LOCAL REPORT ON PILOT ACTIONS TEMPLATE

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1 Daphne III LOG IN: Laboratories on Gender Violence in New Media LOCAL REPORT ON PILOT ACTIONS TEMPLATE By the Mediterranean Institute of Gender Studies The Report on Pilot Actions, elaborated by MIGS using the local reports produced by each LOG IN pilot city, aims to serve as a descriptive report of the quantitative and qualitative impact of the implementation of the training sessions planned for the period October March The synthesis of the local reports of the pilot actions, aims to serve as a description of the methodology of implementation of the pilot actions in the 4 pilot cities, focused on the numbers, the timetable, the differences and similarities among the local experiences. Organization: ALEG Country: ROMANIA Description of the implementation of the pilot actions- the local experience Pilot Action 1 Training Addressed to Adolescents 1. Schools and Participants A. Total number of schools that participated: 5 schools were involved, with different backgrounds: the 2 of the best theoretical highschool (Goga and Lazar), an average one and 2 vocational schools having students from disadvantaged areas (rural areas, poor families) problems with violence and delinquency: 1. Goga College (3 classes) 2. Lazar College (2 classes) 3. O. Ghibu High School (2 classes) 4. Vocational High School Terezianum (2 classes) 5. Vocational High School H. Coanda (2 classes) Boys and girls aged between 14 to 18 years old. IX- XI grade students. B. Number of urban schools that participated: All 5 schools were located in the urban area, in Sibiu, but in 3 ore the highschools approx. 20% of the students come from rural areas around Sibiu, and in 2 vocational schools over 70% are from rural areas. C. Number of rural schools that participated: Two of the schools, Terezianum and Coanda, are vocational schools which have more than 70% students coming from rural areas. D. Number of young people that participated in the face-to-face trainings/workshops: From a total of 319 students officially registered in the classes, 275 participated directly in the LOG IN workshops. This number is less then the official one due to the fact that not all the students were at school when the workshops were held, they were missing from classes from different reasons (Olympics, school trips, sick etc.) E. Number of female students that participated: 132 F. Number of male students that participated: 138 G. Number of training sessions carried out: 1

2 3 or 4 sesions/class. 35 sessions in total. H. Briefly describe the timetable and duration of the training sessions: The period of implementing the sessions for youth was December May 2014 Each session lasted around two hours or two academic hours 100 minutes depending school agreement. All the sessions were held during school hours and days. One class per session around 25 students. I. Please describe the thematic areas covered in each training session: In the 1 st session we presented the projects goals, structure and outcomes. From the beginning we explained the role and importance of peer to peer education and announced that it will be a contest at the end of the project. This session was focused mainly on violence against women/gender-based violence- since the classes selected have not participated before at any other A.L.E.G. session on this topic. To see what s their opinion regarding VAW/GBV we started asking them to define it on a post it and at the end of the session, after learning more, we gave the definition from the Istanbul Convention stressing that VAW/GBV reflects and reinforces inequalities between men and women, it s about abuse and power and that gender-based violence and violence against women are often used interchangeably as most gender-based violence is inflicted by men on women and girls. To understand better and recognize the forms and manifestations of VAW/GBV we introduced them into a story about intimate partner violence. The story opened them up for discussions and students started giving examples about concrete situations or learned that some actions they considered it s an act of love it can be a form of violence, such as controlling- phone, location, clothing or sexual violence is not only rape etc. In this faze we also discussed about gender roles, discrimination, stereotypes and prejudices, myths and realities, inequalities between men & women. As a practical activity we used magazines to illustrate how men and women and how those images influence us. Students worked in mixed groups and than share to their colleagues their thoughts. A whole discussion was stared on how can we combat stereotypes and to promote healthy images of women. In the 2 nd session a special attention was given to the topic of trafficking in person and the feminization of poverty as one of the main causes of it in Romania. We gave statistical information, case studies and short movies with real examples, stressing that Romania has the highest number of trafficked minor girls. We recommended the Loverboy Romanian movie on this issue. In the 3 rd session we made the link between violence in real life with the virtual one. Topics: Communication in medias, violence and cyberbullying. We analyzed the purpose the internet is used and what are the main communication tools used by youth. Since Face book was the main communication tool among them, we shaped our presentation mostly on that direction, but not forgetting the other virtual ways that can be harmful. Throughout our presentations we created awareness among students regarding the issue of gender based violence and the role of how the new technologies and social networks can promote and pass gender based violence. We used a 5 question self-test for students to identify for themselves How safe are you online? Depending on their results, they had to illustrate their group s online behavior with examples and then to give advice to those who were the most unsafe on the internet. A special attention was paid to privacy aspects, to the online image, and informed them about the legal 2

