With the aim of achieving education and training free of gender stereotypes, promoting gender equality, and preventing/reducing violence in interpersonal relationships (violence against women and domestic violence), the Municipality of Alcobaça accepted the challenge launched in 2019 by the Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality and successfully applied the project “Inês = Pedro?”. The presentation of the project took place this Monday, February 15th, through videoconference.
Elaborated by the Municipality of Alcobaça (Promoter), in partnership with three entities (São Martinho do Porto School Group, Professional School of Agriculture and Rural Development of Cister, and National Commission for the Promotion of the Rights and Protection of Children and Youth of Alcobaça), the project “Inês = Pedro?” managed to approve total financing of € 56,223 through the European program EEA Grants - Small Grant Scheme # 2.
The Small Grant Scheme # 2 consists of prevention projects and strategies to support children and young people in the areas of violence against women and domestic violence. In the particular case of this project, the funds come from Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway.
Its implementation intends, simultaneously, to strengthen and enrich the existing local strategies for the promotion and training of socio-emotional skills in children and young people (ex: Origami and An Adventure in Alcobaça projects), to support victims of domestic violence (GAVVD), and to train professionals and parents/families.
Thus, the project consists of conducting artistic sessions/activities and collaborative practices. Approximately 96% of the 158 sessions to be held over 24 months (until June 2022) will be held in schools with a holistic approach, structured in interventions with five major groups of activities, namely:
(1) direct intervention in kindergarten children;
(2) direct intervention in children from the 1st and 2nd cycles;
(3) direct intervention in young people of the 3rd and secondary cycle;
(4) training of teachers and non-teachers;
(5) training for parents/families.
The activities will have a pedagogical character, seeking to promote meaningful learning and the development of the cognitive, creative, and reflective capacities of children / young people.
The sessions for professionals and parents tend to reinforce and facilitate the appropriation of gender equality and non-violence in children and young people, simultaneously constituting a form of sustainability and propagation of the project, after its formal termination.
The defined goals converge to:
- strengthening perceptions of gender equality and non-violence;
- changing stereotypes and decreasing aggressive attitudes/behaviors, namely:
- the increase in the number of gypsy girls attending school;
- the reduction of aggressive behaviors at school;
- inclusion of concrete actions in the area of Education for Citizenship.
“With this project, the Municipality of Alcobaça intends to make a concrete, focused, and incisive contribution to the mitigation of these social issues that make up for an overall problem with a strong transgenerational dimension. Through creative, cultural, and artistic solutions, the Municipality and its partners will implement a program of activities that seek to stimulate the educational community for the debate and reflection on these social issues, with the aim of questioning stereotypes and forming new mentalities. It is a project of great responsibility and relevance ”, explains Social Action councilor Inês Silva
NOTE: the project started in January this year and was interrupted due to the closure of schools within the scope of the contingency and pandemic prevention measures of Covid-19, implemented by the Portuguese Government.