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"I do see a big change in the way that young people are participating today...What is expected of young people is not only to be young but also to tell what they think, to share their knowledge, and to contribute." 

Lydia is a Costa Rican feminist activist who lives in Mexico City. She participated actively in youth organizing and mobilization around the Earth Summit process in 1991-1992 and worked for several years as coordinator of the Youth Programme of the Earth Council. more>>

>>Click here to read the full interview

>>Available in French, Portuguese, and Spanish

Jennifer Kidwell, IWHC: Can you share the history of how and why you became involved in women's and youth movements?

Lydia Alpízar Durán: I started doing activism when I was 17 years old...I was exposed to a different reality that helped me understand North–South relationships and the role of young people in the community, the importance of learning about other countries as well learning and valuing more my own country and my capacity to do things to change the reality in which we live. more>>

JK: You've done a lot of work with networks—both regional and global. Why do you feel that kind of organization is important and what does it achieve in terms of young people's health and rights?

LAD: I don't think that any agenda that is marginalized and that is pushing for human rights of different groups of people would really advance without very strong organizing at different levels on the ground. more>>

JK: How has your experience been informed by meeting other young people from different parts of the world—young activists, young feminists?

LAD: Something that was really key when talking and learning with other activists was figuring out how to create a vision and discourse to defend our right to fully enjoy our sexuality and our sexual and reproductive rights. more>>

JK: What would you say are the major challenges that face young people today, in Mexico, Costa Rica, the region, or even globally?

LAD: We really need to push for a rights-based approach, for really respecting the rights of young people. That means challenging ourselves to understand that youth exercising their sexuality is their right and is not just something that society has given them. more>>

JK: What do you see as the most important things that programmers and policymakers can do to improve the way that we promote and protect the health and rights of young people, and young women specifically?

LAD: There have to be clear mechanisms to involve young people and to make sure they have meaningful participation...[which means] not just having them there as tokens, as usually happens, but to really enable and give them the resources so that they can contribute to the substance of the discussion. more>> 

JK: Can you describe your vision of an ideal or better world?

LAD: It is a world where sexuality is fully embraced as an important part of what it means to be human and there is no discrimination because of the way that you choose to express it. more>>