3 aspects of their publication, images and personal data in social networks. For a better exemplification we presented them a short movie made by CEOPs Thinkuknow education programme that helps to understand what constitutes personal information, raise awareness about that we need to be just as protective with our personal information online, as we are in the real world and where to report if you feel unsafe. Since in Romania bullying and cyberbullying is getting more serious, we focused our presentation to show that bullying can happen in the virtual world and have the same effects as in real world. Examples showing harassment, humiliation, embarrassment comments/situations were given by students. Also famous cases were presented to the class by students showing that cyberbullying can lead even to suicide or have long term negative consequences. We suggested the movie Cyberbully (2011) We combined session 4 and 5 from the guideline in a 4 th session of 2 hours focused on peer education, with practical activities and debates on finding ways to promote a legitimate and correct use of the new communication tools among their peers. Together we discussed how to explain the impact of gender stereotypes in viral clips, adds etc to their peers. As part of the preparation and selection for peer educators we asked the students to prepare in mixed groups of 4-5 their own posters with possible slogans for the project showing positive use of internet and combating VAW/GBV. 2. Peer education sessions 2.1. Face-to-Face peer education A. Describe the type of peer education activities implemented in your country (please include as many quantitative data as possible): A total of 3 schools implemented peer training activities in schools or at A.L.E.G. s office. In terms of types of activities, the peer educations used: 1. classroom presentations, 2. One Billion Rising event and 3. Creation and performance of a forum theatre play. In total, face to face peer education reach out to about 200 youths but there were other events too where educators were involved. 1. During classroom presentations, 4 peer educators implemented sessions based on the knowledge they got during the workshops, and with the support of the trainers. Peer educator opened discussions with they peers about: - the use of different social media channels - how to administrate safely their Facebook profile - dangers regarding the of social media - difference between gender based violence in school and through internet - debates on finding ways to promote a legitimate and correct use of the new communication tools and how to avoid becoming a victim on the internet - analyze of serotypes in viral clips, adds etc. - viewing the Cyberbully (2011) movie followed by discussions Practical activities undertaken: - finding cyber harassment examples on the internet, news articles, pictures, hate speech/comments etc. followed discussions - in mixed groups of 4-5 students created posters with possible slogans for the project, showing positive use of internet and combating VAW/GBV 3

4 - the peer educator encouraged their colleagues to suggested slogans during peer trainings and also to share the slogan contest through internet to friends, youth A special occasion for peer education was the Week of Non-formal Education which has been part of the school program in the last 2 years and takes place in the 1 st week of April. 2 peer educators held a twohour session with around 20 students who in pairs created posters with possible slogans for the project showing positive use of internet and combating VAW/GBV. The peer educator turned this activity into a peer contest, he took care of all the logistical aspects, helped his colleagues and at the end he put all the pairs to present their works and to vote for the best poster. There were prizes for the winners. 2. Special event One Billion Rising 2 peer educators were involved in the One Billion Rising global campaign (14.02) where they held a 2 hours session to 75 students about gender stereotypes and violence against women and guided the participants in creating A3 placards on elimination of violence against women. The participants went out with their placards in the school yard and a photo session followed. Their placards were also filmed by a local TV station and showed during a local talk-show. 3. Forum theatre 7 students (4 girls and 3 boys) created a forum theatre play on the issue of bullying at school involving social media, and harassment by a teacher. They divided the roles among themselves, and organized rehearsals at A.L.E.G. office with support from a professional actor (a teacher in one of the targeted highschools). They performed the play at the LOG IN GALA (the final event of the pilot action) for over 80 students present at the event. After performing the situation once, the public is asked to intervene into the play and propose alternative solutions based on a set of rules (cannot change the perpetrator). Participants from the public can step in the play to act out the proposed solution. Then if the solution is agreed by majority of the public, the actors play the situation further taking into account the change brought in, until a final positive outcome is reached. Forum theatre is very much based on improvisation of actors and we therefore value it as an excellent method of peer education. The forum theatre session lasted over 1 hour. B. Please indicate the number of peer education session(s)/workshop(s) that took place: A total of 4 schools implemented peer activities in schools or at A.L.E.G. s office. 4 sessions 10 sessions, one/class C. Please indicate the duration (academic hours) of each session/workshop: The duration was different to session to session, it had to be taken into consideration the period when we had permission or to adapt to events. 100 minutes (2 academic hours)/session when there were held in schools. 150 minutes when the session was held at A.L.E.G. s office 160 minutes at LOG IN GALA D. Number of peer educators (in total): 11 E. Number of peer educators (How many female?, How many male?): 6 female and 5 male F. Number of students reached through face-to-face peer education sessions (How many female?, How many male?): This is difficult to give an exact number, not at all events students filled out the student evaluation questionnaires, only 57 are officially registered. 4

