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Description
This project addresses the problem of discrimination and violence towards girls in the counties of Lubaczowski and Ropczycko-Sędziszowski, in Podkarpacie. In this respect, gender stereotypes and roles continue to be common and deeply rooted. It is mainly men who have access to power - only 10.3% percent of seats on village and municipal councils are held by women. One municipal council adopted a homophobic Declaration opposing LGBT ideology, and cinema repertoires are censored by the right-wing authorities. A conservative, Catholicism-based approach to gender and sexuality is being promulgated in schools.Under the project, educators will take part in a study visit to an experienced equality organisation and discrimination workshops, and then prepare measures in four groups for their own communities. Teenage girls from both counties will attend discrimination and herstory workshops, and attend a camp to learn assertiveness, cooperation, storytelling, and creation of discrimination prevention campaigns. The Project Promoter plans to involve the participants in creating and conducting a local social campaign aimed at breaking down gender stereotypes.The measures will primarily benefit 24 teenage girls, but also educators. The girls will become stronger and more resilient to stereotypical content. Public awareness of the effect of gender stereotypes on girls’ and women’s decisions and lives will improve, as will the ability to react to gender-based violence and discrimination.The project partner is the Norwegian organisation NorSensus Mediaforum, which will assist the Project Promoter for instance in preparing the campaign, and provide information on good practices for promotion of gender equality among young people.
Summary of project results
The project responds to the problem of discrimination and violence against girls in the districts of Lubaczow and Ropczycko-Sedziszow in Subcarpathia. Gender stereotypes and the traditional division of roles are still prevalent and firmly entrenched here. Access to power is primarily for men - only 10.3% of women sit on village and municipal councils. Women hold positions in lower-paid industries such as education and culture. One municipality has adopted a homophobic "Declaration against LGBT ideology," and cinema repertoires are censored by right-wing authorities. Conservative views based on Catholic attitudes toward gender and sexuality are promoted in schools, and gender-based violence is often downplayed.
The project proposed a series of developmental and educational activities - anti-discrimination and anti-violence - for two groups: educators working with youth, and adolescent girls. A trained group of educators developed and organized - in 4 teams - original social initiatives on gender equality and anti-discrimination (e.g., workshops on hate speech on the Internet, anti-discrimination workshops, an inclusive meeting for women). The teens went to the Educational Power Camp, where they learned assertiveness, cooperation, storytelling and how to create anti-discrimination campaigns. Then, with the support of tutors, they prepared local social campaigns on topics such as youth mental health, social activism, and anti-heit. The partner, the Norwegian organization NorSensus Mediaforum, supported the Grantee by conducting workshops, sharing Norwegian good anti-discrimination practices, and providing substantive support to the workshop participants in developing the campaigns.
The activities primarily benefited 24 teenage girls, as well as educators. The girls were strengthened and immunized against stereotypical content, developed their social competence, the ability to recognize and set boundaries and respond to gender-based violence and discrimination. Their awareness of the impact of gender stereotypes on women''s choices and lives was raised, and their competence to respond to gender-based violence and discrimination increased. For educators, the project was an opportunity to improve their competence in working with young girls.
Summary of bilateral results
The project partner was NorSensus Mediaforum an organization based in Oslo, specializing in the field of media literacy and communication capacity building. They work for public sector and NGOs, and have completed overs 60 projects in their 10+ years of existence. Four of these projects have been done in collaboration with PSAR, as we have struck a friendly, fruitful and efficient partnership which has continued through 2024.The role of the partner was to co-develop solutions and improve project processes, support the Leader during unexpected challenges and help respond to emerging risks. The Leader also had a job shadowing and project monitoring meeting in Oslo in February 2023, with aims, among others, to summarize the project, draw conclusions and discuss ways of getting involved in more anti-discrimination and empowerment initiatives. The leader staff’ competences increased as a result.The project helped Leader and Partner strengthen collaboration and learn about the context in which the other one operates which was crucial for successful delivery of objectives. Two of the bigger challenges we had to overcome were different approaches to managing finances in Norway and Poland, and bureaucracy, which was very high from the perspective of what Norsensus are accustomed to. For those two reasons we had to work extensively on establishing efficient communication, setting ground rules for exchanging information, documenting expenses, accounting etc.As mentioned before, PSAR and Norsensus have had a fruitful, satisfying collaboration. We think highly of our partner’s competences, experience, willingness to communicate and negotiate, and we believe this partnerships helps our communication grow in many ways.Up until now we have done 4 big projects together. We are always looking for new ways to collaborate, even if current perspective in EEA and Norwegian grants has ended.