Gender Conscious Practice
Curriculum for Young Adolescents
CARE Malawi
Umodzi Project
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ...... i Foreword ...... ii Glossary ...... iii Introduction ...... 1 Gender issue to address ...... 2 Response to Current Situation ...... 3 Objectives of the Curriculum ...... 3 Delivery of the GCP Curriculum ...... 4 A. GETTING TO KNOW EACH OTHER AND BUILDING TRUST ...... 5 ACTIVITY 1: Find Someone Who ...... 5 ACTIVITY 2: Four Corners ...... 8 ACTIVITY 3: Building together ...... 11 ACTIVITY 4: Creating a kinder space ...... 14 B. UNPACKING GENDER AND DISCRIMINATION ...... 19 Startup activity ...... 19 ACTIVITY 5: What is Gender? What is Sex?...... 19 ACTIVITY 6: Division of Labor ...... 23 ACTIVITY 7: Miming activities ...... 27 ACTIVITY 8: Gender box ...... 29 ACTIVITY 9: Daily clocks ...... 34 ACTIVITY 10: Mopping competition ...... 36 ACTIVITY 11: Invisible Wall ...... 38 ACTIVITY 12: Staying in school drama and song ...... 42 C. EXPRESSING OURSELVES ...... 45 ACTIVITY 13: Put downs and put ups ...... 45 ACTIVITY 14: Good listening ...... 49 ACTIVTIY 15: Win-Win solutions ...... 51 ACTIVITY 16: Ways we show we care ...... 54 ACTIVITY 17: Just a minute ...... 58 D. EMOTIONS ...... 61 ACTIVITY 18: Image of the hour ...... 61 ACTIVITY 19: Image theatre ...... 64 ii
ACTIVITY 20: Feeling map ...... 67 ACTIVITY 21: Talking about fear ...... 70 E. VALUES AND FUTURES ...... 73 ACTIVITY 22: Values ...... 73 ACTIVITY 23: Telling our past and future stories ...... 76 ACTIVITY 24: Allies ...... 79 F. EXPLORING OUR LIVES ...... 82 ACTIVITY 25: I am me! ...... 82 ACTIVITY 26: Our diverse talents and learning styles ...... 85 G. OUR COMMUNITIES ...... 88 ACTIVITY 27: Peacemakers ...... 88 H. CLOSING OUT ...... 91 ACTIVITY 28: Giving thanks circle ...... 91 I. APPENDIX – ACTIVITY MONITORING TOOLS ...... 93 Checklist for assessing each activity in the curriculum ...... 93 Attendance register ...... 97
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Umodzi’s Gender Conscious Practice (GCP) Curriculum is a result of a 6 months of work, adapting materials from well-known and tested curricula suitable for very young adolescents (VYA) on gender consciousness.
The GCP curriculum is a result of a compilation of materials from the following curricula: Pathfinder International’s GREAT Toolkit, Save the Children’s Choices, CARE’s Tipping Point and Morningside Centre for Teaching Social Responsibility
A special recognition goes to the following people who have made valuable contributions to the development of the curriculum in form of technical and leadership support:
Doris Bartel Former Senior Director of Gender Unit, CARE US
Diana Wu Gender Technical Advisor, Gender Unit, CARE US
Rose Tchwenko Assistant Country Director (Programs), CARE Malawi
Anderson Kumpolota Assistant Program Director (Adolescent Girls Empowerment Program), CARE Malawi
Billy Molosoni Gender, Equity and Diversity Advisor, CARE Malawi
Many thanks should go to the following institutions in Malawi that contributed to analysis and critiquing the curriculum to make it sound and suitable for VYA in primary schools in Malawi: Kasungu District Education Office represented by the Deputy District Education Manager and Primary Education Advisors from Suza and Linyangwa Education Zones, Kasungu District Youth Officer, Kasungu District Social Welfare Officer, Kasungu Teachers’ Training College, UN Women, Ministry of Education’s Directorates: Basic Education (BE), Inspection and Advisory Services (DIAS), and Teacher Education and Development (DTED) and Ministry of Gender.
Special thanks should also go to Mwawi Mkandawire, Daniel Mangulu and Victor Mthulo from PCTFI Project, Salome Mhango, Daniel Soka, Charles Mkangara and Boston Sezza from Pathways Project for their input on content of the curriculum.
The Umodzi team would also like to thank men and women, boys and girls from surrounding communities of Champhemvu and Suza primary schools who participated in the formative research which was an informative step to adapting this curriculum.
