Mary Robinson Award
Mary Robinson Award for
Young Women’s Leadership in
Human Rights
Call for 2015 Nominations
World YWCA, 16 Ancienne Route, CH-1218 Grand Saconnex/Geneva, Switzerland
Tel: (41 22) 929 6040 Fax: (41 22) 929 6044
Email: worldoffice@worldywca.org Web site: www.worldywca.org
World Council Web site: www.worldywcacouncil.org
Mary Robinson Award
Mary Robinson Award for Young Women’s Leadership in
Human Rights
Information
The World YWCA
The World YWCA is a global volunteer movement of women leading social and economic change
in 120 countries worldwide. Founded on Christian values and working with women of many faiths,
the World YWCA has been at the forefront of raising the status of women for over a century by
advocating for peace, justice, human rights and care for the environment. The World YWCA equips
women, including young women, to provide leadership to find local solutions to the global
inequalities women face.
Mary Robinson
The World YWCA established the Mary Robinson Award for Women’s Human Rights Activism to
recognise young women human rights activists in 2007. Mary Robinson, the first woman President
of Ireland (1990-1997) and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (19972002), has spent most of her life as a human rights advocate. As an academic (Trinity College Law
Faculty 1968-90), legislator (Senator 1969-89) and barrister (1967-90, Senior Counsel 1980,
English Bar 1973) she has always sought to use law as an instrument for social change, arguing
landmark cases before the European Court of Human Rights, as well as in the Irish courts and the
European Court in Luxemburg.
Committed to women’s leadership, Mary Robinson served as Chair of the Council of Women World
Leaders. Mary Robinson is now leading Realizing Rights: the Ethical Globalization Initiative. Its
mission is to put human rights standards at the heart of global governance and policy-making and
to ensure that the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable are addressed on the global stage. 1
Mary Robinson also served as UN Special Envoy to the Africa Great Lakes Region and was
recently appointed the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Climate Change.
The Award
The Mary Robinson Award will recognise outstanding examples of young women’s human rights
activism as well as YWCAs that support and promote young women’s leadership in the area of
human rights. The World YWCA will honour and celebrate the recipients during the YWCA World
Council in Bangkok, Thailand in October 11-16, 2015.
There will be three awards in the following categories:
Individual young women2
1. A YWCA human rights activist
2. A young woman human rights activist, from the broader community of partners working on
human rights.
Group
1
2
Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative. http://www.realizingrights.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=75
The young woman must be aged 30 years or under on October 16, 2015, in order to be eligible and considered
Mary Robinson Award
3. A YWCA member association that demonstrates exemplary support and promotion of
young women’s leadership in the field of human rights.
Award Recipients
The individual award recipients will receive a certificate, award, and scholarship to attend the
Young Women’s Forum and World Council in Bangkok, Thailand, in October 2015. The member
association will receive a certificate and an award.
In the spirit of Mary Robinson’s commitment to “more transparent, ethical and responsible policies
and joint actions to achieve change,” the World YWCA will make every effort to facilitate
opportunities for dialogue between decision-makers and award recipients.
Nomination Guidelines
Award Selection
An international review panel will consider the nominations and select award recipients.
The international review panel will consist of a diverse group of individuals who bring geographic
and age diversity and a range of expertise relevant to the Award categories.
Nomination Process
Completed nominations forms must be submitted. Nomination forms are available on the World
YWCA website (http://www.worldywcacouncil.org/Council-Documents). Applications should be sent
electronically to maryrobinsonaward@worldywca.org or submit by post or fax to:
World YWCA
Attention: World YWCA, Mary Robinson Award
16 Ancienne Route, Grand Saconnex, Geneva, CH-1218, Switzerland
Fax: (41-22) 929 6044
Application Deadline
All completed nominations must be received electronically or by post by April 30, 2015, midnight,
GMT. Any nominations received after this date will not be considered.
Award Announcement
Award recipients will be notified by 1st of July, 2015. Unfortunately, it will not be possible to notify
unsuccessful nominations. The Mary Robinson Award recipients will officially receive the award at
the World YWCA Council.
Mary Robinson Award
What is Human Rights Activism?
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights enshrines the human rights of all people. Human
rights activism is about protecting and promoting the rights to:
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Health care and protection
Freedom of Expression
Freedom from Fear
Freedom from Hunger
Decent Work
Freedom from Want
Freedom of Religion and Belief
Information and education
Liberty
Decide where and when to have children
Be free from torture and ill-treatment
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Choose whether or not to marry and to
found and plan a family
Equality and Non-Discrimination
Freedom or assembly and political
participation
To benefits of scientific progress
Freedom of thought
Privacy
Life
Other Human Rights
Activism, in a general sense, can be described as an intentional action to bring about social or
political change. Human rights activism is the work that many women around the world do in their
communities every day. It does not have to be large projects, well funded, or organised by
institutions.
