As appeared on LinkedIn:
The word I chose as my ‘north star’ for 2025 was HOPE. Little did I know that the shifts in the global health architecture would test what I thought hope meant.
Hope showed up as restraint, as holding ground when the ground was shifting.
Budgets shrank, systems cracked, and innovation was rebranded as survival. Gender equality was not celebrated; it was defended. Holding the line became the work. And climate shocks made this uneven—hitting small islands hardest: livelihoods washed away, unpaid care multiplied, choices narrowed. Still, the line held.
We learned that keeping the door for a clinic from closing can be as hard as opening one. Partners asked what was new, and the truest answer felt almost defiant: we stayed. We protected what women and girls already fought for. We held the line—not because it was easy or visible, but because retreat would cost too much. That’s where hope lived—in the dogged refusal to undo progress, in the daily choice to guard sexual reproductive health and rights when attention moved elsewhere.
This was not loud hope. It was working hope. Throughout 2025 hope carried on as a quiet expectation that progress, though slowed, was still possible.
And, as we stand on the cusp of 2026—for gender equality, for sexual and reproductive health and rights, for bodily autonomy and dignity; from conflict-affected and climate-exposed communities to the frontlines where women’s bodies remain contested terrain:
Let hope stand its ground
Without banners or applause
Possibility
2026 All Rights Reserved
Photo by Absalom Robinson on Pexels.com
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The “line held” and your lines inspire. Hope will always be one of my favorite words, any year, and as you’ve described, it is ever evolving. Thank you, dear Dawn, and best to you in the new year. 🦋
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Poetess Michele!!! I’ve missed reading your inspirational creative writings. Looking forward to reconnecting in the coming weeks. All the best for this new year!!!!
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Hope is good, Dawn, but we have to work towards our goals too, to fulfill that hope. I’m sure you are doing that already. All the best.
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Absolutely!! “Holding the line became the work”—in an atmosphere where advancing progress was challenge, holding the line was critical not to lose ground on the rights gained.
Thanks for dropping by!
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Beautiful! Strong and defiant. Hope keeps us moving even when the road is incomplete. Let Hope stand it’s ground in 2026. Thank you for writing.
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Absolutely… let hope hold its ground!!! Thanks for being a steadfast partner on this creative journey Norms!!!!!
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I do pray that hope stay strong and resolute. Amen.
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Amen and AMEN!!!
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🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
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This is a lovely tribute to holding the line for the many people struggling to survive. Kudos Dawn.
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Yes indeed Brad!!!! This is when standing in the gap for others count. Cheers 🙏🏽🎆🙏🏽
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