Acceptance and maintenance create a foundation for #GenderParity at home

Acceptance and maintenance

Resistance is second nature to human behaviour. Then again, so is resilience. As women’s rights have evolved over the last century, so have trends in business, entertainment and education. It is true that today there are more women in the workforce, in schools and in prominent positions than there have ever been in history. However the stigma of women’s abilities still remain.

In my opinion, attaining gender equality begins with acceptance. What many fail to do is accept the qualities of their female counterparts due to the behavioural resistance that has been evolving over time. The second step is maintenance. Although our primary concern is achieving gender equality over time, the matter shall progress to maintaining equality. Much of the youth and working class face resistance towards development however, we are a resilient force and the disparity in gender equality can be sealed through acceptance and maintenance.

Opinion Published in Gulf News

Emirates Women of the Year 2015 Young Achiever Simran Vedvyas

Simran Vedvyas youngest Indian girl nominated in the Young Achiever Category #EmiratesWomenAward

http://emirateswoman.com/emirates-woman-woman-year-awards-2015-round/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hnk4FygHFnA

She’s just Seventeen, yet amazingly inspiring!

Her top moments to shine and inspire include-

·      Being one of the six and youngest torchbearer from the Middle East region to carry the Olympic Flame during the London 2012 Olympic Games

·      Bagging five National Academic Distinction Awards in consecutive years

·      Seen featured on MTV Voices’ billboard in Times Square, New York City for 100 hours/every 8 minutes ‘Youth! Future Champions’

·      Paired in with legends as honored with John Muir Youth Environmental Conservation Award

·      Awarded the admired Princess Diana International Award and proud to carry on the Princess Diana’s Legacy

·      Honored with the Splash "Heart of Gold " for Humanitarian commitment 2015

http://emirateswoman.com/awards

Supported by masses-

Simran Vedvyas, reached out, influenced and benefitted thousands to serve humanity and environment beyond boundaries.  An Indian by origin, resident of Dubai U.A.E. she finds herself continuously self-motivated to ‘dreaming large and achieving big’.  During her early life years, she has excelled by strong communication and leadership skills in challenging youth to adopt a more sustainable and peaceful lifestyle. She leads as founder and Chairperson of ‘SynergY’, a NGO youth group, and works each passing day to engage hundreds of students from various institutions in the UAE and India to act together by convening, converging and collaborating. In the process, she ensures to communicate and transpire her thoughts positively to others.  She makes an attempt to lead by example accepting others viewpoints, holding positive discussions and making valuable decisions to progress with her maturity being one of the exceptional qualities that abets to bring together people working for a common goal to benefit the society.  

She has successfully led scores of well planned and executed youth engagement campaigns to benefit the community and environment among which exceptionally outstanding is the planting of over 2000 trees at various landfills in UAE. 

She feels humbled and honored receiving the legendary John Muir Youth Environmental Conservation Award USA, the admired Diana International Award UK, the esteemed 'Puruskar' National level India, Award being Paryavaranmitra Leader for change, shortlisted as Best Student, International Eco Hero award USA, first prize at Global Youth for Environment Forum by Samsung Engineering and Korea Green Foundation among many other global recognitions for my contribution to the environment, conservation and sustainability.  

She has been conferred with Splash ‘Heart of Gold’ for her humanitarian commitment that includes visiting missionaries of charity and dying destitute center in India since past eight years and supporting children in need, distributing food items through ‘Convoy to Feed’ to nearly two thousand labors over the years and supporting causes of education, reducing poverty and gender equality rights through various global platforms. In less than a month I was able to collect over 3000 pairs of shoes for diabetic patients in Africa & Middle East that was distributed in various clinics through US aided AMPATH in 2011.

http://emirateswoman.com/awards/young-achievers/simran-vedvyas/

About the Award:

Emirates Woman Woman Of The Year Awards 2015

Celebrating the UAE’s game-changing visionaries, the humanitarians making a difference, the achievers smashing glass ceilings, and the artists using their creative vision and talent to help put the region on the map, we are proud to finally introduce the 25 inspirational finalists for the Emirates Woman Woman Of The Year Awards 2015.

We’ve also introduced a brand new and exciting category devoted to young achievers. The nominees for the inaugural award are five exceptional young women, all making waves in their respective fields, and all aged 25 or under.

