More information
Description
The Lithuanian Life Skills Program has been implemented in Lithuanian schools since September 2023. This program is aimed at developing students'' abilities to recognize and overcome emerging life situations. While it appears highly important and beneficial in today''s context, there has been a widespread campaign of misinformation and resistance in the public sphere against the program''s discussed topics and organizations working in the field of sexuality. This project seeks to disseminate high-quality information aligned with human rights discourse, supported by scientific knowledge and practical stories. It is intended to reach rational parents who are concerned about children''s well-being and interested in human rights issues. This will be done by collecting and systematizing scientific data on the prevalence of topics related to sexuality among young people. Based on this material, relevant social media messages will be created.Additionally, stories from young people will be collected, revealing the lack of information and knowledge, and the voices of prominent opinion leaders will be utilized to broadcast these issues publicly. This effort aims to contribute to an understanding of the scale of the problem and the necessity of the program.
Summary of project results
The Life Skills Program has been implemented in Lithuanian schools since September 2023, aiming to cultivate students'' abilities to recognize and overcome emerging problems. Although this program is highly important and beneficial, it has faced mass disinformation and resistance in the public sphere. Considering this, the goal of the "#IfYouKnew" project was to disseminate quality information corresponding to human rights discourse, based on scientific knowledge and practical stories. The project aimed to reach moderate parents concerned about their children''s well-being, parents undecided about the significance of the Life Skills Program, and individuals interested in human rights and willing to contribute to the dissemination of human rights principles.
Activities and related outcomes of the project:
1. Collection and systematization of publicly available research and survey data on various topics related to sexual education and human rights - LGBTQAI+ issues (homophobic bullying, identity disclosure, coming out), body image, mental health studies among young people, harassment, violence/abuse, gender stereotypes (both in schools and in society at large), sexual lives and pregnancies of minors, abortions, reproductive health.
2. Preparation of two articles based on the systematized data, which were published on the website manoteises.lt and shared on Facebook, receiving considerable reactions and comments.
3. Conducted a survey with personal stories, which was filled out by 11 young individuals. The stories covered experiences of sexual harassment, identity, disclosure, body acceptance, violence, abuse, and relationships with parents. Some of these stories were used in creating video messages and as examples in the articles.
4. Personal stories were narrated by three well-known opinion influencers. In total, 10 different stories were narrated, and four videos were produced incorporating them. These videos were published on the project organizers'' Facebook, Youtube, and Instagram channels.
General public became aware about such topics as sexual harassment, identity, disclosure, body acceptance, violence, abuse, and relationships with parents through the impactful videos