Mission, Vision & Values | YSMENA Project

YSMENA at its Core

Mission

YSMENA Study is a community centered, collaborative organization. Our mission is to develop effective HIV prevention strategies that are founded in community feedback and accessibility. Our aim is to develop sexual health resources and interventions that promote, celebrate and are inclusive of all young individuals. Our studies, programs and community partnerships aim to consider the wider demographic and understand how the various determinants of health (e.g., gender, sexual orientation, race, class, violence, religion, culture, language, disability, immigration status, and socio-economic status) can improve the lives and health of our communities. Ultimately, we want to approach our role with respect, understanding, and growth by valuing and partnering with the communities we hope to serve.

Vision

The YSMENA Study is committed to working with community partners and others to learn about and implement community focused health and wellbeing supports that are inclusive and free of judgement. We focus on pursuing our work from an anti-racist, anti-oppression, and multilingual participatory framework to address the issue of HIV risk and sexual behaviour among MENA (Middle Eastern and North African) youth residing in Ontario and British Columbia. However, our vision is for these supports, preventions, interventions and health resources to be utilized by MENA communities and youth throughout Canada and beyond.

Values

YSMENA strives for honestly, accountability and responsibility in everything we do. Integrity is key to establishing trust. We do so by working ethically, guided by our principles in all decisions YSMENA makes.

Committed to promoting a respectful environment for everyone involved, YSMENA works from a model of respect. By doing so, we aim to promote a safe organization that honours its members, and builds feelings of esteem for all.

Inclusivity, and an equitable value system, are core to YSMENA values. They are needed to acknowledge the complexity of identities while addressing the disparities in health for MENA communities that stem from systemic inequalities.

Our strength lies in our community partnerships and collaborations. YSMENA is committed to working with community members through all stages of our community-based research studies.

YSMENA works to raise awareness of the disparities found within the MENA community in Ontario, BC and throughout Canada. By empowering the community, we strive to build strength and resilience within MENA culture while building an understanding of its richly diverse communities.

We value the ability to create and spread social awareness around topics of (sexual, physical, and mental) health and wellbeing for MENA youth. Our goals are toward creating lasting, positive social change in the communities we serve.

Guiding Frameworks

Intersectionality

All of the studies within the YSMENA project are informed by the theoretical perspective of intersectionality, which explores and examines how various social identities, including gender, race, ethnicity, sexual preference, and socioeconomic status intersect with existing systems of oppression. This perspective endorses that these factors interact in ways that create a variety of health outcomes. MENA youth are diverse and each have various intersecting social identities that impact their experiences of health and wellness.

GIPA/MEPA

GIPA - Greater Involvement of People living with HIV/AIDS.
MEPA - Meaningful Engagement of People living with HIV/AIDS.

GIPA/MEPa Is a foundation for the HIV/AIDS movement. It was first declared at the Paris Declaration in 1994 and has been adopted in the Ontario Accord. Many people living with HIV/AIDS, along with several international organizations, prefer the term MEPA. This change from GIPA to MEPA was a result of the experiences of People Living with HIV/AIDS (PHAs) being tokenized by organizations claiming to be committed to GIPA, rather than involving PHAs in meaningful ways where they hold prominent roles in leadership and decision making. YSMENA honours GIPA /MEPA in its values and principles.

Community -Based Research Approach

All of the studies within the YSMENA project are informed by community-based research (CBR) principles. This means that all stages of every study embody CBR, where MENA youth partner with community leaders and researchers. From YSMENA's inception, MENA youth have taken leadership on this project. Survey creation, survey dissemination, and survey analysis will be conducted by MENA youth in collaboration with the core research team and other stakeholders, including service providers and researchers. This project will also involve leadership and involvement of MENA youth with HIV. We hope that by capturing the voices and ideas of MENA youth living with HIV, we will be able to identify meaningful interventions and uphold the principle of Meaningful Involvement of People Living with HIV (MIPA).

Land Acknowlegement

We acknowledge that Western University, and YSMENA, is located on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabek (Ah-nish-in-a-bek), Haudenosaunee (Ho-den-no-show-nee), Lūnaapéewak (Len-ahpay- wuk) and Chonnonton (Chun-ongk-ton) Nations, on lands connected with the London Township and Sombra Treaties of 1796 and the Dish with One Spoon Covenant Wampum.

With this, YSMENA respects the longstanding relationships that Indigenous Nations have with this land as its original caretakers. We acknowledge historical and ongoing injustices that Indigenous Peoples (First Nations, Métis and Inuit) endure in Canada, and we accept responsibility as a public institution to contribute toward revealing and correcting miseducation as well as renewing respectful relationships with Indigenous communities through our teaching, research and community service with Indigenous communities through our teaching, research, and community service efforts.