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Description
According to various statistics, we are the first among European countries where children and adolescents experience the most bullying, have a high number of unplanned pregnancies among adolescents, LGBTI+ people are afraid to talk about being LGBTI+ and only a small number of people can be open about their identity. Gender inequality, bullying on the grounds of gender, identity, sexual orientation, and poor knowledge of reproductive rights are some of the biggest human rights challenges.
The main goal of this project is: using an advocacy campaign and sexuality education as an information tool to increase public awareness of reproductive rights and to raise awareness of the importance of implementing sexuality education to encourage representatives of various communities to critically evaluate gender stereotypes and raise their awareness of sexuality education as a preventive measure. Also to ensure its availability in schools, and to reduce bullying on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity through sexuality education.
The goal will be achieved by involving students in grades 1-12 of ten Lithuanian regions, 12-18 years old Lithuanian students with active Instagram profiles, communities of schools (including students in communities) participating in the project, education support specialists, representatives of municipalities, members of Vilnius City Municipality Administration and Council.
The advocacy campaign and the sexuality education plan will raise awareness of gender equality, gender-based violence, discrimination against LGBTI+ people, knowledge and understanding of reproductive rights, and the target group will be introduced to gender education as a part of human rights and its impact on LGBTI+ equality, a module of sexuality education for future implementation in Vilnius city schools will be developed.
Summary of project results
Failure to ensure coherent, holistic, science-based, age-appropriate implementation of sexuality education in schools leads to the reproduction of prevailing stereotypes, gender inequality, discrimination against LGBTI+ people, and the prevalence of homophobic and transphobic bullying, gender-based violence, and poor understanding of reproductive rights. According to statistics, we are among the European countries with the highest rates of bullying among children and adolescents, with highest rates of unplanned pregnancies among adolescents, and with LGBTI+ people being afraid to speak out about being LGBTI+, and with only a low percentage of people daring to come out. Gender inequality, bullying based on gender, identity, sexual orientation, and poor knowledge of reproductive rights are among the toughest challenges related to human rights.
Within the framework of this project, an advocacy campaign was implemented and sexuality education was used as an awareness-raising tool to increase public knowledge about reproductive rights and broaden the perception of the importance of the implementation of sex education, to stimulate the representatives of different communities to critically assess gender stereotypes and to raise their awareness of sexuality education as a means of prevention of the problems discussed above. Also to motivate communities to ensure the availability of sex education in schools, thereby reducing bullying based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The aim was achieved by involving Lithuanian students in grades 1-12 (12-18 years old) with active Instagram profiles, the communities of the participating schools from nine regions of Lithuania (including the students from those communities), education support professionals, NGO representatives, and members of the Vilnius City Municipality administration and council.
Thanks to the equal and effective cooperation of the partner organizations, the implementation of the advocacy campaign and the plan of sexuality education classes raised awareness on gender equality, gender-based violence, discrimination against LGBTI+ persons, knowledge and understanding of reproductive rights, the target group was introduced to sexuality education as a part of human rights and its impact on gender equality, discrimination against LGBTI+ persons, and the module of the Sexuality Education was created for implementation in Vilnius City schools.