A Heart of Gold is always rare to find

“Success for me lies in the belief that at the end of the day my actions have had a positive effect on at least one person in the world”.

For several years now I have continued reaching out with a kind heart and tender hands to special children and destitute people giving them the faith and hope to realize, they are not in it alone. And support is always there.

Believing that ‘No act of kindness, no matter how small it is, is ever wasted’ as a student in Dubai I have has led many other students as well of youth group SynergY to distribute over 1500 food packets to workers at landfill sites during 2013-2014 and also this Ramadan.  Ramadan is a special time of year when Muslims around the world take a step back from their daily routines and focus on community, charity, fasting, and prayer. Supported by Dubai Municipality officials the campaign ‘Convoy to Feed’ welfare many.

I have visited Missionaries of Charity and Leprosy center every year and supported children suffering from Leprosy and mental challenges with my savings and part of the award money that I have won over the years.  As UAE’s Youth Ambassador to World Peace Caravan I continue promoting Peace and healthy lives for all especially children in war -affected areas, and as the Youth Ambassador –A world at School, ‘Up for School and Education for all’.

I always felt that “It is easy to sit up and take notice. What is difficult is getting up and taking action. Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference. In a world where there is so much to be done, I feel strongly impressed that there is something for me to do always.”

“I chose Dubai Municipality landfill sites because we planted hundreds of trees in the past few years at some of the landfills and understood how much of hard work these people do for us and this would be our way to express gratitude and share time with them during the holy month of Ramadan.”

Little did I know, that, being the reason someone smiles today, as a 16-year-old I will be rewarded and honored as unsung hero with the Splash ‘Heart of Gold’ trophy for the good deeds becoming the reason behind hundreds and hundreds of smiles and my passion for the humanitarian work.

If you wish to be a part of SynergY and support my work please connect with me

simran.vedvyas@gmail.com

Links-

Splash Heart of Gold

http://www.landmarkshops.com/splash/heartofgold

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hO1YIflzaA0

The Positive Side

A better world through knowledge and information

Youth use ICT to convene...converge and collaborate

I am Simran Vedvyas, representing the youth, who are not only vibrant but also constitute a major segment of the total world population today.  In my opinion social media and ICT helps achieve development- however it is a means and not an end. Human power is infinite, we have the technology, the resources and I know many others like me are constantly working; because there is still a choice to do so, to empower and to do well for a just, peaceful and sustainable world. ICT and social media has empowered youth and made us resourceful paving way to address and improve some of the most critical social, economic, and environmental issues in the developing world as projected in the Millennium Development Goals. 

Recently my inspirational story along with several other unsung hero’s honored with Splash “Heart of Gold” was shared by Splash Fashions through the social media and it is heart-warming to see how they reached thousands within a short span of hours across the globe with such positivity.

Link- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hO1YIflzaA0

Campaigns like providing laptops to students in the developing world like the “One laptop per child program”, allowed children in Uganda to communicate with children in the US and even the rest of the world has shown that the potential of such interaction is invaluable as it provides many learning and employment opportunities, thus reducing poverty. This as one of the many similar examples benefitting various other countries like India, Sri Lanka, etc   Social media has worked as catalyst for the Millennium Development Goals through the use of Information, Communication, and Technology by effective transfer of knowledge benefitting all segments of the society.

The last decade witnessed many economies leapfrog the communication infrastructure from having no telephones to having widespread cellular networks, which allowed the rapid spread of mobile services, allowing youth and women to secure small business loans, health services and improve their living standards.  Mobile networks also helped disseminate information by allowing farmers to gain access to best practices for irrigation and fertilization and finding better markets. ICT has been an enabler for Smart Water Management and various solutions.

As Global Youth Advocate MY World 2015 which is a United Nations Global Survey for citizens aiming to capture people’s voices, priorities and views, so the world leaders can be informed as they begin the process of defining the next set of global goals to end poverty, I must highlight the role of social to facilitate gather millions of votes or shall we say people’s voices from 194 countries across the globe.

Youth is empowered with various innovative platforms and tools to learn, share and inspire by connecting through the social media and this power has and will bring in the needed change.  In today’s world social media actually brings people closer, it connects them and it creates a network of determined individuals with a cause.