This curriculum was finalized and compiled by the Umodzi team from CARE Malawi: Thokozani Mwenyekonde (Project Manager), Lawrence Kayesa (Field M&E Officer) and Sperecy Chigwale (Field M&E Officer).
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FOREWORD
Since inception in 1945, CARE has been working to improve lives of women and girls in marginalized settings. Why does CARE focus on women and girls? It’s simple: In the world’s poorest communities, girls and women bear the brunt of poverty. Fighting poverty in those communities requires focusing on girls and women to achieve equality. When families struggle to grow enough food to eat, or earn enough money to send all their kids to school, it’s the girls who are often the last to eat and first to be kept home from school. In these same communities, it’s the women who are frequently denied the right to own the land they’ve farmed their entire lives. And where girls and women are denied freedom to leave their homes or walk down a street, they struggle to earn a living, attend school or even visit a doctor.
But girls and women aren’t just the faces of the poverty; they’re also the key to overcoming it. CARE’s nearly seven decades of experience makes clear that when you empower a girl or a woman, she becomes a catalyst for positive change whose success benefits everyone around her.
One of the ways in which CARE empowers women and girls is through gender equality programming. CARE has been pursuing gender equality as a key priority since 1993. After more than 20 years of efforts, we know a lot about what it takes to put gender equality at the heart of our programming and our organization.
This curriculum was developed to improve gender equality for marginalized girls in a culture that is strongly biased against women and girls. It provides a series of activities that bring gender consciousness and awareness among boys and girls to begin to challenge norms that perpetrate inequalities for girls.
In addition, the curriculum provides detailed and self-starting guidelines for facilitating activities on gender consciousness.
Inspired by formative research findings, the curriculum is a roadmap to addressing key thematic areas of inequality that were identified in communities of Kasungu district in Malawi.
Rose Tchwenko Assistant Country Director - Programs CARE Malawi
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GLOSSARY
Gender Stereotype: Overgeneralization about the characteristics of an entire group based on gender
Gender Conscious Practice: Being aware of the differences between male and female and creating opportunities for realizing the potentials despite the observed differences.
Sex: Biological attributes and characteristics that identify a person as male or female
Gender: Socially constructed differences and inequalities between men and women.
Gender Discrimination: Situation in which someone is treated less well because of their sex
Gender Bias: When men and women are treated differently in a way that is unfair
Kudambwe: An initiation camp for the Chewa tribe where boys are initiated into young adulthood when they reach puberty.
Social norms: Rules of behaviour that are considered acceptable in a group or society
Sexual Reproductive Health: State of physical, emotional, mental and social wellbeing related to sexuality; not merely the absence disease dysfunctional or infirmity.
Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights: Concept of human rights applied to sexuality and reproduction
Gender Equality: Equal enjoyment/access to social goods, services and resources and equal opportunities in sphere of life for men and women
Gender Roles: Set of roles, activities, expectation and behaviour assigned to females and males by society
Patriarchal Society: A system of society in which men hold power (men have power over women)
Gender Norms: Set of rules or ideas as the way women and men should behave
Socialization: A process by which a person learns and generally accepts the established ways of a particular social group or society
Emotional Violence: Behaviour which does not give equal importance and respect to another person’s feelings and experiences OR non-physical controlling behaviour that causes emotional damage and undermine a person’s sense of well- being
Teen Club: An extra-curricular activity established by CARE Malawi with the aim of increasing knowledge of sexual and reproductive health issues, self- confidence, awareness, and self-esteem among adolescent boys and girls attending primary school.
Real Time Learning: Concept of how people learn from their own actions and experience in real time iii
INTRODUCTION
In 2015, CARE Malawi through a competitive process secured a seed grant in response to a grand challenge call released by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. CARE Malawi’s grand challenge is to test the effectiveness and scalability of a gender synchronized, transformational approach to accelerate and enhance the impact of integrated adolescent life skills and sexual reproductive health programming. CARE Malawi, through Umodzi project, intends to implement this approach through activities that are guided by a Gender Conscious Practice (GCP) curriculum. These activities will be integrated in existing life skills activities which are delivered through teen clubs.
The teen clubs are an extra-curricular activity and were established by Patsy Collins Trust Fund Initiative (PCTFI), a global program by CARE with the aim of increasing knowledge of sexual and reproductive health issues, self-confidence, awareness and esteem among adolescent boys and girls attending primary schools in Suza and Linyangwa educational zones in Kasungu district. In these teen clubs, Teen Club Facilitators with close monitoring of patrons and matrons facilitate topical issues that affect boys and girls in their day to day lives as they strive to succeed with their education. To facilitate discussions, the patrons and matrons use Auntie Stella and Puberty workbooks which are life skills based. The materials equip boys and girls with basic information and knowledge about key issues that affect them as they transition from childhood to young adulthood. The patrons and matrons are teachers that were specifically trained in a supplementary Life Skills Curriculum that was developed by CARE Malawi’s PCTFI project to facilitate after school life skills sessions and teen club activities in the two zones.
