My Voice, My Power: A First in Rwanda
My Voice, My Power is our flagship holistic project model: an innovative five-month program that focuses on teaching young girls and boys about gender, positive masculinity, sexual and gender-based violence, SRHR (Sexual Reproductive and Health Rights), teen pregnancy prevention and community leadership… with a twist: we’re bringing a cutting edge new training model to Rwanda!
Girl Empowerment Self Defence (GESD)
GESD is a comprehensive and holistic method of violence resistance education designed specifically for adolescent girls. It focuses on:
building self-confidence
boundary setting
assertiveness
verbalization
de-escalation
negotiation
and physical self-defense tactics.
Within GESD, physical self-defense skills are not designed to encourage girls to engage in extended physical combat with an attacker. Instead, they’re designed to allow a girl who may be at risk to, as much as is possible, safely and quickly exit the situation. Getting to safety is always our number one priority.
To be clear, we firmly believe that girls are never responsible for the violence that men or boys enact against them, and we believe in working intensively with both boys and men to transform gender norms that will prevent future violence against girls and women.
However, we also know that social change takes considerable time. So, while we continue to work on this by engaging men and boys, we believe girls have the inherent right to learn concepts, behaviours and tactics that can help them to navigate potentially violent or risky situations in the immediate future, such as ‘boundary testing’ or physical attacks. We’re particularly excited about the value of GESD for Rwandan girls – it’s already proven to be highly effective in reducing sexual assault and teen pregnancies, as well as increasing reporting of GBV, in Kenya and other sub-Saharan African countries. My Voice, My Power will combine GESD with our cornerstone interactive gender, GBV and SRHR training to make a complete and exciting new programme for Rwandan teens.
How does My Voice, My Power work?
Through a series of weekly 4 hour workshops, we’ll be engaging our young participants in critical thinking and reflection exercises through interactive conversations, activities and fun games, building an emotional and physical environment that is safe and comfortable for them to work within.
In this environment, adolescents are more easily able to open up about and reflect upon their daily lives in terms of gender roles, power dynamics, interpersonal relationships between boys and girls, sexual and gender-based violence, human and child rights and community leadership for social change. In most cases, this is the first time these young people have ever been prompted or encouraged to speak openly and honestly about these social issues that have a tremendous impact on their everyday lives.
Through our training, the young girls’ and boys’ critical thinking abilities develop. Their confidence vastly grows, and they are set up well to become both strong advocates for equality and influential role models for others in their community.
Why is it needed?
Deeply held beliefs about the value and role of girls and boys in society are some of the primary root causes of a number of distressing social issues, both across the world and here in Rwanda. Despite a positive and forward-thinking political scene that has resulted in a majority female parliament, at the grassroots level, young girls in Rwanda are still encouraged by many people around them to remain subordinate and subservient to men and boys in virtually all areas of life.
“Parents don’t give us permission to go to those places [SRHR information centres] to access that information. Most of the parents think that you’re still too young to know [about sex]. Boys don’t face these issues because they don’t even have to ask permission to go out. For boys, parents think it’s fine for them to ask, they say, “oh it’s good, you’re becoming
a man, you’re growing, it’s good to prepare”, but for girls they say, “no, you’re too young, you’ll become promiscuous, etc.””
Rwanda has a burgeoning rate of unwanted teen pregnancy, and an alarming number of teen mothers (87.7%) who were recently surveyed reported that their first experience of sex was coerced. Sexual coercion and sexual violence are key drivers of unwanted teen pregnancy; they are also violations of human rights and SRH rights and we must work to eliminate them for the long run.
In Rwanda, teen pregnancy has far-reaching effects on a young girls’ life: the lack of support that teen mothers face means they are uniquely vulnerable to further sexual exploitation, abuse or violence, intense community stigmatization, health risks, complications from pregnancy and/or childbirth, an early or forced marriage, and the perpetuation of poverty.
A 2016 assessment of ten districts in Rwanda with high rates of teen pregnancy revealed that:
97% of adolescent girls and teen mothers require education on child rights, SRHR and SGBV (sexual gender based violence)
87% of girls reported having no knowledge of sexual and reproductive health or rights (SRHR)
78% of girls reported having no knowledge of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV).
So you can see, there is a desperate need for the education and engagement we provide through our innovative My Voice, My Power program, to help adolescent girls and boys break the intergenerational cycle of gender discrimination and violence.
What will My Voice, My Power achieve?
By the end of our time together, girls will:
Be able to deeply understand and articulate the barriers they face as a result of gender discrimination, and be able to proactively and safely challenge or address these issues in their own lives (including identifying and reporting on gender-based violence).
Gain the violence resistance skills they need to effectively navigate daily risks, including assertive body language, boundary setting, making informed choices, negotiation, de-escalation, and physical self defence tactics.
Learn about Gender Based Violence and teen pregnancy prevention.
Develop their critical thinking and confidence in their abilities to put forth new ideas and set personal boundaries without being afraid.
Develop their confidence, leadership capacity and personal agency.
Build key friendships and support networks with their peers, both with their fellow project participants and within their own communities.
And both boys and girls will:
More deeply understand the negative impact of gender discrimination and violence against girls and women. spot and understand the effects of toxic masculinity in their own lives and on their futures.
Learn about SRHR, puberty, body changes, menstruation, pregnancy, conception, HIV/STDs, and truth/myths about sex and child rights.
Develop leadership and activism skills to educate their community on key gender equality topics, including GBV and teen pregnancy prevention.
Learn the value of working together as equals, and gain the skills and confidence to address social problems in their daily lives, leading to positive social transformation.
If you’re interested in My Voice, My Power, have questions, or are hoping to partner with Paper Crown Rwanda, contact us here.