After a series of small focus group discussions with adolescent girls, young people, and allies from different communities we have developed a series of recommendations on strengthening inclusivity and diversity in the Generation Equality process. 

 

The recommendations are as follows:

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Adolescent Girls

• Ensure meaningful engagement is constant, consistent and respected.

• Create more spaces for girls to talk and share ideas where girls feel comfortable and safe. 

• Voices and perspectives must not just be heard but listened to and taken on board. 

• Ensure robust safeguarding measures to ensure the safety and security of adolescent girls - striking a balance between ensuring safety, prioritising  their rights and agency, and not making girls feel restricted. 

• Flexibility and adaptability must be emphasised to ensure accessibility.

 

Young Women 

• Rural and marginalised communities are being left behind and there is an urgent need to work intentionally to engage these groups including through increased and strengthened local and regional partnerships.

• Resourcing (or lack thereof) has significant impacts on meaningful engagement of young women and the allocation of resources across GEF needs to ensure equity as well as equality.

• The definition of ‘young women’ is dependent on the cultural background and context of constituencies and this needs to be considered to ensure meaningful engagement.

 

Young Indigenous Women and Girls

• Access barriers need to be overcome to ensure meaningful engagement of indigenous young women, which include language barriers (limited information available in local languages and overwhelming use of acronyms); exclusion of young women and girls with no internet access; inconvenient meeting times; and lack of consideration for cultural differences. 

• Strengthened connections at a regional level to reach informal groups and networks, including connecting with key organisations and UN mechanisms on rights of indigenous peoples.

 

LGBTQI Youth 

• Language and framing; Exclusionary language remains common across the Generation Equality process and needs to be actively moved away from. Need to shift from talking about ‘equality between men and women’ as this erases the existence of intersex and minority gender people. 

• Safety; Needs to ensure the safety of young LGBTQI activists, through a mechanism of holistic security and a formalised, centralised and overarching non-discriminatory policy for civil society and UN agencies in the Generation Equality process. Recognising spaces are not always safe.

• Intentionality in the creation of spaces and platforms in and across the Generation Equality processes for LGBTQI youth visibility and connection is critical.

 

Girls + Young people with disabilities

• Empowering young women and girls with disabilities through confidence building initiatives and by providing them with skills training and mentorship opportunities is vital.

• Accessibility Proactively ensuring spaces and technology are accessible and safe for young women and girls with disabilities is essential for meaningful engagement.

• Sustained and meaningful engagement and representation: Young women and girls with disabilities should not only be engaged with but also represented and included in decision making and policy making mechanisms of Generation Equality. 

• Strengthened connections and synergy between the gender equality movement and disability rights movement and creating spaces for young women and girls with disabilities.