For more information about human rights, please refer to the following resources:
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Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Every Human Has Rights
Women’s Human Rights: An Introduction
Reproductive Rights Are Human Rights
***
Mary Robinson Award
Mary Robinson Award for Young Women’s Leadership in
Human Rights
Nomination Form
Please state which award category you are applying for:
Individual young women3
A YWCA human rights activist
A young woman human rights activist, from the broader community of partners
working on human rights
Group
A member association that demonstrates exemplary support and promotion of
young women’s leadership in the field of human rights
For Nominators
1. Contact Information
Name
Organisation
Position
Street Address
City/Town
Postal code
Province or State
Country
Telephone
Fax
Email
2.
Name of person being nominated
First Name:
Last Name:
3. Reason for nomination
Describe the nominee’s role in furthering human rights and the impact their work has had in their
communities in both quantitative (approximately how many people the nominee has reached) and
qualitative (what has been the impact of her work) ways.
3
The young woman must be aged 30 years or under on October 16, 2015 , in order to be eligible and considered
Mary Robinson Award
For all Nominees
1. Contact Information. Please provide the information listed below
Name
Date of Birth
Organisation
Position
Street Address
City/Town
Postal code
Province or State
Country
Telephone
Fax
Email
2. Human rights focus (Max 50 words)
Please describe the area(s) of human rights activism in which you are involved. Please refer to the
list given on page four and five.
Describe how young women are leading this work and are being empowered through the work on
human rights.
3. Motivation (Max 200 words)
What is your personal motivation for doing human rights work with/for young women - what has
influenced you?
4. General description (Max 200 words)
Describe your role within your community. What programmes have you undertaken and which
human rights for young women did these programmes seek to address? Who were the
beneficiaries and what was their role in the development of the programme?
5. Community Empowerment (Max 200 words)
Illustrate how you have empowered young women at the community level, to address human rights
violations.
6. Impact and potential for change (Max 200 words)
Explain the impact of your human rights work for young women in the community and in the quality
of life of the beneficiaries. What concrete changes have you seen in the lives of young women as a
result of your leadership? What other changes do you foresee happening for young women as a
result of your leadership and programmes?
Mary Robinson Award
7. Innovation (Max 200 words)
Describe what makes your work different to other programmes that are being implemented on
human rights – especially for young women
8. Partnerships (Max 100 words)
Who do you work with to promote and realise human rights for all women, especially young
women?
9. What does it mean to you to receive the Mary Robinson Award for young women’s
human rights activism? (Max 600 words)
10. Other Information
Is there anything else you wish to share about your work on human rights with young women?
For YWCA member association nominees
In addition to the rest of the form this question is to be completed by YWCAs that have
been nominated for the member association that demonstrates exemplary support and
promotion of young women’s leadership in the field of human rights:
How does this programme fit into the World YWCA’s strategic framework?
(Goal 1: Women’s intergenerational leadership, Goal 2: Women’s Rights 3: Movement building and
good governance)
How can this human rights programme be adapted for implementation in other YWCAs?
Mary Robinson Award
References
To support this application please provide two references (with complete contact details) that are
well informed about your work on human rights and young women and whom the review committee
can contact should further information be required.
Contact Information of 1st Referee’s details
Name
Organisation
Position
Street Address
City/Town
Postal code
Province or State
Country
Telephone
Fax
Email
Website
Contact Information of 2nd Referee’s details
Name
Organisation
Position
Street Address
City/Town
Postal code
Province or State
Country
Telephone
Email
Website
Fax
Mary Robinson Award
Nomination Instructions
The young woman must be aged 30 years or under on October 16, 2015, in order to be eligible
and considered. Only complete applications will be considered.
All completed nominations must be received electronically or by post by January 31, 2015,
midnight, GMT. Any nominations received after this date will not be considered.
Nominations should be sent electronically to maryrobinsonaward@worldywca.org
For people who do not have access to email it is possible to post or fax this to:
World YWCA
Attention: World YWCA, Mary Robinson Award
16 Ancienne Route CH-1218
Grand Saconnex
Geneva
Switzerland
Or
Fax: +41 22 929 6044
World YWCA, 16 Ancienne Route, CH-1218 Grand Saconnex/Geneva, Switzerland
Tel: (41 22) 929 6040 Fax: (41 22) 929 6044
Email: worldoffice@worldywca.org Web site: www.worldywca.org
World Council Web site: www.worldywcacouncil.org