Alongside the integration of the GCP curriculum into teen clubs, the boys from teen clubs will be interacting with Male Champions who are role models of gender equality in their communities. These male champions are spouses of women participating in a women empowerment initiative in the agricultural sector who underwent a gender transformative process as part of the larger women empowerment initiative. These men conduct and facilitate gender dialogues in their communities to showcase their behavioural change experiences and motivate other men to emulate.
Umodzi will link these men to the boys participating in teen clubs to interact in topical issues on gender and SRH and life skills in general. It is expected that these men and boys will further take the gender dialogues to the communities to demonstrate their shift in adoption of gender equitable attitudes and practices which will see women and girls equally enjoying their rights to many aspects of life.
The gender conscious practice curriculum will be introduced in these teen clubs to facilitate interactions between boys and girls where they begin to change their attitudes and behaviours towards each other in a more gender equitable way.
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CURRENT SITUATION IN KASUNGU DISTRICT
Malawi’s culture is predominantly patriarchal society with norms that limit women and girls from exercising and enjoying their rights equally as men and boys do. This was confirmed by a formative research that was conducted by CARE Malawi’s Umodzi project in July 2016 that showed that biased gender norms and roles are engraved in the culture of communities around Suza. There are notable differences in expectations of roles between boys and girls in society pertaining to tasks and chores, qualities, characteristics and behaviours.
There are clearly defined roles, chores and tasks designated for boys and others designated for girls. Any deviation from this results in backlash at household and community levels. Agreeably, it is possible for girls and boys to swap roles, chores and tasks but resistance from gate keepers of culture when this happens.
Girls live in a more restrictive environment than boys. Typical cases are curfews for girls when boys do not have and are given the flexibility to play as much as they want, have sex before marriage to prove they are real men and get away with other bad behaviours.
These expectations are largely driven by how people socialize boys and girls based on their beliefs and norms that are engraved in their culture. The communities believe that boys have more strength than girls making it difficult for girls to do other tasks that boys do. Myths are also part of the beliefs that facilitate inequalities in workload sharing between boys and girls.
In socializing these boys and girls, these norms play a huge role. Boys and girls are socialized from a tender age to ensure that the norms are enforced. This is done through the orientation of day to day tasks, through stories and myths, through counselling sessions that are separate for boys (kudambwe1) and girls (church and community organized discussions) and through songs.
As these boys and girls are being socialized, masculinities are also engraved in boys and this aggravates the inequalities between boys and girls. Masculinities are instilled when boys are assigned tasks deemed as heavy and fit for male people only, when boys go an extra step to complete the same tasks assigned to girls to show that they are young men. To show that they are real young men, ideal boys are also encouraged not to concede defeat in the presence of girls because if they do, girls will pick on them.
Workload sharing is also an unfair setting where girls are exploited than boys. From the formative research, it was evident that girls have more tasks in a typical day than boys. Consequently, boys have more play time than girls. As such, girls have limited time to study than boys. Coincidently, because boys have more play time, they spend more time outdoors and engage in all sorts of activities some of which are risky behaviours that affect girls as well.
1 Kudambwe is an initiation camp for the Chewa tribe where boys are initiated into young adulthood when they reach puberty. Part of the initiation process is orientation to Gule Wamkulu, a cultural cult. The specific issues discussed during the initiation are kept secret
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Gender based violence is also an issue that is downplayed due to the cultural setup. Girls are blamed for being assaulted – people believe that their dressing and way of walking invites assaults, girls can ably shout for help when being assaulted. If they do not then they are willing to be assaulted. In some exercises, girls highlighted the physical and emotional violence that they face and are perpetrated by boys. Boys tease girls and fondle with their breast and buttocks and girls find this to be a serious issue of torture. Girls give bad remarks about boys that have torn clothes, have not gone Kudambwe and dress, walk and talk in a seductive way. Boys felt that when girls do this, they are violating their peace of mind.
RESPONSE TO CURRENT SITUATION
To address root causes and the normative environment that perpetuate gender inequality and power disparities, the Umodzi project will focus specifically on power dynamics that disadvantage adolescent girls, expanding the roles and responsibilities of adolescent boys in contributing to the empowerment of adolescent girls, in the context of school and other community structures. Umodzi will use value-based set of activities in this curriculum to help club members engage in meaningful discussions that close the gap between boys and girls that is brought about by disparities resulting from power dynamics between boys and girl. Umodzi seeks to promote fairness, equity and respect among boys and girls but also in how society treats boys and girls in various aspects go everyday life as aim to reach their full potential.
