Erla belongs to the leadership team at Centro Santa Angela and she runs the José Leonardo Ortiz Leadership School, a project funded by Heart-Links donors.

Register here for Women in the Lead: A Tapestry of Stories from the Global South.

“The fact that we are women means that we are impacted differently in any crisis,” Erla says. In the case of the pandemic, “isolation is multiplying the workload for women.” With everybody home, and children out of school, women and girls find they are expected to keep house, take care of all family members and keep up with other responsibilities, such as school work.

Women and girls are also at greater risk of sexual violence. “The cases of violence have not stopped with the pandemic, with the lockdown,” Erla says. “On the contrary, they have become more prominent. Cases of abuse, of teenage pregnancies, are more evident.” Sexual violence, according to Erla, is itself a pandemic. “We say it is a big monster that really needs many efforts, many doors of entry to be able to contribute to diminish this problem in girls, in women.”

To take this discussion further and exchange views with women in other parts of the world, Erla will join Elida Jeanty, Officer of Development of Rayjon Share Care, and Basimenye Nhlema, Community Health Director for Partners in Health, for Women in the Lead: A Tapestry of Stories from the Global South.

You can join the conversation, too, by registering now. What better way to get ready for International Women’s Day on March 8?

This “fireside chat” organized by the Ontario Council for International Cooperation and hosted by podcaster Safa Shahkhalili, forms part of Tapestry 2030, an eight-part illustration and podcast series on the partnerships needed for gender-transformative and sustainable development. Amanda Schutz illustrated the series.

You can listen to Heart-Links’ episode Leadership Action in Peru, featuring Erla and two of the Leadership School participants, right here.

Women in the Lead: A Tapestry of Stories from the Global South takes place by Zoom on Friday, March 5 at 8 a.m. EST.

Erla Hoyos, of Centro Santa Angela, and Ruth Taylor, of Heart-Links, speak with Safa Shahkhalili about the Canadian-Peruvian partnership that is fostering a new kind of leadership in Peru. All accompanied by beautiful illustration by Amanda Schutz.

You can listen right here:

Or you can listen on Spotify (here) or Apple Podcasts (here) or wherever you like to listen to podcasts: Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Podcast Addict, Podchaser, Deezer, Listen Notes,  Pocket Casts, Castro, Castbox.

Remember to follow or subscribe to listen to all the episodes in the series. You’ll hear stories from Bhutan Canada Foundation, CAP Network, Canada-Mathare Education Trust, Inter Pares, Partners In Health Canada, Rayjon Share Care, YMCA of Greater Toronto and their respective international partners.

Here are some ways you can help keep this important conversation about how to build a more just world going:

• share this blog post on social media and with friends and family
• rate each podcast episode you listen to
• share your feedback, questions and comments (you can email them to info@heart-links.org)

Tapestry 2030 is a podcast and illustration series focused on the future of international cooperation and global solidarity, and the partnerships needed for gender transformative, sustainable development. In it OCIC members and their international partners share stories anchored in the principles for Just Recovery within the context of the global pandemic.

If you’d like to hear more from our outstanding partners about the projects Heart-Links supports in northern Peru, join us at 7 p.m. EST tomorrow at Share the Love @ Home. Register for free here.