New President’s Address
Nairobi, Kenya
By Susan Brennan

Good afternoon. Shall we practice our Kiswahili one last time? Jambo.

I wonder if you feel a little like this: exhausted, ready to head home to family and friends, to familiar food and to all the emails in our inbox, but also exhilarated, renewed and energized by our time together.
In my brief address this afternoon, I want to reflect on a few key moments with you, remind you of a few key messages and in the spirit of our recommendation on education this morning, give you a little bit of homework!

Key moments

First, was the momentous adoption of our new Constitution. The work of the Governance Task Force process showed our movement has a willingness to tackle some of our unspoken differences of opinion with new optimism and courage. And the final Constitution we adopted represented an important shift in the movement’s thinking. I’m so proud of us for adopting it with such conviction. For those for whom the preamble and basis represented too big a change, I respect your courage in standing up for what you believe in and I want you to know that you are part of us, at the same table, sheltered under the same umbrella, and you are integral to our collective success.

Second, we hosted an historic and momentous international meeting on women and HIV and AIDs as sisters with the International Community of Women Living with HIV and AIDs with record participation of positive women, donors and other partner organisations: we enjoyed unprecedented exposure, media coverage and profile. I came with little knowledge and go home with stories, facts, ideas, action and most of all, understanding.

Third, we passed a resolution on the Middle East, for the first time jointly prepared in a spirit of cooperation and good will by the Middle East and the USA. We are showing the world how women can help build peace. We have a commitment to women in all regions who struggle to survive armed conflict and strife. Let us bring this spirit of good will and cooperation practiced here to the peace building and conflict resolution table.

Fourth, we’ve started the process of letting our beloved Musimbi go; we honoured her at the Gala dinner, showered her with our gifts, our messages of good will and our love. I don’t think about our parting as a divorce, rather as a precious young woman leaving her family home to make a new life for herself in the big city; she will be back for Christmas and birthdays, she will call us from time to time, she will always credit the YWCA as part of her blossoming and growth. I hope she will help to look after us in our old age! I have the joy of spending at least six weeks working with her as President, but on behalf of us all, go well, dear friend!

Fifth, we have welcomed Nyaradzai. Because my tongue is clumsy and English, I have practiced her beautiful name many times. I invite you to do the same. Say it with me three times: Nyaradzai. And now we can say “welcome Nyaradzai!”. Because we will be on a first name basis from the start, we won’t need to practice her last name here. You now have heard her address and know you share the excitement and sense of anticipation about her joining us in November to lead us in the next part of our journey together. You should google her when you go home!

Sixth, we have elected a new board with more young women than ever before, with impressive skills and great diversity. Two young women vice Presidents is also a new record. We have some big tasks ahead of us: supporting member association compliance with the new Constitution; developing final guidelines for the Power to Change Fund; developing guidelines to facilitate strong and reciprocal bi-lateral partnerships between member associations, to name a few. I promise you the new board will work hard for you, just as I will!

Key messages

You all know where I stand on young women; what our commitment to young women can teach us is how to embrace diversity, young and older, positive and negative, North and South, Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox, rich and poor. When we considered the new Constitution, I said we could think about our actions, words, programmes and relationships as “making room at the table”: by opening up the circle; by welcoming newcomers, even strangers; by making sure everyone is comfortable; by including all of the company in the conversation; by sharing our food more equitably. No woman should be left to serve the supper, or sit behind, or speak only if spoken to. There is room at the table for all of us.

On the question of global advocacy, for years we in the YWCA have stood at the edge of a great lake of global advocacy, dipping our toe in to test the temperature, wading in the shallows. Over the last decade, we have stepped away from the shore and we are now standing waist deep in the waters. It is now time to plunge in, immerse ourselves and start swimming, creating ripples of impact, even occasionally making waves, all for the sake of all the women and girls with whom we work. Our advocacy must be informed and inspired by our work at the grass roots with women in our membership and our programmes. Our advocacy must be founded in the dignity of every woman and respect for her human rights. To borrow from the words of our positive sisters, there must be “nothing about us, without us”; in all settings, the voices of the women most affected must be heard.

