The Communications and Advocacy Meeting organised by World YMCA took place between the 27-30th of September, with the main goal to unite communications leads and professionals, exchange good practices, and discuss branding and future strategies in line with our joint mission and Vision 2030.
It is always a great pleasure to come together within our communication team, filled with intense emotion, determination, and energy to discuss our strategies and plans regarding digitalization and heritage – at the headquarters of World YMCA in Geneva.
The meeting offered a great opportunity for our Communications team to connect, discuss and discover incredible insights into our European movements’ heritage. Overall the program has been a great mix of informative and practical key ideas within a co-lab format where ideas and framework are being developed.
The sessions were indeed filled with intense emotion, determination, and energy to discuss our strategies and plans regarding the digitalization initiative and the best approach to reaching greater visibility while communicating the story of our movement and aligning with our partnership development goal.
The program has had combined practical as well as team-oriented sessions, led by the communications team at World YMCA, and all of us, participants from every region and continent are welcomed by the Secretary-General and staff team.
With more than 20 communications professionals from the global YMCA, we had the pleasure of receiving a great presentation on novel communications standards by Kimberly Kane of Kane Communications Group in the USA. We learned about the strategies involved by various YMCA national and regional movements – especially through a session led by Jason Satcey Director of Policy, Research, Communications & International at YMCA England and Wales.
We also had the pleasure of receiving a great presentation on novel communications standards by Kimberly Kane of Kane Communications Group in the US.
The following leg of the program, kickstarted with an insightful sharing, an experiential journey led by Gerhard Wiebe from CVJM – providing a sense of belonging and authenticity within our journey in the YMCA. The sessions continued with a thorough presentation of the importance of branding and consistent communication within our context- with a focus on #YMCAVision2030 and our shared pillars.
Guided by our shared idea of “Believing in the power of young people driving change”, we met with the International Committee of the Red Cross to share strategies in line with our collective #ymcavision2030. As part of the Big 6 youth organizations, IRFC discussed strategies and developments – leading the path towards a closer future collaboration with the YMCAs worldwide.
One of the highlights of the meeting was marked by the opportunity to reach out and connect with communication leads from all the regions and continents – this fact allowed us to expand our reach in programs and future digital initiatives, with the opportunity to have a throughout session on how communications and advocacy complete each other in telling our story of youth empowerment and community support worldwide.