5 In general, as an unofficial number over 200 students were reached through peer education sessions, activities Online peer education A. Please describe the online peer education as implemented in your country (please include as many quantitative information as possible): The online peereducatin was carrie out mostlz through Facebook since this communication tool is used by most of the students. The project s Face book page was created on the 3rd of December, since than at least one news, article, link etc. per day was and still is posted ( by two peer educators, also the postings were shared to A.L.E.G. s volunteers group on Face book or to other youth pages or groups. On the FB page the slogan contest Cool logo, looking for a smart slogan! was launched also, the winning slogan Respect, beyond the like button! was then promoted and used on all the materials created in the project. Together with the peer educators we decided to launch a competition for creative productions with the Students have talent and have something to say about respect as opposite to violence!, taking into account the winning project slogan (Respect beyond the Like button!). The announcement of the competition was shared through the project website and through Facebook, asking teenagers aged between to send in their contributions (short videos or graphic creations). There were 2 winning graphic creations and 1 short movie, whose authors received prizes at the LOG IN GALA. the movie was registered on A.L.E.G. s YouTube and reached until now 171 views. 3 students (a boy and 2 girls) created the film scenario and played in it. The filming and editing was done by a professional. Facebook insights: Total page likes until June: 276 Fans of the page: 73%female (19%: years, 24%: years) and 27% men (9%: years, 11%: years) People engaged, who have liked, commented on, or shared our posts: 82% female (31%: years) and 16% men (13%: years). Organic reached posts, the number of people our posts served to was between All the posts were shared publicly B. Briefly describe the works/outputs produced by the youths and the debates developed through the FB page. - An album with pictures during the sessions/trainings/events was created on the FB page; this section gathered the most likes and comments. - the short video produced in the youth competition, focusing on the issue of young people who go to meet somebody they only know from internet and can become subject to acts of aggression. The film generated short comments after publishing on Facebook related to whether this can happen in real life. - The 2 graphic creations. During the LOG IN Gala were projected and generated a discussion on the effects of violence. - One forum theater play scenario and performance (filmed during Gala for a short documentary 5

