http://Kayley.tigblog.org/ What's on the minds of young leaders from around the globe? en-us http://Kayley.tigblog.org/post/42494 Fri, 25 Aug 2006 15:08:00 EDT http://Kayley.tigblog.org/post/42494 38.8950000 -77.0366667 38.8950000 -77.0366667 http://Kayley.tigblog.org/post/42172
Delegates and visitors have just a few more hours of formal sessions, networking and , exploring the cultural center of the International AIDS Conference. A speaker from one of the session rooms can be heard on a microphone, his words not quite distinguishable, but, I assume, he is attempting to capture his experience in a few summarizing words.

The final day consists of exchanges of business cards, the closing ceremonies, and hurried good-byes,. AIDS 2006 has come to an end. “Overwhelming” would be the key descriptive word for the week. The walls of the Youth Pavilion are almost bare. A few lone pictures remain, waiting for their owners to come and claim them. The chairs have been stacked and the usual crowds have dwindled.

Next week, delegates will be back at work in their home countries. Back to the routine of daily living, back to the realities of families, organizations, and everything else that they had left. While a week usually does not feel like a long time, the past five days have been so packed full of events and information, that a month could have passed by and no one would have noticed.

No matter what people’s expectations were, every one of the 25,000 delegates who attended this conference will be bringing something back with them. Some will bring back new ideas and creative energy for their programs. Others will bring back new information and resources. But all of us will bring back new contacts from our time in Toronto – new friends made with the hope of developing new partnerships.]]> Fri, 18 Aug 2006 11:48:00 EDT http://Kayley.tigblog.org/post/42172 38.8950000 -77.0366667 38.8950000 -77.0366667 http://Kayley.tigblog.org/post/42070
With all of the commotion around, it would seem that the last place to actually get work done would be the Youth Pavilion. But, this is also where the YouthForce media team has their work station. Deadlines come and go, blogs are posted or forgotten about, articles are written and interviews are uploaded. All surrounded by the chaos that makes up the Pavilion. The media team also has access to the Media Room through the Main Conference. This space is more structured, formal, and everyone generally has the same focus, basically, a more productive environment overall.

But what fun would that be? If we are reporting for the YouthForce, the best place to be is right here, in the middle of it all. Even if that means needing to read through everything once or twice more because of the noise level, or being distracted by the belly dancers twelve feet away, or a group singing. There is no other place that would better to capture the energy of it all then right here. ]]> Wed, 16 Aug 2006 18:25:00 EDT http://Kayley.tigblog.org/post/42070 38.8950000 -77.0366667 38.8950000 -77.0366667 http://Kayley.tigblog.org/post/42069
Unfortunately during the main presentations at the workshop “LGBT Prevention Efforts in the Developing World” there was no specific mention of youth. When asked why, the panelists were generally willing to talk openly about why that was. They indicated that there is already so much stigma around working on LGBT issues that adding youth to the equation makes the situation that much more vulnerable. There are also legal and cultural barriers to talking to youth about sex and sexuality.

I would like to challenge more groups working on LGBT issues to include more youth in their work. Although major challenges may make this difficult; involving more young people is critical to make real social changes on these issues. The queer youth movement can be very powerful, if it is provided a seat at the table.

Also, there is a huge lack of information on youth, g/l/b/t/q, HIV/AIDS, internationally. At Advocates for Youth (www.advocatesforyouth.org) we have a lot of information and support for these issues both within the United Sates and internationally; we have a g/l/b/t/q youth website www.youthresrouce.com with information and online peer education. Our resources domestically are much more extensive and we would love to receive more information about g/l/b/t/q internationally. Does anyone have resources they would like to share that address these issues?]]> Wed, 16 Aug 2006 18:22:00 EDT http://Kayley.tigblog.org/post/42069 38.8950000 -77.0366667 38.8950000 -77.0366667 http://Kayley.tigblog.org/post/41932
I was one of three presenters for the Gender Workshop at the Pre-Conference. I became a presenter after asking if transgender and sexuality issues were being addressed as part of the workshop. The issues weren’t; so they asked me if I’d like to cover it.

I found myself trying to plan a twenty minute presentation on gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer (g/l/b/t/q) youth issues related to HIV/AIDS internationally. The big obstacle that I found was a lack of information, an unfortunate sign of where these issues are on people’s priorities.

In the workshop, I wanted to provide a common language to use on these issues in order to have a conversation on issues g/l/b/t/q communities face. Given the number of languages and cultures represented at the Pre-conference, I knew this would be a challenge.

My solution was to listen. I handed out terms and asked participants to define them. This gave an opportunity for a broader conversation about each term’s meaning. We pulled from participants’ experiences with various organizations and networks doing work around these issues. Discussing the terms created a more comfortable environment for people to ask questions about things they had never heard of before. We had some very interesting conversations on the differences between sex and gender, sexual orientation and gender identity, and how people self identify.

There is a lack of sexuality and gender issues addressed at this conference, especially around young people. With more youth participants now prepared to highlight these issues, hopefully we can create some real change and ensure that these topics are fully addressed. ]]> Mon, 14 Aug 2006 15:34:00 EDT http://Kayley.tigblog.org/post/41932 38.8950000 -77.0366667 38.8950000 -77.0366667 http://Kayley.tigblog.org/post/41931
In front of me was a room full of young people who have started their own organizations, worked with their country’s governments, led peer education and edutainment campaigns in their own communities … with so much experience, what new information could I share about meaningful Youth-Adult Partnerships?

This was the question we faced when we sat down to plan the Youth-Adult Partnerships workshop for the Toronto YouthForce Pre-conference.

What we were working with: a two day training curriculum, aimed for small groups 20, for groups of youth and adults who have been or will be working together.
What we had: an hour and a half, no adults, and 125 youth leaders.

While I have facilitated this training a lot through Advocates for Youth, this was a whole new experience.

Through midnight brainstorm sessions, we shaped the workshop and made it relevant for the youth participants. Our goal was to give language to youth participants’ experiences with adults. We wanted to create a space to talk about effectively engaging adults at next week’s conference and about overall youth involvement within future AIDS Conferences. This workshop became a critical space where youth participants could question and discuss their role at the AIDS Conference and within the YouthForce.

My original concerns about the workshop were quickly dispelled as the workshop turned out to be a great success. Afterwards, everyone was excited and energized to approach, challenge, and work with adults during the Main Conference and beyond. ]]> Mon, 14 Aug 2006 15:32:00 EDT http://Kayley.tigblog.org/post/41931 38.8950000 -77.0366667 38.8950000 -77.0366667