Report from the activities of Ponton Group of Sex Educators in 2014

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2 Report from the activities of Ponton Group of Sex Educators in 2014

3 Ponton Group of Sex Educators completed another year of successful activities in the field of sexuality education and adolescent sexual health. Like in previous years we organized street events, provided classes for middle and secondary school students and answered adolescents questions online and via hotline. Ponton s special achievement in 2014 was to publish a new report on the state of sexuality education in Polish schools and to establish contacts with the Ministry of Education. Our another success was to obtain support from the Ministry of Education for our hotline for teenagers. 1. Street events Reports Knowledge Recruitment of new volunteers Trainings Classes in schools and other institutions Counselling Selected conferences and meetings Media Projects, Advocacy Special achievements/international work... 12

4 1. Street events Valentine s Day with Ponton it was our eight Valentine s Day event Infect with Love, not HIV. Ponton volunteers distributed brochures on sexual health, including HIV/AIDS prevention and condoms. We also collected wishes addressed at the Minister of Education Joanna Kluzik-Rostkowska. Participants of the event wrote on special postcards, expressing their wishes of reliable sexuality education. Young people could also say their demands in front of the camera the video is available here. Ponton sent the postcards to the minister with demands of introduction of sexuality education in Polish school. Valentine s Day events were organized simultaneously by Ponton in Warsaw and by SPUNK Modern Education Foundation in Łódź. On 14 February Ponton volunteers participated in a dance event One Billion Rising in Warsaw in order to protest against gender-based violence. On 9 March Ponton members took part in Warsaw feminist march Manifa with a leading theme of equality education. At the opening of the gathering Ponton educator Alina Synakiewicz spoke about the importance of reliable sexuality education and what are the consequences when it is missing. On 8 June Ponton participated once more in a picnic Wolski Korowód in the Warsaw district Wola. The aim was to present the organization to inhabitants. Ponton had a booth with brochures and provided counselling and talked about our work.

5 On July 2-5 Ponton volunteers promoted sexuality education at OPEN ER Festival in Gdynia. Participants could visit Ponton s booth in the NGO zone daily from 4 p.m. until 2 a.m. and obtain information on contraception, STIs or sexual rights. Volunteers informed about the Summer Hotline for Teens. 2. Reports On 14 April Ponton published the report on gynaecological care in Poland. It was a result of a campaign Safe Chair? Campaign for Good Gynaecological Care" and an online questionnaire filled out by 2501 people. The study focused on experiences and expectations of patients who visit an OB-GYN regularly, from time to time, who have been only once or never at a check-up. The report presents the study s results as well as Ponton s demands. The results were presented at a press conference with invited speakers: Patrycja Wonatowska, author of the report and Ponton educator, Tomasz Leonowicz, MD and legal experts - professor Monika Płatek and Zofia Jabłońska. The report is available on Ponton s website: On 3 December a press conference was held to launch the report An Exam in Preparation for Family Life Sexuality Education in Polish Schools. The report was created using the results of a questionnaire of the quality of sex education in Polish schools. Author of the report Joanna Skonieczna, initiator of the study Małgorzata Kot and sexologist Zbigniew Izdebski discussed the report at the conference. The

6 publication was prepared on the basis of 3000 questionnaires and serves as a valuable source of information on what adolescents learn at Preparation for Family Life (PfL) classes. The report is available here: 3. Knowledge New sections with articles and advice are regularly published on our website Ponton also blogs at a popular blogging platform NaTemat.pl The group was also active during an international campaign 16 Days Against Gender- Based Violence from 25 November to 10 December. We published a dozen articles on violence, especially sexual violence and gender-based violence. We also invited wellknown graphic artists to prepare art. The results were published online.

7 On 1 December - World AIDS Day we did a video at a VCT centre in Warsaw on how and where to go for an HIV test. The video is available on our website. 4. Recruitment of new volunteers Recruitment of new volunteers took place between September and November. 8 new people joined, 6 women and 2 men. This year we wanted to strengthen the peer education aspects of our work and, consequently, recruited very young volunteers. The majority of people who joined were between 20 and 23. Currently in the group there are educators who are older and more experienced and play expert and mentoring roles and younger educators who work with middle school students. 5. Trainings Training for medical students from IFMSA

8 On February one of Ponton s founders Anka Grzywacz did a workshop for medical students from IFMSA. 16 people from several cities participated. Altogether new initiatives aimed at providing sexuality education in middle and secondary schools are sprouting in 12 cities. Students get trained, exchange information and self-train to deepen their knowledge of physiology, puberty, sexuality, contraception, HIV and STI prevention and sexual health and then provide classes in middle and secondary schools on voluntary basis. Trainings for teaching students from Poznań On 8 March Anka Grzywacz from Ponton provided a workshop to a group of teaching faculty students from Poznań who were willing to providing sexuality education and prevention lessons in their hometown. Training for new Ponton educators On November trainings for new educators from Ponton were organized. New volunteers had a teambuilding workshop and learned the principles of teaching sexuality education to adolescents. They also learned about contraceptive options and STIs from Anna Pękalak, MD. The training was financed from EEA Funds under the project Control of implementation of the right of youth to sexuality education.