OBJECTIVES OF THE CURRICULUM
This curriculum was developed to respond to some key issues that were identified through a formative research carried out by CARE Malawi staff in Kasungu district. The issues are being described as the current situation in Kasungu District
CARE Malawi expects that this curriculum will help young adolescents age 10 – 16 to understand social constructs of patriarchy and feel confident to make value-based and positive choices for selves despite societal pressures around them.
If the intervention is successful, CARE Malawi expects girls to become more self-confident, self- aware and able to speak out about their lives as they aim to achieve better life outcomes.
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DELIVERY OF THE GCP CURRICULUM
The GCP curriculum will be delivered to boys and girls ages 10 to 16 years that are attending teen club activities after school.
CARE Malawi’s Umodzi project expects to work with patrons and matrons (LSC teachers) of the teen clubs as the key deliverers of the GCP activities in the clubs. These patrons and matrons will be trained in the use of the curriculum prior to delivery in September 2016. To facilitate easy delivery of the curriculum activities, CARE Malawi will also train teen club facilitators who are peers (TCFs) in the same curriculum and these will serve as assistants to the patrons and matrons as one way of building capacity and leadership skills for the peers to lead activities for adolescents.
The activities that are in the curriculum will be carried out on a separate day from the day that Auntie Stella and Puberty workbooks are done. The activities are expected to take about an hour to one and half hours per session in a week.
It is expected that the curriculum will carry 24 activities which will be done in 24 weeks of the academic year 2016/2017 from October 2016 to June 2017. To ensure that these activities are completed, at least 1 week of each of the holidays will be utilized for the GCP sessions.
Every quarter, teachers (patrons and matrons) will convene with TCFs and other key structures such as the male champions to conduct Real Time Learning (RTL) sessions which will facilitate reflection, revisiting the conceptualization, planning and taking in to action revised concepts. This approach to learning from the process in real time is adapted from Kolb’s experiential cycle2.
2 Kolb’s experiential cycle states that "Learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience". The cycle has 4 stages: ‘Act’ where you experience concrete action, ‘Reflect’ where you assess the behaviour and consequences of the action, ‘Conceptualize’ where you analyse the findings by looking at why the action happened and ‘Apply’ where you revisit the action and improve on it based on the reflections
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A. GETTING TO KNOW EACH OTHER AND BUILDING TRUST
ACTIVITY 1: FIND SOMEONE WHO3
Description:
This activity is a good one to do with club members at the beginning of the sessions. The club members come from different families with different social status and backgrounds. Culturally boys and girls are treated differently and that determines what a boy or girl can do. This activity will help boys and girls to interact. It is a treasure hunt among club members as a quick and easy way to get to know more about one another.
It provides a quick way for club members to connect with one another and helps them overcome initial shyness in a new situation.
Gender issue to address
Boys and girls are treated differently. Boys are considered as superior to girls. There is no fairness in the way opportunities are given to boys and girls.
Response to the issue
The exercise seeks to encourage both boys and girls to interact, know each other in greater detail and build strong relationships. Boys and girls will then look at each other as equals.
Objectives of the Activity
By the end of the activity, club members should be able to;
Interact and know each other Build relationships that go beyond the boy /girl differences
Delivery of the Activity
This activity will be facilitated by a teacher
Facilitator’s Notes
The activity may need the facilitator to make adaptations where there are more than 30 club members. In such situations, the teacher should consider dividing club members into manageable groups. Facilitator should feel free to replace or omit statements that do not apply to context. The teacher may also consider omitting some statements where time is not enough for all the statements listed in the survey copy.
3 Adapted from the Morningside Center’s Find Someone Who Materials Needed: Bell or whistle, FIND SOMEONE WHO Survey Copies, Pencils
1 hour
Method:
Steps
i. Tell club members that they are going to play a game to find out things they might not know about each other. They will have a few minutes to fill out a survey sheet. When you blow a whistle or ring a bell, they will "freeze" in their places. ii. Read out the statements in the ‘Find Someone Who’ survey sheets (below). Explain that club members are to walk around the room and find people who have the characteristics described on the sheet. iii. When they find someone, they write the name in the blank provided. Ask them to find as many different people as possible, using each person's name only once. iv. Explain that if they have additional characteristics besides those listed on the worksheet that they feel they can use, they should be free to use them v. Begin the game. Continue until several club members complete the worksheet. vi. Ask club members to return to their seats. Ask a student who completed the entire survey to go down the list, saying who s/he found for each item and acknowledging that person. vii. Where appropriate, ask for more details. (For example, if Chisomo has a pencil, ask her what colour her pencil is.) viii. Initiate a discussion with the club members using the following questions: a. What did you notice about yourself and others during this game? b. Did you learn anything new about someone? c. If you were making up questions for this worksheet, what are some things you'd like to ask?
