Young changemakers come together to mark International Women’s Day in Asia-Pacific

Author: Diego De La Rosa

Bangkok, Thailand — Six young changemakers working on different areas ranging from violence against women and climate change to indigenous women and LGBTQ issues, came together in Bangkok on 9 March to join the Asia-Pacific Commemoration of International Women’s Day (IWD), hosted by the United Nations.

At the event, organized as an interactive dialogue under the global IWD theme “I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights”, participants had the opportunity to hear first-hand experiences on how to strengthen advocacy efforts and youth-led movements advancing gender equality and women’s rights in the Asia-Pacific region.

The panel included Net Supatravanij, co-founder of Ila Generation, a social enterprise working to empowers sexual violence survivors with an innovative skills-training program that allows them to access jobs; Zaak Garett, youth, gender equality and LGBTIQ activist, founder of #PolicyPlease, a campaign that stands against sexual harassment and violence on campus and advocates for comprehensive sexual harassment policy on university campuses in Thailand; Nanticha (Lynn) Ocharoenchai, journalist and environmental advocate, founder of Climate Strike Thailand, the Thai chapter of the international movement of school students who demonstrate to demand action to address climate change; Sohaila Rezaee, young psychologist from Afghanistan, Founder of Young Emerging Leaders and winner of the prestigious N-Peace Award; Dr. Nantanoot Suwannawut, researcher at the Bureau of Special Education Administration of the Thai Ministry of Education, where she has been working on inclusive education and access technologies for persons with disabilities and Pirawan Wongnithisathaporn, an Indigenous Karen woman from Thailand, currently working on climate change issues for the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact.

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