9 6. Classes in schools and other institutions In 2014 Ponton provided workshops in many institutions, among others: School Complex in Konstancin Jeziorna Centre for Support of Children and Family Koło in Warsaw Middle school Startowa in Warsaw 7. Counselling Ponton provided year-round counselling by . We received ca. 30 questions per week. Also, an online forum is available on our website Volunteers reply to about ten questions a day. During school year we run a hotline for teenagers at the Federation for Women and Family Planning. It is available every Friday for four hours. We promoted the hotline in the media and by sending posters to schools. From July to August we maintained our ninth edition of the Summer Hotline. Young people could text or call on a mobile number for two hours a day to get advice. In two months almost 600 questions were asked. A report was prepared to summarize the result of the 2014 hotline. It s available on Ponton s website. The summer hotline was available for adolescents who wanted to know more about puberty, health, sexuality and contraception and to adults parents, guardians, teachers looking for advice on how to communicate with young people.

10 On 10 February Ponton sex educator Magdalena Szymalak answered the questions of users of a web portal Onet.pl on the issue of Sexual awareness of children and youth 8. Selected conferences and meetings On 12 February a conference End Sexualisation was organized by the Government Representative for Equal Treatment Agnieszka Kozłowska- Rajewicz. Ponton educator Małgorzata Kot made a presentation about sexualisation in popular culture and its impact on young people. On 7 March Porozumienie Kobiet 8 Marca organized a debate The Hunt for Gender Effects of the Lack of Equality and Sexuality Education in Poland. Ponton educator Małgorzata Kot took part in the discussion. On 16 March Ponton educators Patrycja Wonatowska and Joanna Skonieczna participated in Let s Talk About Taboo events as part of the project More Me. The event was organized by the European Medical Students Association EMSA Warsaw and the Warsaw Medial University. On 9-10 May Ponton was present at the 6 th Polish Congress of Women in Warsaw. Ponton organized a discussion Sexuality Education is not the Enemy of the Family with the following speakers: Ponton coordinator Aleksandra Józefowska, teacher of PfL Agnieszka Świdroń, sexologist Aleksandra Jodko and Aleksandra Prasek, mother of a primary school pupil. The debate was moderated by Paulina Młynarska. After the panel there was a discussion with the minister of education, Joanna Kluzik-Rostkowska. Coordinator of Ponton Aleksandra Józefowska asked her about the possibility of introducing comprehensive sexuality education to schools. Ponton also had a booth with publications.

11 On 23 May Ponton s volunteer Agata Kozłowska took part in the 6 th National Conference Human Sexuality Female Sexuality from Social and Cultural Perspective. She delivered a presentation Safe Chair? Reflections on female sexuality in the context of gynaecological care in Poland and discussed the report prepared by Ponton on the subject. On 30 June a press conference was held to announce the ninth edition of Ponton Summer Hotline. Speakers included Aleksandra Józefowska, Ponton coordinator; Małgorzata Kot, Ponton educator and Aleksandra Prasek, mom of a school pupil. For the first time Ponton had an endorsement of the Ministry of Education for the hotline. The office recognized the seriousness of adolescents problems. 9. Media Ponton sex educators were featured in many newspapers. Articles about our work or with our commentary were published, i.a. in Gazeta Wyborcza, Newsweek Poland, Polityka, NIE and Przegląd. We were guests in radio shows (i.a. in TOK FM, RDC, Polskie Radio PR1, PR3, PR4, Radio Eska, Radio Kampus) and in TV channels such as TVN, TVN24, TVN Style, Polsat, Polsat News, TVP.INFO, TVP2. Selected shows: Jedynka Polskie Radio Pytanie na Śniadanie TVP2 Dzień Dobry TVN

12 10. Projects, Advocacy In September Federation for Women and Family Planning and Ponton began implementing a project Control of Adolescents Right to Sexuality Education. The project aims to monitor the provisions concerning sexuality education and includes advocacy to improve the situation. The regulations of the Act on Family Planning and relevant ordinances on Preparation for Family Life will be controlled. The analysis will also focus on accessibility and quality of PfL classes, content of curricula and educational materials as well as qualifications of teachers. The important part of the project will constitute the experiences and opinions of young people. The project will be carried out in three regions, which will facilitate the identification of regional differences in sexuality education. The monitoring will provide in-depth understanding of the state of sexuality education and causes of problems with implementation. The objective is to improve the implementation of adolescents right to sexuality education. The activities are done by the Federation and Ponton. Information will be updated on their respective websites. The project is carried out through the programme Citizens for Democracy, financed from EEA Funds. 11. Special achievements/international work On 16 May Ponton educator Małgorzata Kot represented the group and Astra Youth network at a conference of French Le Planning Familial Sexuality Education: Path to Equality and Empowerment. Definitions, Approaches and Issues Concerning Sexuality Education in Europe which took place in Strasbourg. The aim of the conference was the exchange of experience, good practices and discussion on the access to sexuality education in Europe among experts, activists and decision makers from Europe. In 2014 Ponton coordinator Aleksandra Józefowska was awarded for her long work with Ponton with a nomination of the European Institute for Gender Equality in the category Women and Men Inspiring Europe. Her profile is available on EIGE s website Ponton educator Natalia Broniarczyk represented the ASTRA Youth network at the 47 th Session of the Commission on Population and Development in New York (7-11 April).

13 She took part in advocacy meetings and was involved in organizing a strategic meeting for activists, aimed at strengthening advocacy activities of NGOs in the field of SRHR. Ponton special achievement is real cooperation with the Ministry of Education. In 2014 Ponton educators met the minister twice. The ministry supported the Summer Hotline and promoted it on its website and Facebook. The cooperation will be continued in 2015.

14 Report written by: Aleksandra Józefowska Translated by: Anka Grzywacz Ponton Group of Sex Educators Address: ul. Nowolipie 13/ Warszawa Poland Phone: