One of the conference participants, Nadeen, from Lebanon shared her thoughts about the recently concluded AWID-GFW Conference in Morocco:

When I first got to Morocco for the AWID/GFW conference on resource mobilization in the MENA region, I had prepared myself to be quiet on a lot of feminist issues. I even asked that my name and work on sexual rights be kept confidential. It’s the MENA region, after all, I thought, and the discourse would be old and stiff and boring. So the organizers somehow had this genius idea of gathering the young women participants for a pre-conference workshop, and I’ve been overwhelmingly impressed by the feminisms represented by these beautiful, strong, young women.

There was no ice to break. We bonded immediately, overcoming barriers in language, religions, and backgrounds, and what has been fostered in the days to follow has given me the greatest of hope towards real and radical change in our region.

Having this youth-only day had its visible effects on the rest of the conference (in which I am sitting now). Young women felt empowered, they found their voices and each other, they formed an alliance that stood strong on many issues raised in the workshops by the older generations of women’s activists. And yes, we raised sexual and bodily rights at the bigger conference.

Activism is boiling here, and we are all committed to carrying it through. Ours is a young feminism, an unwavering feminism, a radical feminism, and a vibrant feminism!