Support Young Women Changing the Status Quo

To start the new year, Fora: Network for Change (formerly Girls 20) is charging ahead with their Global Summit, and a new approach that we believe will strengthen this event and the delegates experience. This report will summarise all the key changes including to the delegate application process.

Since 2010, the Global Summit has brought together young women to build leadership skills and a powerful network for advocacy and action. Previously, the delegates represented the G20 nations plus MENA, the African Union as well as Indigenous Peoples.

For 2022 (and moving forward), the Global Summit will be open to applicants from every country and region in the world! The application process officially opens on January 25, 2022.

Thirty delegates from around the world will meet to build their advocacy skills, grow confidence as advocates, and build networks to advance gender equality and women’s leadership to change the status quo in their home countries.

Fora is organising their Global Summit to take place in the latter half of 2022. Their team is committed to ensuring equity is central to their decision-making processes, amidst global inequities in vaccine access and travel restrictions.

Fora has shared that given the many variables caused by COVID-19 and the Omicron variant, planning for the Global Summit will look differently in 2022. Instead of identifying a date before opening applications, they'll first recruit and identify their thirty 2022 Delegates. Once Delegates are selected, the Fora team will assess each Delegate’s access to the vaccine and other travel restrictions and realities. With this information, a decision will be made about when the Summit will be held, and whether it will be held in-person or virtually.

If held in-person, the Global Summit will take place in Toronto, Canada. Fora will continue their commitment to ensure the Global Summit is barrier-free, including covering the costs of travel, visas, and COVID-19 related considerations for all delegates.

Who is eligible to apply to attend as a delegate? Applicants must be at least 18 years old as of January 1, 2022, and no older than 24 as of December 31, 2022, and identify as women and/or gender diverse.

As mentioned, applicants will be received from all corners of the world and individuals will apply under their UN Regional Group plus the addition of a category for Indigenous Peoples:

• African Group
• Asia and the Pacific Group
• Eastern European Group
• Latin American and Caribbean States Group
• Western European and Other Group
• Indigenous Peoples Group

 What will the Summit involve?

• Application process: completing an application detailing experience and interest in leadership, community development and advocacy. Shortlisted applicants will have a video call interview with Fora.
• Pre-Summit: Workshops, readings, and group virtual work to get to know Fora and fellow Delegates. Expect 5-10 hours per month from March – June 2022 (estimated timing)
• Summit: One week of workshops, networking, and collaboration with fellow Delegates.
• Summit Leadership Forum: A one-day, public event with speakers and special guests held at the end of the week-long Summit.
• Post-Summit: Mentoring, ongoing skill-building, and travel and speaking opportunities through Fora to continue to influence decision-makers.

Another frequently asked question is what advocacy opportunities will come from the Summit? Post Summit, delegates will be supported to continue to develop advocacy efforts in their home countries through mentorship and alumnae engagement. Additionally, delegates will work with Fora to identify “spaces of power” (e.g. UN Women meetings, G20 consultations, Women’s Forum panels, etc.) where they can influence decision-makers.

We would like to thank everyone that has donated to the Global Summit and your donations will directly support the costs of the delegates whether the event is live or virtual.  At BBS one of the key Summit milestones we look forward to is the announcement of the delegates and learning about the incredible young women that will be participating and this year is no exception! 

This past August saw a series of announcements from G(irls)20 including a name change to Fora.

Why change their name? Fora shared with its stakeholders and the public the following:

"Over the past two years, we have seen a seismic shift across the world, and we have heard calls from our community, rightly demanding more from the gender equality movement. As we developed our new strategic plan, we consulted our program participants, partners, staff, board of directors, and our broader community, and the feedback helped us focus our new strategic plan on two core areas: impact and growth. This strategy better supports our community, our wider mission, and our founding principles.

What emerged through the strategic planning process was a natural shift in the presentation of the organization. With this, G(irls)20 has evolved with a new name. Fora is the plural of Forum and is defined as a meeting place of ideas. The key strength of our organization has always been our summits where lived experience, knowledge, and mentorship created a learning network by and for young women leaders. We feel the new name is a great fit for our work while also allowing us space to grow and evolve.

Fora's programs and operations will continue to be participant-informed, using an intersectional lens that especially considers the experiences of Black, Indigenous, and racialized community members, the different lived experiences of youth around the world, and the diversity of genders."

The YouTube link provided with this update is the official announcement from Fora's CEO.

What remains the same is their mission and vision of “a world in which young women are able to participate fully in the economic growth, political stability and social innovations of their countries.”

Starting in 2022, as part of the new strategy, the Global Summit will no longer be aligned directly to the G20 but instead become a standalone, independent Summit hosted annually in Toronto, Canada and with a focus on leadership development, advocacy, and policy-creation training. Delegates will come from across the globe and, with leadership training provided by Fora, be prepared to advocate in local, national, and international decision-making spaces.

Fora has also created two new programs that are being launched this autumn:

1. A Master Class of their signature Girls on Boards, which is an intensive weekend program that will focus on building the technical and essential skills required to join a non-profit governance board.
2. The Next Level program provides young women and gender diverse youth from the retail and hospitality sectors in Canada with leadership and social entrepreneurship training along with supportive coaching to navigate the changing economy on their own terms. Next Level features weekly live, online workshops and bi-weekly coaching. The pilot session starts in November, 2021.

BBS is very excited about the growth of G(irls)20 under their new name and with the addition of their new programs.  All the funds that have been raised through our GlobalGiving dedicated project page will be used as originally stated for the Summit and specifically to support the delegates.

We want to thank our donors for their support and look forward to sharing the 2022 Summit delegate announcements.

Links:

• Fora Announcement by Heather Barnabe, CEO