th, 2011 under 16_Days, Front page.