World YWCA

03/11/2026

Leadership Cohort learning in action! 🌟

At YWCA Nigeria’s 120th anniversary celebrations, World YWCA Leadership Cohort alumna, Olayinka, shared knowledge and experience she gained from her Cohort year with youth representatives from across the country, including leading a session on intergenerational leadership. Olayinka also took time to meet with YWCA Executive Board members from past and present and spoke to the YWCA Nigeria anniversary crowd. Putting intergenerational leadership in action, this exciting event showcased the legacy of 120 years of the YWCA in Nigeria.

It’s inspiring to see knowledge and skills travel back into communities and help strengthen the next generation of leaders. 💙

Congratulations to YWCA Nigeria on 120 years of community building!

01/11/2026

A wonderful example of sisterhood across boarders. 🤩

30/10/2026

Arlinda Zekaj sought protection. The institutions responsible for her safety failed her.

As October’s Domestic Violence Awareness Month draws to a close, World YWCA’s Advocacy and Training Manager, Eurisa Rukovci, who is also the founder of Grazeta, a feminist media platform in Kosovo, reflects on Arlinda’s murder in Kosovo in her blog: “The Paperwork of Trying to Stay Alive”.

Eurisa’s blog challenges the responsibility that is placed on women to prevent the violence committed against them and calls on institutions to protect those experiencing abuse and hold perpetrators of abuse accountable. Being heard must lead to meaningful protection, not dismissal and platitudes.

Ending domestic and gender-based violence is a collective responsibility. We can each challenge victim-blaming, support local organisations providing survivor-led services, and demand that public authorities fulfil their obligations to protect women and girls.

Read the blog below and bring this conversation to your community.

Content note: Domestic violence and femicide.

Read the Blog: https://www.worldywca.org/the-paperwork-of-trying-to-stay-alive/

30/10/2026

We are excited to announce that we have launched our Week of Prayer booklet in English, Spanish, and French! 💫

Since 1904, each year in the second week of November, the World YWCA and the World YMCA have collaborated to unite our global communities in prayer and reflection under a theme related to our movement’s core missions and in solidarity with the ongoing realities affecting human rights.

In 2026, the Week of Prayer will be held from Sunday, 8 to Saturday, 14 November, under the theme “Called For Such A Time As This” Leadership is an influence, and everyone has it.

This year’s Week of Prayer will invite individuals and communities to explore how we can use our God-given influence to live with impact in our lives, families, communities and the wider world.
How will you answer the call?

Download the booklets today: https://www.worldywca.org/world-ywca-world-ymca-week-of-prayer-and-world-fellowship-2026/

26/10/2026

"What am I doing here?"

That was Jah's question when she arrived at the SVRI Forum in Bangkok. She's a RiseUp! Young Woman Lead from YWCA of Thailand, and in rooms full of researchers and academics she wondered whether her lived experience would count. By the end of the week, she knew it did. ✨

All through the conference, our delegation pushed for lived realities to be counted as knowledge. Pranita Biswasi of YWCA of India named the gap so many of us recognise: lived experience is invited in as a two-minute story, while others write the framework and the paper. At YWCA of India that's already changing, with Dalit, Deaf and tribal young women designing solutions through World YWCA's feminist consultation methodology.

For Dhiya Ann Mathew, National General Secretary of YWCA of India, it was spotting a familiar YWCA face in every unfamiliar room that made the difference. All week, YWCA women from Sweden, Canada, Sri Lanka, India and beyond found each other. 💜

We came home with a renewed commitment: to centre lived realities as knowledge in practice, and to make sure more young women with lived experience are present, connected and leading in these spaces. Thank you to the Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for supporting RiseUp! Asia Pacific.

Let us know your response: What does dignity in research look like to you?

26/10/2026

26/10/2026

Thank you to YWCA of Bangladesh for sharing this learning and connection from the workshop!

26/10/2026

Young people have an important role to play in challenging harmful norms and influencing policies.

Join us tomorrow for a webinar on “𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐕𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐄𝐧𝐝 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫-𝐁𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐕𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞.”

Our panel brings together voices from the legal sector, law enforcement and government to explore how young people can contribute to preventing violence, strengthening accountability and advancing survivor-centred responses.

📅 22nd October 2026
🕛 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm (EAT)
🔗 Click to join: https://bit.ly/486ffzT
or;
📲 Scan the QR code on the poster to join the conversation.

- World YWCA , YWCA USA

19/10/2026

🌍 A lovely moment of connection at our Geneva office!

We were delighted to welcome Futaba Usuki, a member and former intern of 日本YWCA (YWCA of Japan), who is in Geneva as an intern supporting a Japanese expert during the CEDAW Committee session.

Alongside her master’s studies in gender studies in Japan, focusing on CEDAW, feminist law, gender law, and social studies education, Futaba works part time at a YWCA Yokohama home that provides living support for girls.

It is wonderful to see members of our movement connecting their studies, community work, and international advocacy to advance the rights of women and girls.

💜 Thank you for visiting us, Futaba! We wish you a meaningful and enriching experience in Geneva.

17/10/2026

𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬 💜

WHO estimates show that around one in three women worldwide has experienced physical or sexual violence from a partner, or violence from someone else, in her lifetime. More than one in five girls aged 15–19 who have had a partner have already experienced physical or sexual partner violence. Across the YWCA Movement, women and young women are supporting survivors, challenging harmful norms and working to create safer communities.

This upcoming Week Without Violence, we’re bringing these voices and experiences together through the 𝐘𝐖𝐂𝐀 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲, a global home for those shaped by the YWCA Movement.

Join us for a special virtual gathering featuring an intergenerational conversation about the realities women and girls face, the work happening across our communities and the lessons we can carry forward together.

📅 Thursday, 22 October 2026 | 13:00–14:30 GMT

💻 Online via Zoom

🔗 Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/9Y-kRvg9TBWJwOQWP8nsWA #/registration