6 about the pilot actions, not yet ready). - Over 100 posters by youth on the topic of prevention of violence and the use of new media, the best of them included in an exhibition at the LOG IN GALA Local Methodology A. Considering that we defined a common methodology, was the methodology implemented without any adaptations? If not, what kinds of adjustments in the methodology were necessary to fit the local context? The common methodology was adapted to the local context by a group of experts from different backgrounds but all aware of the present needs of youth: school councilor, school teacher, police officer from crime prevention department, Red Cross Youth representative, Youth organization participant (Students County Council)/ A.L.E.G. volunteer and A.L.E.G. team. They all emphasized the need for practical and interactive working methods (role-plays, videos, case studies or stories) to help students understand the causes of GBV and create empathy with victims of violence. The methodology (guidelines) was transformed in practical packages ready to be used by the trainers and to be disseminated among teachers or other interested parties: lesson plans, each with supporting power point presentations or illustrative videos, were prepared that can be adapted depending on the time or topic of interest. The methodology was broken out into separate workshops with explanations for practical activities including role-plays and stories (from the methodology of de-composed theatre). We adapted the methodology to the local context keeping in mind the common structure of the sessions. We included topics on human trafficking, short movies, concrete examples of internet harassment ant its outcome. Since in Romania bullying and cyberbullying is getting more serious, we focused our presentation to show that bullying can happen in the virtual world and have the same effects as in real world. Examples showing harassment, humiliation, embarrassment comments/situations were given by students. Also famous cases were presented to the class by students showing that cyberbullying can lead even to suicide or have long term negative consequences. Time and activities had to be flexible; we also had to take into consideration the degree of participation and discussion of each group. For each subject we prepared a number of practical/creative activities as well as illustrative short movies or clips. At some classes we had to include optional activities to motivate the students and make them more responsible and get their attention. B. All workshops were developed in the same way? If not, which are the more significant differences you can underline? The workshops had the same structure but we adapted for almost each school, we used different approaches or we focused on topics that we saw that students were interested in. For instance, in the vocational schools where the majority were male students, we emphasized gender stereotypes among men and issues of power and control (why it is not ok to justify violence - if I love her and I am jealous how can I express my feelings avoiding verbal and physical violence), with the aim to propose alternatives to violent behavior. 6

7 C. Which topics better encouraged the debate among the participants? GBV forms -the students became aware that there are more forms of violence than physical or verbal and understood that sexual violence is not only rape and they showed interest on the socio-cultural violence especially FGM, forced marriage, honor crimes etc. Verbal attack, sexual violence, systematic economic deprivation by a partner or threatening behavior is a form of violence. Some or all forms of GBV can be present at the same time, particularly in abusive relationships. All forms can occur both in the private sphere (in families and intimate relationships) and in public sphere. It was also important to stress that although some forms of gender-based violence are considered to be typical for (married) couples and generally adults, studies and experience show that young women and men are similarly affected. Students showed interest on the consequences of VAW/GBV, how a victim feels and gave examples keeping in mind the confidentiality rules. Also when it came to relationships when control I too much, Violence in the public and private sphere Gender stereotypes Concrete examples of internet harassment and its outcome, found and presented by students had a real impact and a starting point for interesting discussions. Here are 3 examples used in the sessions: How a 15 year old teenage girl s life was ruined Unprecedented sentence, Two girls, sentenced for distributing compromising photographs with her colleague Amanda, a 15 year old teenage girl got suicide after she was harassment online Pilot Action 2 Training Addressed to Adults 1. Teachers and Specialist s Training A. Number of teachers/educators/specialists that participated: 181 B. Number of women that participated: 153 C. Number of men that participated: 28 D. Briefly describe the teachers/specialist training sessions as implemented in your country (please include as many quantitative information as possible, such as duration/timetable, thematic areas covered etc): In this target group we included not only teachers but also school councilors, psychologists, social workers and any other specialists interested in this issue due to the fact that teachers showed no interest to participate after school time and only 8 registered. We signed a protocol with the Sibiu s County Resources & Educational Assistance Centre and had a 3- hour session with 47 school psychologists and councilors. 7

