Hey YOUth!
International Youth Day is held every year on August 12th. This year’s theme is Safe Spaces for Youth. They asked: How can youth be engaged in addressing gender-based violence (GBV) in and around schools?
We responded: Young people are already doing so much to end school-related gender-based violence… but are they being heard?
UNGEI is a partnership of organisations committed to gender equality in education, the empowerment of girls, and the meaningful participation of young people in the movement.
Join us in celebrating the role of young people as key partners in promoting human rights and development, whilst raising awareness of the challenges and hardships facing the world’s youth:
CREATE A VIDEO
We are partnering with youth advocates to produce a series of short videos about GBV in and around schools, showing how you are sparking change in your communities. Using Facebook live, we want you to create a short video (5–10mins) which will then be uploaded to UNGEI YouTube. The topic must be action-oriented, informative, creative and tangible. Advocates can shape the theme of the video and film it from the comfort of their own spaces. The first video (6th August) will introduce school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV) and the last one will focus on a call to action (August 12th). Advocates can choose any day/time from the 7th — 11th to share video content.
We want to hear about the work you are doing to challenge SRGBV, focusing on the how, the realities and experiences of what SRGBV looks like in your context, to inspire and help others to join this powerful movement for change. Some ideas:
- “Not my school: recognising and understanding gender norms”
- “4 steps to creating an awareness raising platform”
- “How we created a safe space in our school”
- “3 tips on how to advocate for yourself”
- “SRGBV — 6 things we want you to know”
- “Be an ally not a bystander”
If you wish to join the campaign, contact Natasha nharrisharb@plancanada.ca
WRITE FOR US
As well as the video series, UNGEI will be publishing posts to the #YouthLeads strand of the UNGEI Medium blog and sharing through UNGEI Twitter. We ask for a rolling submission, from which blogs will be posted from 13th August — 3rd September.
Here are some guiding questions to get you started:
- What is your understanding of school-related gender based violence (SRGBV)? How is it manifest in your school? How has SRGBV affected you and your peers?
- How have you responded to this threat? What challenges were you up against? How did you overcome them?
- What advice or best practice can you share for others who want to take action against SRGBV? How can other young people stand up against SRGBV?
- How can decision makers and policy makers meaningfully include youth to address the different forms of SRGBV? This is an opportunity for your voice to be heard: what is your call to action?
We want your voice to shine through, so stay true to your style, whether it be poetry or bullet points (no more than 900 words). If possible, please provide photographs that will be filtered in the style of this blog and used in social media posts. If you want to remain anonymous, please let us know and provide a pseudonym.
If you wish to share a blog post, contact Gloria gdiamond@unicef.org
