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UN working to ensure voices of ordinary people feature prominently: Mohammed

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United Nations (UN) Deputy Secretary General Amina Mohammed says the world body is working to ensure that the voices of ordinary people feature prominently in the search for solutions to their own problems.

She was taking part in a dialogue with young women in Khayelitsha in Cape Town following her delivery of the Annual Nelson Mandela Lecture on Saturday.

There with her was children’s rights activist and Mandela’s widow Graca Machel.

The meeting at Khayelitsha’s Lookout Hill followed a short interaction with young women under the auspices of the Soul City Institute to reflect on Mohammed’s lecture.

They acknowledged that the lecture had touched on most of their concerns but wanted to know how they can get their voices heard by those in authority.

Nikitha Sobethwa said the youth are waiting for direction.

“We’ve come with many suggestions and solutions that might help, but how do we contact the upper powers for us to be assisted, and to start a chain reaction that might affect the whole world because we are here we want to make a change, we are ready for action.”

Yolanda Pitoyi expressed a need for young women to speak directly to those in power: “We want to represent ourselves as young women. Sometimes we feel as if adults speak on our behalf. They make decisions on our behalf. Now as a young black woman living with HIV, how do we get that platform of talking freely without being judged.”

Mohammed told them that as it reforms itself, the UN realises that it needs to help people to find solutions and support them at the local level:

“As we reform now to be fit for purpose, we are asking ourselves what it is we have to do to bring your voice and to connect it to actions at scale, because we can’t keep doing these small examples because the task is too big. The challenge seems to be in everyone of your lives. This is not an isolated case this is everywhere.”

Graca Machel commended the young women for belonging to an organisation.

She said solutions lie with them.

She added that they have the power to call even the mayor, once they have come up with solutions, for her to listen to them:

“Please call the leaders at the local level and say you know what we live here and we don’t feel safe to leave home to go to school. It has to be resolved, because it is not at the big building where it’s happening. It’s happening in many families and we have to find solutions at our level and call those in Cape Town to support the local strength to resolve the problems.”

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