At the World level, we are encouraging all our members to take seriously the issue of accountability. Take home your new CD of the Standards of Good Governance and Accountability; use them; ask for help when you need it.

Beginning with our African safaris and developed in our regional meetings and our lunchtime and workshop encounters with one another over the last 10 days, we are committing ourselves to work together more collaboratively, in partnerships which are respectful, accountable and effective. There is one particular partnership which I want us to acknowledge: this is the amazing partnership of our host association, our World staff and our volunteer team. Together they have kept us comfortable, informed, safe and entertained. They have modeled an impressive example of teamwork, cooperation and hard work. While they do all the hard work to get us here and make sure we have a good time, they don’t always get to enjoy the presentations, the workshops or even the parties. Please join with me in acknowledging the tremendous work of the Kenya YWCA; our local volunteers, men and women; and our ever-dedicated World staff team, including Natalie Fisher, our hard working Deputy General Secretary.

Key tasks

Many of you have been kind enough to approach me over the last day to extend your congratulations and your support. Well, here is my first request for your support.

Put your hand up if during this time in Nairobi together you had a special moment, a new idea captured your imagination, a new friendship blossomed or an old one was revived, you had a revelation about how to think about an old issue in a new way. How many of you had many such moments? How many of you can think of another woman you wish could have been here, but couldn’t be due to travel restrictions or money or work obligations or family commitments?

My first request for you is to share your experiences with the women back home. Report to them on our achievements. You could have a photo night, a gift sharing, a programme workshop, a staff meeting, an HIV pledge ceremony. Share the wonder of what we have experienced so we can maintain the momentum of this great gathering.

My second request is start thinking about the Power to Change Fund and the programme or activity which will develop the leadership and collective power of women and girls that you will seek resources for. What programmes exist, either already on the ground or in your minds, which could be scaled up or piloted? Think about it now so when the guidelines reach you by the end of this year, you will be ready to prepare your applications.

Your third piece of homework is to begin to identify what conditions of affiliation in the new Constitution might present challenges for your association and what support you might need to become fully compliant member associations. You are not alone in this exercise. We will be working with you.
My last challenge is to honour the pledge you made at IWS and live out its commitments. We have undertaken, as individuals and associations, to implement the pledge and our ten point call to action. We must now take the pledge to our communities and to the world, in the language of human rights and human dignity and in the voices of positive women. We each have a small part to play in a world which respects the dignity of positive women and works with them to change all our lives and our communities.

Conclusion

I share with you a vision of a World YWCA which promotes and practices young women’s leadership; which supports the growth of the YWCA movement around the world; which brings women’s voices and experiences into global advocacy; which fosters the spiritual dimension of women's lives while realising their human rights; which builds relationships between women of different ages, cultures and circumstances; which exercises responsible and ethical governance; which strengthens our resource base; and which demonstrates the difference women’s leadership makes.

Before concluding I want to say a few words about a wonderful woman: Monica. We are proud of her because she is our first from Latin America, our first Roman Catholic, our first fluent Spanish speaker. But this is not what she has brought to the movement; she has given us a clear mind, a warm heart and a strong vision. She has been an incredible captain of our team. She and Musimbi made a formidable pair. I am so proud to step into her elegant but daunting shoes.

I will leave you with a special passage from Philippians that inspires me and a message from worship this morning. First, from St Paul and I’ve only changed his words to include the feminine.

Finally, [sisters], whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me – put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

And then from worship this morning: Be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Because we are in Africa, I think we should finish with a song. It is simple and with Musimbi’s help, I will teach you. Its words mean “goodbye my friend, goodbye my friend. We will meet again, God willing”. In Swahili, we sing:

Kwahere, kwahere, rafiki kwahere.
Tutuanana tene Tuki shariwa

Gracias, Merci, Sukran, Asante Sana, Thank you.