8 In Sibiu was held the National Social Workers Congress, where social workers, psychologist from the child protections services from the entire country attended. We were invited to present a 2-hour workshop in the framework of the LOG IN projects- after the meeting we were asked to send extra material, useful links etc. A number of 44 specialists attended at the workshop. Through personal contacts with councillors we managed to arrange other meetings in smaller groups of 10 to 15 specialists lasting between 2-3 hours. In all cases, often a motivation for specialists to attend the workshops was that we gave them a certificate of participation. All workshop regardless of the duration managed to cover all the important aspects of the methodology. E. Which topics better encouraged the debate among the participants? Bullying and cyberbullying, examples showing harassment, humiliation, embarrassment comments/situations or famous cases showing that cyberbullying can lead even to suicide or have long term negative effects. Bullying, this issue is getting more and more visible in schools daily life, teachers think that is an unsolvable problem. How to deal if you recognize a violent relationship among youth. 2. Parents Training A. Number of parents that participated: 99 B. Number of women that participated: 64 C. Number of men that participated: 35 D. Briefly describe the parents training sessions as implemented in your country (please include as many quantitative information as possible, such as duration/timetable, thematic areas covered etc): We contacted the highschools were our sessions were held in order to involve the student s parents also, but without any succes, we learend that parents who have highschool students don t attend parents meetings except when there is a problem with their children (and the lack of involvement of the parents is a major problem of the education system, secondary education). In that case we addresed to parents with younger children wich showed more interest to learn about GBV and internet safety for them and for their children. This showed us again that parents are very involved and active when their children are young, after they became high school students it is more difficult to have their attention and participation. Parents also participate less to extraschool activities. We had 3-hour sessions to parents of 2 classes: 2nd and a 6th grade. We were invited by the children s teachers to have our meetings during their parent-teaches meeting. A total of 34 parents took part at this school session. The sessions were held in the afternoon between 3-6 pm. 8

9 50 parents atended Smart Park, an open-air activity for children and parents on the Children s Day. During this event we offered sessions of 1 and a half hour session, adapted to include children and parents together. It was a good occasion to interact with both parts and see how parents comunicate, how many thigs know about their children regarding their favorite movie star/song/artists and what message do they promote, what information on GBV they can give to children to be safe in real life and on the online one etc. The rest of 15 parents attended among other adults at a 3 hour sessions with specialists. All the workshop regardless of the duration managed to cover all the important aspects of the methodology. E. Which topics better encouraged the debate among the participants? Parents were skeptical regarding the online violence and its consequences but after concrete examples and short films were presented discussions started. Still most of the parents believe that their children are safe and nothing bad can happen to them because they are good kids and this kind of activities are more useful for children or they are in a healthy sports group. Adolescent relationship violence, intimate partner violence, and adolescent relationship abuse were also hot subjects, especially when the traditional aspects were touched. Parents seem to more interested in the safety in real life rather than online (many are not aware of the risks related to social networks and online activities of their children). Bullying, this issue is getting more and more visible in their school daily life, teachers think that is an unsolvable problem. As a positive outcome, after the sessions parents asked A.L.E.G. team to come more often and have activities with their children and also they asked for more information, materials to be sent to them through . A. Local Methodology D. Considering that we defined a common methodology, was the methodology implemented without any adaptations? If not, what kinds of adjustments in the methodology were necessary to fit the local context? The common methodology was adapted to the local context by a group of experts from different backgrounds but all aware of the present needs of youth: school councilors, school teacher, police officer, Red Cross Youth organization representative, Youth organization participant/ volunteer and A.L.E.G. team. The goal was to design a practical lesson plan with concrete examples, ready to be replicated in further adult trainings. All materials are available online. Understanding the different kinds of gender-based violence that could affect young people is an important responsibility of parents, caregivers, school staff, youth leaders and other community adults who care about, live with and work on behalf of young people. We adapted the methodology to the local context keeping in mind the common structure of the sessions. We included extra topics on human 9

10 trafficking, short movies, concrete examples of internet harassment and its consequences. Since in Romania bullying and cyberbullying is getting more serious, we focused our presentation to show that bullying can happen in the virtual world and have the same effects as in real world. Examples showing harassment, humiliation, embarrassment comments/situations or famous cases showing that cyberbullying can lead even to suicide or have long term negative effects. We presented to the adults the student s responses gave to the 5 question test regarding How safe are you online? discussions stared regarding the teenagers online behavior. Time and activities had to be flexible; we also had to take into consideration the degree of participation and discussion of each group. For each subject we prepared a number of practical/creative activities but short movies or clips worked very well. E. All workshops were developed in the same way? If not, which are the more significant differences you can underline? We held 13 mixt workshops, the number of participants varied from one session to another. Not all the workshops were developed in the same way, we had to adapt them according to the adult s program, availability and setting (e.g. for Smart Park outdoor activity we had a different approach as explained above, involving children and parents together). Even if a workshop lasted one hour or three hours we tried to cover all the important aspects relevant for the project s. Please send your local reports completed at christina@medinstgenderstudies.org by May 31 st,