Adolescents, especially girls should not be shy to talk about issues with their
peers Interaction helps in building strong
relationships Platonic relationships help adolescents achieve their dreams
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FIND SOMEONE WHO
Find someone who:
...is wearing the same colour as you.
...has an older brother or sister at home.
...is wearing a blue skirt
...has visited Kasungu town.
...has a bicycle in their home.
...has ridden a car recently.
...is the oldest in his or her family.
...got position 1 in their class.
...has read a bible or quran.
...carved a hoe handle in the last 3 months.
...has lived in another district besides Kasungu.
...speaks a language other than English and Chichewa.
...cooked a meal recently.
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ACTIVITY 2: FOUR CORNERS4
Purpose/description: This activity aims to get teen club members to find out more about what they have in common and share stories about common experiences and preferences. This activity works well to assist a group in connecting and getting to know one another. As boys and girls who are different in some ways, they will discover common experiences and preferences in certain ways. The activity will promote understanding and build relationship. Despite the differences, boys and girls should learn to co-exist. This will help to appreciate what it feels like to be the opposite sex.
Gender issue to address
Girls have a huge workload than boys. Girls unlike boys, do not have enough time to play and do home assignments. They have curfews but boys do not. The general perception is that boys and girls have different experiences and preferences. As such, they cannot share stories.
Response to the issue
Boys and girls need to familiarise with each other’s preferences, experiences and expectations. This will help them appreciate what it feels like to belong to the opposite sex
Objectives of the Activity
By the end of the activity, club members should be able to:
Share preferences and experiences Identify common preferences and experiences between boys and girls Share expectations
Delivery of the Activity
This activity will be facilitated by a teacher and will be delivered in a classroom or any four cornered building.
Facilitator’s Notes for the Teacher
The teacher should prepare the club members to clear the classroom’s corners to allow for movement to the corners. Use appropriate language so that everybody understand and be able to handle sensitive issues.
Facilitator’s Notes for Teen Club Facilitator’s (PEERS)
Teen Club Facilitators should assist the teachers with pasting the corner labels (categories) on each corner of the room to aid easy movement to the 4 corners when the activity begins.
Materials: Four cornered building, Chalk/marker, A4 size paper, Marker/Pen, Table of Corners
4 Adapted from the Morningside Center’s Four Corners
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1 hour
Method:
i. Choose several categories Facilitators should note that these categories are not final. They are urged to find the most applicable things that are common for each category ii. For each category, assign a quality for each “corner” of a room, for example:
Category Corner 1 Corner 2 Corner 3 Corner 4
School Subject Math English Science Life Skills
Siblings Oldest Youngest Middle Only Child
Household Washing Sweeping the Cooking Herding Chores Dishes surrounding animals
Favorite Soccer Field Video Show By the road At the market hangout spot side
iii. Share the topic and point out what each corner of the room stands for. iv. For each category, ask the club members to move to the corner they most closely identify with. v. As they move around the corners, observe the boy-girl distribution and how they interact with each other vi. Each group should discuss among one another: a. Why did they choose that corner? b. What factors influenced them to go to that corner? c. Are more girls moving to one corner more than boys? Or are boys moving to one corner more than girls? Why is that? d. Are there exceptions to this pattern? Why is that?
Facilitator says: Sometimes we as girls or as boys tend to have similar hang out spots or pass times because that is what we see other boys or other girls doing, or that is what is allowed/expected according to our parents and elders. Still sometimes we see exceptions of girls or boys exceling at something traditionally done by the other gender.
Facilitator says: actually there are boys and girls who cross these patterns and are good at different types of activities beyond what is expected of us.
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vii. Have the club members share back their findings to the larger group viii. Repeat this for each of the categories until they finish ix. At the end of the exercise: e. How did it feel talking with people in the same group? f. What did you notice about where boys went and where girls went? g. How did it feel for girls who were mostly among boys at times? Or for boys who were mostly among girls? h. What did we learn about one another?
