Martina Borrello’s Post

📢What does really empower a young person to be an active changemaker? Today, I was given the possibility to speak at the workshop on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment organized by the World Food Forum Italy Chapter — a group of passionate young people committed to building a more sustainable future in the Italian context. And here it comes the initial question. When I was asked to do this presentation, I wondered: What does really empower a young person to be an active changemaker? I think knowledge is fundamental, but in an era where we have an overwhelming amount of resources to inform ourselves, I wanted to shape my 15 minutes in practical terms. And so I told them my favourite story, the story on the importance of tools and approaches considering women, vulnerable groups, and intersectional identities. I indeed guided them through what a #genderanalysis and what does it mean to do #gendermainstreaming or to adopt a #responsive or #transformative and #intersectional approach. Might sound basic information to many people in the gender bubble, but to share this knowledge can really trigger change. The workshop included breakout sessions where participants explored the topic of gender equality in italian agrifood systems and what I heard made me genuinely happy: I heard them mentioning migrant women, women in leadership position and driving innovation, the importance of collecting updated sex-disaggregated data and so many brilliant insights. As always after any event, I keep questioning myself and how I presented - impostor syndome, is it you? - but I really hope to be able to join always more initiatives of this kind. ✅Perhaps this is what empowerment is in the end: transferring skills from one to another to build active changemakers. 📧And you — are you ready to be part of the change? Reach out to Giacomo Marsoner, Vincenzo Nicolò and Giacomo Di Capua to learn more about WFF Italy Chapter!