I personally connect with thousands of youth and groups by interacting at platforms like- google hang-outs, online discussions, skype calls, facebook etc–“these are no less than board-room proceedings sometimes”, We developed strong bonds with ideas and information exchange using quick tools of Messaging, Status Updates and twitter and even explored explicit means like blogs, pinterest, etc.  Sharing our innovative work reports has inspired hundreds of youth globally and many projects like planting nearly 2000 trees at landfill areas and raising awareness about waste management, finding homes for abandoned indoor plants etc have been successfully implemented locally but shared globally.

Eye on Earth is about the environmental and social data community. It has showcased and brought to light the very best projects dealing with data access and analysis. These projects with the most promise have shown the best impact on the issue they seek to tackle.  Collecting relevant data and sharing it throughout the global communities is inspiring and convening to converge and collaborate efforts has seen promising outcomes and benefits for a just and sustainable future. 

Clearly the role of information and communications technology is driven and measured by its performance and potential hence active efforts must be taken for global inclusiveness with focus on real innovations and new challenges enabling ICT for Sustainable Development become a recognized and funded enterprise.  It is completely in our hands to develop ICT with wisdom and prudence and put it in best practice to advance sustainable development. 

“We need to act now-

We need to share our knowledge –

We need to formulate knowledge into wisdom –

We need to move forward together and above all,

We need to deliver the vision”

Simran Vedvyas

Eye on Earth

Youth Ambassador 2012

www.about.me/simranvedvyas.com

I am the Change- World Peace Caravan Youth Ambassador Simran Vedvyas

What does being selected as a World Peace Caravan Youth Ambassador, mean to me-

I aspire to share my experience, and indulge youth to raise more awareness by participating systematically and effectively in promoting education, healthcare and environmental work, sustainability- the future we want and causes that must be addressed sooner than ever before with creative and innovative ideas.  The number one impediment to world peace is the disconnection and lack of thinkers, dis-orientation from true love, faith and belief in ‘Sameness of All’.  The concepts of greed and power are taking over the true human self. We need to learn from yesterday, live for today, and hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning, finding & advancing the entrenched love, faith and true belief in thoughts & deeds.  This platform is innovative and will allow me to connect with like-minded people and the journey will be progressive. 

About the World Peace Caravan

Over 3,000 years ago, the Queen of Sheba led a 750 camel caravan over the Ancient Frankincense Trail to carry her peace offerings to King Solomon in Jerusalem. In December, 2015 the inaugural World Peace Caravan will travel by camel, horse, and foot from Petra, Jordan to Jerusalem, and further, retracing the steps of this early peace movement along parts of the storied Frankincense Trail. The caravan will be spearheaded by the World Peace Caravan Youth Delegation (twelve youth leaders, ages 16-24 selected from a global pool of candidates) and anchored by two landmark events, the World Peace Caravan Peace and Health Conference on the Dead Sea in Jordan and the World Peace Caravan Concert for Peace in Jerusalem. A uniquely embracive movement, the World Peace Caravan will engage participants physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually while inviting people of all cultures, faiths, and backgrounds to come together to demonstrate and promote peace, harmony, compassion, and a greater understanding of one another.

The caravan will begin with a pre-launch celebration in Petra, Jordan on December 15, 2015 and depart on December 16. Participants will travel through Jordan for four days and nights, camping along the way while exchanging multi-cultural activities including music, dance and educational seminars and exploring historical and religious sites.

It will break on December 20 for a high-level, interactive WPC World Peace and Health Conference at the King Hussein Bin Talal Convention Centre on the shore of the Dead Sea in Jordan on December 21 and 22. The conference of invited international peace advocates will focus on health, education, and the role of women and youth in peacemaking.

On December 23, the caravan will cross the border into The Palestine Authority for a visit to Jericho and a two day trek through the Judean desert, arriving in Bethlehem on December 25. On Saturday, December 26, the caravan will culminate with a Peace Walk into Jerusalem and the blockbuster World Peace Caravan Concert for Peace. Internationally renowned musical artists will mix with musicians from around the globe for a night of once-in-a-lifetime performances at the new state-of-the art Jerusalem Arena. The evening's festivities will be broadcast and streamed around the world.

The WORLD PEACE CARAVAN is founded by the international D. Gary Young Foundation, a 501 © (3) non-profit organization. The foundation is looking for like-minded partners who share in the vision of a world at peace.

Simran Vedvyas

World Peace Youth Ambassador, Dubai, United Arab Emirates