The club members should share and write in their exercise books what they have learnt from the exercise guided by these questions and points:
- Are there any activities you have not tried but would like to? - Take the opportunity to try to do something new or different – whether it be helping with a new chore at home, trying a new sport or art activity. Journal about how you felt doing that experience!
Personal experiences and preferences are great learning tools. They help adolescents anticipate and prepare themselves for situations they may
encounter in life. Preferences help the adolescents know one another in greater detail
It is important to share desirable experiences and preferences that bring a positive impact on our lives.
We each have diverse interests and talents – this is what makes us stronger as a group. Sometimes if we are boys or girls, we are supported to do certain things over others.
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ACTIVITY 3: BUILDING TOGETHER5
Purpose/description: This activity gets adolescents to think creatively and work together to create a scene of a machine/tool/object/shape with their bodies as a small team. It is also going to be used to explore how girls and boys can communicate to achieve common tasks and goals. This activity will help club members to know that there is power in togetherness and it will bring boys and girls together for a common goal.
Gender issue to address
Boys and girls do not work together in pursuit of their goals. The boys look at themselves as more superior to girls and expect girls to be submissive to them. Girls on the other hand look at boys as perpetrators of violence and do not want to associate with them.
Response to the issue
Adolescent boys and girls need to devise ways of communicating to achieve common goals. They need to fully understand each other and utilize each other’s skills and talents to achieve their goals. This activity helps the adolescents to work as a team while exploring their diverse talents and how they communicate to achieve a goal.
Objectives of the Activity
By the end of the activity, club members should be able to;
Create an object/shape of their choice using their bodies Explore ways in which they can communicate to complete tasks and achieve goals
Delivery of the Activity
This activity will be facilitated by a teacher.
Facilitator’s Notes for the Teacher
The teacher should be creative enough to think of things which the club members can create with their bodies. If machines or tools seem to be difficult for the facilitator to explain and demonstrate, he/she can prompt the club members to explore creating alphabetical letters, animals, shapes or any other simple objects that they are familiar with. The exercise requires enough space and should therefore be done in an open space, for example outside a classroom. The facilitator should prepare girls to dress accordingly ahead of time, preferably a week before the activity to enable girls actively participate.
5 Adapted from the Morningside Center’s Machine Building
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Facilitator’s Notes for Teen Club Facilitator’s (PEERS)
Teen club facilitators will help club members who will find it difficult to come together and create a machine/tool/object/shape. They will also help the teacher to write down the names of machines/tools/objects/shapes on chalkboard or flip chart.
Materials: Flip chart paper, Chalkboard, Markers, Chalk
1 hour
Method:
i. Ask the group to brainstorm types of objects/shapes that they use in everyday life. Write the names of the machines/tools/objects/shapes on chart paper or the chalkboard. ii. Explain to the group that they are going to work in small groups of about 4 people to create models of actual machines/tools/objects/shapes, using their bodies. One group will do a machine/tool/object/shape from the list on the board or any other object/shape that they can think of that is not listed on the board. They'll have to decide what machine/tool/object/shape they'll create and how they act it out. When they perform their object/shape, the other group(s) will try to guess what machine/tool/object/shape it is. a. They only have 15 minutes to create their machine/tool/object/shape b. Then they will have 1 minute to demonstrate it so others can guess. iii. As an example, ask for a few volunteers to work with you to demonstrate how to make a radio. Then ask the group to guess the object/shape you are demonstrating. iv. Give groups 15 minutes to prepare v. Take turns for each group to perform and for others to guess the object/shape (10 minutes)
Discussion (20 minutes)
vi. Lead the groups in to a discussion using the following questions: a. How did you find this activity? b. How did your group decide which machine/tool/object/shape to create and who should play each part? c. Did you run into any problems? Explain. d. When part of an object/shape breaks down, what happens?
Facilitator says: For example, you can say if a part of the machine/tool/object/shape is not working – you try to figure out what is wrong. Once you understand why the object/shape is not working, then together you can find a solution to fix it.
e. What are some ways an object/shape can be similar to any group and to this group? What are the different ways we showed teamwork? f. What are the different forms of leadership we are seeing from boys and girls? i. How did we demonstrate listening skills?
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ii. How did we demonstrate participation skills? iii. How can we support everyone to participate fully – in listening and in speaking?
Facilitator says: it is important to emphasize the different ways people may show leadership. Examples could be:
- Deep listening which is a skill - Supporting others’ ideas and helping them - Appreciating others’ contributions - Sharing ideas at times but being careful not to dominate the space.
