Head of the Feminist Workshop, Olya Yashchenko has completed a monthly “Advocacy and Art” course organized by the YMCA. She shared her impressions, gave feedback, and listed the three pillars of a successful project.
“It will be tough, but interesting.” Usually, these words best define the work in the Feminist Workshop, but this time they aptly describe a YMCA course I had the pleasure to attend. Me and the YMCA were a perfect match. It went like this: I hoped to take my mind off work on the weekend and listen to some art lectures. In reality, for a month I worked and engaged in networking seven days a week. And you know what? I have no regrets.
Over the month, the participants discussed dozens of significant and sensitive topics, shared the problems, and thought about how to solve them. We mastered new practical skills, and now we are attending each other’s events: we have turned into a little community.
In addition to the awesome workshops (special thanks for the public speaking training), we discussed advocacy with amazing activists: Lviv Family Azovstal, the “Drones First, Stadiums Later” campaign, and “I’m fine” from Burning Man.
We kept asking them about the secret to success, wondering what helped them gain publicity and influence. Their answers were more or less similar: “It’s not like we planned it, it just happened. The topic hit too close to home, and then I contacted my friends and decided that something needed to be done. We were moving one step at a time. Couldn’t do it any other way.”
Turns out, there is no secret. Just the three pillars of success:
– sincerely believe in your problem;
– keep your work consistent;
– build a network in your sphere.
Oh, and do it here and now,” Olia says.
