Voices Against Violence
Summary
A global co-educational curriculum for use with young people around the world supported by a manual which includes guidance and resources.
Type of intervention
Classroom setting, group work, book/guide
Target groups, level of prevention and subgroups
- Additional Resource | Group work, classroom setting, book/guide | English, French, Spanish, Arabic
Target population
Voices against Violence aims to prevent violence against women and girls around the world, through work with young people aged from five to 25 years. Materials are provided for the following age groups: 5-7 years; 8-11 years; 12-16 years; and 17-25 years.
Additionally, the programme involves work with parents and communities. The materials are designed to be used by peer educators and people working with children and young people, such as those running youth groups.
Delivery organisation
The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) and UN Women.
Mode and context of delivery
Voices against Violence is a global co-educational curriculum for use with young people around the world. It has been piloted in 20 organisations from different regions of the world, including Asia, the Arab Region, Africa, Australasia, Europe and Latin America. It forms one strand of the global campaign ‘Stop the violence- speak out for girls rights’ which is running from 2010 – 2020 (see www.stoptheviolencecampaign.com).
The curriculum is supported by a manual which provides detailed guidance, plus resources and activities, to enable the running of face to face interactive educational group workshops for either mixed gender groups or females only. The manual and activities can be downloaded free of charge from www.unwomen.org and www.wagggs.org. Training is also provided for those running these sessions.
Level/nature of staff expertise required
Voices against Violence is designed to be delivered by youth workers, peer educators and volunteers who have completed a specified training programme on the delivery of this programme. Extensive support, guidance and information is provided through a manual.
Intensity/extent of engagement with target group(s)
Voices against Violence has six core learning outcomes which are designed to be delivered through six sessions. These can be delivered through consecutive sessions or as a one-off event.
Description of intervention
Voices against Violence is a co-educational curriculum which has been specifically designed for use with young people around the world. It was developed by the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) in partnership with UN Women and forms part of the educational strand of the global campaign ‘Stop the violence- speak out for girls rights’, which is running from 2010 – 2020 (see www.stoptheviolencecampaign.com ). The programme aims to change lives, change relationships, change communities and change societies. It provides young people with tools to understand the root causes of violence in their communities, to educate and involve their peers and communities to prevent violence and to learn where and how to access support if violence is experienced.
The curriculum can be delivered to single sex groups or to mixed gender groups. Age appropriate sessions have been designed for the following age groups and these build on one another: Early Years (5-7 years), Younger Years (8-11 years), Midlde Years (12-16 years), Elder Years (17-25 years). It can be delivered in a series of short consecutive sessions, or as a whole event.
The curriculum covers all forms of violence against girls and women and includes:
- Sexual abuse
- Sexual harassment
- Dating violence
- Sexualisation of young people
- Female genital mutilation
- Early and forced marriage
The programme takes a human rights approach and addresses gender inequality, which it identifies as one of the causes of violence against girls and women. It is evidence based and specially designed to be adaptable to different cultural contexts. It actively seeks to engage and work with men and boys.
Six core learning outcomes are described for each age group and six sessions are designed to meet these through interactive educational activities. These all use the following framework - Stop, Think, Identify, Support, Speak Out, Take Action.
The curriculum is delivered through a handbook for peer educators, a wide range of activities and training for facilitators. These can be freely downloaded from both www.unwomen.org and www.wagggs.org . The handbook has 3 sections: Introduction, Preparation and Developing Your Knowledge. Information is provided on how to identify particular forms of violence in the local community, how to assess the readiness of a community to address the issues, local attitudes, barriers and partners, how to assess the risks of running the programme and how to involve parents and the local community. Fact sheets are provided, as well as information on how to run different activities. Methods used are age appropriate; for example, storytelling and games for the younger children.
Evaluations
The programme has been pilot tested and evaluated in 20 organisations around the world. It is continuing to be evaluated as it is rolled out more widely. No published evaluations are currently available, but for more information contact stoptheviolence@waggs.org.
References
The curriculum and further information about the programme are available on www.unwomen.org and www.wagggs.org websites.
Contact details
INFORMATION CORRECT AT JANUARY 2021
RATING: Pioneering