GEAR – Mechanism against violence between intimate partners

“GEAR – Mechanism against violence between partners – II” – Awareness on gender equality for the prevention of violence between intimate partners (IPV)

The GEAR project – Mechanism against IPV is a coordinated action for the primary and secondary prevention of violence between intimate partners in adolescent relationships, through interventions in educational institutions or in other environments, and is supported by specially made educational materials, intended to raise awareness and empower students of the secondary cycle and high school by teachers specially trained in this regard. The materials created are detailed below and can be downloaded.

Activities:

• Creation of the set of manuals “Mechanism against IPV” in Romanian, its cultural adaptation and evaluation
• Implementation and evaluation of seminars for 50 teachers (duration of a seminar 24 hours – 3 days)
• Implementation and evaluation of a number of 11 awareness workshops for teenagers in the secondary/high school cycle (minimum total duration of a workshop: 13 hours of teaching)
• Carrying out an information and awareness campaign regarding gender-based violence for adolescents, through the materials and messages that will result from the workshops – materials created by the adolescents
• Presentation of the project results in a conference with the active participation of teenagers and teachers participating in the workshops
• Promotion and lobbying for the integration of educational materials and awareness workshops in the school curriculum

Objectives:

The main goal is to promote the development of healthy relationships based on gender equality and zero tolerance for violence by making young people aware of:

1. the characteristics of healthy and unhealthy relationships
2. the influence of attitudes and stereotypical gender roles on relationships
3. how unequal power relations between the sexes are related to psychological, physical and/or sexual abuse of girls/women
4. the contribution of adolescents to the prevention of all forms of gender-based violence

Given the fact that most children and adolescents attend a school, the educational system, at all levels, is the ideal context for such an initiative, where specially trained teachers can play a key role in the implementation of such interventions aimed at the general population. The need to implement stereotype and gender equality interventions in schools as a primary prevention measure of gender-based violence is therefore imperative.

The approach of the GEAR project – Mechanism against IPV is a systemic intervention in the school environment (or other environments) where boys and girls are invited, through a series of experiential activities, to reassess and at the same time overcome their cultural heritage regarding gender stereotypes and to interpret gender differences as individual differences and not as evidence of the superiority of one gender over the other.

Who are we addressing? Promotion leaflet

• secondary and high school students (over 12 years old)
• teenagers but also young people (over 12 years old) who belong to high-risk groups (e.g. were exposed to violence between intimate partners, between parents or were abused or neglected during childhood)
• secondary and high school teachers or other specialists working in education (psychologists, social workers)
• specialists or organizations active in the fields of health and education promotion, gender equality and prevention of gender-based violence, as well as specialists who provide services to adolescents who belong to high-risk groups
• decision-makers, such as those from the structures of the Ministry of Education, as well as decision-makers interested in the promotion and integration of the intervention promoted by the GEAR project – Mechanism against IPV in the school curriculum, such as the Department for Equal Opportunities Between Women and Men (DESFB) from the Ministry of Labor.

Results:

Handbook III is a useful source of information for teachers, including information on how to organize a GEAR workshop and the step-by-step process for implementing, documenting and evaluating the workshop in the classroom . Most importantly, it contains a series of activities that can be implemented in the classroom.

Handbook IV focuses on students and is closely related to Handbook III. It was created in such a way as to provide teachers with worksheets and auxiliary materials ready for use in the workshops.

The handbooks can be downloaded from here, after completing a few fields: http://www.gear-ipv.eu/download

Creative contest “Unlearning Violence”

260 students benefited from an educational module on the prevention of violence between intimate partners, implemented in the classroom by teachers trained by A.L.E.G. within the project “GEAR – Mechanism against violence between intimate partners (IPV) II”. Here you can see the materials made by each class with the aim of transmitting to other young people what they have learned.

1. Position paper resulting from workshops implemented in classrooms of students in Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Spain and Romania: The role of the school: Evidence-based Policy Recommendations for Adolescents’ Empowerment
2. Implementation and Evaluation Report of Awareness Raising Workshops with Adolescents in Romania
3. Position document resulting from seminars for teachers from Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Spain and Romania The Role of Schoole: Evidence-Based Policy Reccommandations for Teachers’ Trainings
4. Report on the implementation and evaluation of teacher training seminars in Romania

National conference – 14.10.2016, “Equality and prevention of gender-based violence in education” Agenda

Other information

• regarding the project and its activities in Romania, as well as related to registrations for participation in seminars for teachers, will be posted regularly on the A.L.E.G. website or Facebook
• regarding the project and its activities in other EU member states, permission to make new educational packages “GEAR – Mechanism against IPV” or for other aspects, you can visit the project website (www.gear-ipv.eu) or contact the organization European Anti-Violence Network.

Duration: October 2014 – November 2016

Partners:

• The Mediterranean Institute of Gender Studies (MIGS), Cyprus
• Center for Education, Counseling and Research (CESI), Croatia
• Association for Liberty and Equality of Gender (A.L.E.G.), Romania
• Unitarian Platform Against Gender Violence, Spain
• The Smile of the Child, Grecee

Coordinator: European Anti-Violence Network (EAVN), Greece

Website: www.gear-ipv.eu

Funding: With financial support from the Daphne III Program of the European Union, No. Project JUST/2013/DAP/AG/5408

This material was made with the financial support of the Daphne III Program of the European Union. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the European Network Against Violence and its project partners, and cannot be interpreted as reflecting the view of the European Commission.