Society often teaches girls to be quieter and to
follow, whereas boys are expected to lead. Through this, girls often have strong listening skills which is a valuable thing. However,
speaking is often more valued or recognized and taught to boys. BOTH listening and speaking are very important
Boys and girls should realise that just as parts of any functioning machine are to that machine, every member of the group has a role to play for
the success of the group. No matter how small a member’s contribution can be, it adds value to the ultimate goal of the group.
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ACTIVITY 4: CREATING A KINDER SPACE6
Purpose/description:
This is an interactive poem and conversation on VISION! kindness. Club members will listen to a poem and discuss some questions. They will also draw Consider having a place available someone kind and describe the characteristics for the group to place the associated with kindness. In relation to gender conscious practice, the activity helps them to be drawings after club members kind to one another irrespective of gender. There have had a chance to share. should be kindness between boys and girls. This will be a way to return to Kindness brings togetherness the idea of a kind teen club Gender issue to address throughout the year. Club members can keep working on Boys are sometimes hostile to girls. They tease and bully them. Boys take advantage of their physical their art, and reflect on it when strength to abuse girls. Girls also tease boys who do unkind acts interfere with the not meet societal expectations. Boys also create kind of teen club or community gaps in their interaction with girls and therefore you’re all trying to build. lose out on what they can learn from girls.
Response to the issue
The exercise will help boys and girls work together, appreciate, be kind to and respect each other. In turn they will reduce gender based violence perpetrated by members of the opposite sex. Being kind will allow boys to benefit from what girls do and know.
Objectives of the Activity
By the end of the activity, club members should be able to;
Identify characteristics associated with kindness Make commitments toward promoting a kind space in the club and in their community.
Delivery of the Activity
This activity will be facilitated by a teacher.
Facilitator’s Notes for the Teacher
The poem can be done before or after the discussion on kindness depending on what the facilitator deems appropriate. If the facilitator chooses to take the club members through the poem first, then he/she will follow the procedure referred to as Step 1 below. If the facilitator chooses to use the
6 Adapted from the Morningside Center’s Creating a Kinder Space
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poem at the end of the exercise then he/she will use Step 2 outlined below Step 1.The activity can be done in class or outside so that club members can relate with nature around the school. The facilitator is encouraged to read the poem prior to the activity and imitate the instructions that are in the poem.
Facilitator’s Notes for Teen Club Facilitator’s (PEERS)
The teacher is free to request for any kind of support from the Teen Club Facilitator(s) as long as he/she prepares the Teen Club Facilitator(s) before the activity begins such as writing the poem on the board or on copies of paper from club members’ notebooks.
Materials: MOTHER NATURE INTERACTIVE POEM7
1 hour
Method:
Step 1
i. Invite club members to stand up in a circle. Share with them the poem on page 17 while club members follow your movements. ii. Debrief this poem/activity by asking the following questions: a. What did you think about the poem? b. How does the poem invite us to treat Mother Nature, father sky and the environment as a whole? c. How can we do that? d. What does it say about kindness? e. How does that relate to our teen club environment?
What would kindness in our teen club environment look like?
iii. Ask club members on a small piece of paper or large idea card to draw a picture of their intention – or what they are bringing – to the teen club to create a kind space. a. What does kindness to each other look like? What does it feel like? b. Think about a person in your life who is kind. What do they do when they’re being kind?
Think about yourself when you’re being kind. What do you do when you’re being kind? How do other people respond to you when you’re being kind?
7 This poem is from the book Conscious Discipline. Author Becky Bailey writes that some poems lend themselves to the addition of stretching movements.
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Facilitator says: being kind often involves showing appreciation and care toward others. When we receive appreciation and care that often helps us to be able to show more appreciation and car toward others.
Ask the club members to: a) Share appreciation toward someone you see as creating kind space in your home or classroom. b) Write in a notebook how they intend to show kindness or create space for everyone to fully participate in the group – across gender groups, grades and ages
They will document this in the notebook/diary and share with friends at the next club session
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MOTHER NATURE INTERACTIVE POEM
I bow to mother nature (everyone does a forward bend)
I reach to father sky (reach up with both arms straight over head)
I open to the sun (open both arms to be parallel with the
ground)
And the clouds going by (arms sway overhead)
I welcome the rain (lower your arms to the side with fingers moving)
That flows to the sea (roll your shoulders forward and backward)
I respect the kindness (turn to a partner and bend to take a small bow)
In you and in me (point to your partner and then to
yourself)
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Boys should not bully girls during or about menstrual period Kindness is crucial to the existence and
mutual understanding of any group. It promotes a feeling of belonging as members feel respected and wanted by their peers.
It feels good both to give and receive kindness.
