Forming the Y-WILPF Committee

After discussions with younger WILPF members in Spring, as the Y-WILPF Project Coordinator, I have finally managed to form the first Y-WILPF Committee. Through advertising posts on Facebook and through personal connections, I have managed to recruit 7 young and ambitious women into my committee, as part of a growing commitment to encourage and empower young women into political campaigning. I strongly believe that young people need to be given the chance to earn and develop skills through in a role they will enjoy, therefore forming this committee is one of the best ways to not fulfil this, but also a useful path in learning about global issues that affect women directly and indirectly. I hope that this committee will allow the chosen Officers to excel and develop a team which they will eventual manage, giving them the skills they need for their chosen employment in the future.

The committee was set-up in October 2009 and within weeks, the chosen officers have already become extremely active in engaging themselves with organising a public fundraising dubbed the "Talent Show: Peace and Women Globally" for Saturday 24th April 2010, to celebrate WILPF's 95th birthday, as well as participating in events and demonstrations by other organisations.

The committee is made of 7 young women currently between the ages of 20-30, who are mentored by experienced WILPF members in the UK. Each of these women have received training about WILPF at the annual "Connect Day" and have been educated on WILPF's long history. The number of participants in Y-WILPF will soon increase once logistics of events have been fully developed. Each Y-WILPF Officer will be in charge of managing their own team in 2010 to support the work of WILPF UK and make the organisation grow.

I am really excited to lead these women and many more in the future, and hope to report on our development soon. Also check out the WILPF blog for inside details: http://ukwilpf.blogspot.com