Objectives
The main aim of “Equality has no gender (EHNG)” is to increase the awareness of gender issues in youth work by providing youth workers practical and reflective skills in working with young people around gender equality. In this regard, the specific objectives of the project for youth workers are:
-To reflect on their understandings of sex and gender and to increase their comfort level with these issues.
-To discover the main international commitments initiatives to gender equality.
-To explore the causes and consequences of gender inequality.
-To increase awareness of female/male stereotypes and gender biases in them. To initiate a discussion about some of the consequences of gender stereotyping.
-To make youth workers reflect upon their own ideological and cultural background regarding gender role.
-To recognize and understand gender-based violence as a severe form of gender discrimination and to take action to help prevent violence against women.
-To discuss the role of youth workers to contribute to promoting the value of gender equality and building motivation of participants to act as gender equality advocates.
-To be able to prepare an action plan for implementing concrete activities to promote gender equality at local level.
EHNG through its non-formal and informal activities will contribute to professional development of youth workers, contributing to capacity building for quality youth work of the youth workers involved and their organisation, having a clear impact on the participating youth workers’ regular work with young people. Indeed, EHNG will prepare youth workers on how to tackle gender inequality and equip them with practical and reflective skills in working with young people around gender equality. Youth workers will benefit from educational content to improve their knowledge and skills and to further promote those among young people. The youth workers will benefit in terms of motivation, commitment, tools and methods. They will have greater satisfaction in their volunteer commitment and perform better quality of youth work. Their level of skills will improve and these skills will be also transferable to other youth workers of their community and used for creating new programmes for young people.
Activities
EHNG will be a training course where will be involved 28 youth workers, with no age limits, active in youth work field and with previous competences. The project will use non formal learning methodology including methods such as: ice breakers, energizers, name games, working into intercultural subgroups, facilitated discussion, creative presentations, simulation, case study and debates etc.
ASUL and the partners already defined the profile of participants that they will involve in the project. All of them are working with young people on regular basis – all of them will be youth workers (peer-to-peer educators, youth leaders, providers of NFL extra curricula activities for youth, volunteer managers, etc.). Furthermore, a fundamental element to be considered required by ASUL to partners for the selection of participants is the number of young people with whom each participant is in daily contact during his/her educational duties.
Following, the aim of partners will be to create a group of participants ready to actively to promote act for gender equality and ready to apply the future competences learnt later on with young people.
Impact
The main idea of this project is to bring innovations and better quality youth work and learning opportunities to young people. This will be done through contribution to the personal and professional development of 28 youth workers from 7 partner organizations that will acquire more specialized knowledge on gender equality and so gain a good understanding of gender that will allow them to explore how gender norms can affect the lives of young people. Knowing the profile and the serious motivation of partner organizations to include more gender equality education in their work with young people, we are confident that our project will have long time positive impact on quality of youth work in all partner organizations. Additionally, participants will:
-learn to incorporate the gender perspective in their daily work with young people by examining everything from the perspective of women and men, girls and boys;
-Develop skills to design and facilitate gender equality initiatives and programmes with/for youth;
-Deep their awareness about the importance of acquiring gender equality skills and knowledge and think more critically about all information circulate about gender roles and how youth workers can act to guide young people.