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B. UNPACKING GENDER AND DISCRIMINATION
STARTUP ACTIVITY
FOR THE FOLLOWING SESSION INCLUDE:
To begin the session, welcome everyone back. Ask club members to get in small groups and share their homework on commitments to make a kind space. (10 minutes)
Ask groups if they would like to share some key actions from their ‘take home assignment’ for creating a kind space and make a list on a poster. At the end of the list making, ask club members to sign the poster as their joint commitment to create a kind space for the club.
NOTE: Encourage people to use positive statements about what they will do, rather than negative statements about what they will not do.
ACTIVITY 5: WHAT IS GENDER? WHAT IS SEX?8
Purpose/description: In this activity, club members will learn what gender is. They will also learn the difference between gender and sex and what it means to be male or female. Club members should understand that gender is socially constructed while sex is biological and it cannot change.
Gender issue to address
Boys and girls are experiencing pressure and disparities that come about due to social constructs that are formed based on one’s sex.
Response to the issue
Club members will learn more about themselves in regards to sex and gender and how this affects relationships between boys and girls.
Objectives of the Activity
By the end of the activity, club members should be able to;
Define the word ‘gender’ Define the word ‘sex’ Explain the difference between ‘gender’ and ‘sex’ Delivery of the Activity
This activity will be facilitated by the teacher
8 Adapted from Gender Equity Movement in Schools – Training Curriculum for Facilitators by ICRW, CORO and TATA, Mumbai, India
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Facilitator’s Notes for the Teacher
During free-listing of words associated with boys and girls, use the language spoken by children. Club members may use words or adjectives that could hurt or disturb others. Handle this situation with care and tactfully. Facilitator should prepare club members to have the puberty workbook ‘Buthu’ and ask the club members during the activity to read pages 20-27 of the workbook.
Facilitator’s Notes for the Teen Club Facilitators (peers)
The TCF will be assisting the teacher in writing down the answers that the club members will give on the blackboard.
Materials: Chalkboard, Chalk
1 hour
Method: i. Draw a straight line on the board, dividing it into two halves. Write ‘girl’ on the top of one half and write ‘boy’ on the top of the second half. ii. Initiate a discussion on the questions given below. Ask the TCF to write down the answers of the club members in either the ‘girl’ or the ‘boy’ section on the blackboard. The answers will form the background for discussions. iii. Pose the following questions to the club members: When you hear the word ‘girl’, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? When you hear the word ‘boy’, what is the first thing that comes to your mind?
AS THE CLUB MEMBERS ANSWER, RECORD THE SAME IN THE APPROPRIATE COLUMN ON THE CHALKBOARD.
Illustrated below are a few possible answers given by the club members
Girl Boy Beautiful Strong Charming Naughty Fashionable Body building Helpful Earning member Emotional Aggressive
iv. Give about 10 minutes for free-listing of words. Once the list of gender traits and biological differences is ready, you should start the discussion based on the questions given below.
Questions for discussion What are the similarities between girls and boys? What are the differences between boys and girls? Which of these similarities/differences are biological? Which of the above features are socially constructed?
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What are some of the features associated with boys that can also be adopted by girls? What are some of the features that girls will not like to adopt and why? What are some of the features associated with girls that can also be adopted by boys? What are some of the features that boys will not like to adopt and why? Do you know of any girls that take on characteristics that are seen to be more for boys? What is an example? o How does stepping out of these traditional norms benefit them? And their households? o How does society respond to them? Do you know of any boys that take on characteristics that are seen to be more for girls? o How does stepping out of these traditional norms benefit them? And their households? o What is an example? How does society respond to them?
Facilitator says: Essentially boys and girls can also make decisions to do what they would like. However, society may react toward those who step out of traditional expectations. Sometimes, there are benefits to stepping out of boundaries – so that boys and girls can fulfil their own needs and wants. Households may also sometimes benefit when they are not tied down by expectations.
Ask club members to talk to someone in their home and ask them to share a story of how expectations of them as men or women affected her/his life
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There are more similarities and less biological differences between boys and girls. The biological construction is called ‘sex’. The other differences between boys and girls – like their dressing style, behaviour and
education are all social or cultural differences and are not the same in every family and society. These social and cultural definitions
of men and women are called ‘gender’.
People may question that being emotional or aggressive is biological. The fact is that emotions are biological and common to everyone. As children, both
boys and girls cry but as they grow up, boys are constantly told that crying is a sign of weakness and that they should not cry. Boys who cry are made fun
of and so they avoid crying in public. Similarly, boys are encouraged to be aggressive, while girls are taught to be submissive.
No one gender is superior. Given a chance, both genders can perform complementary roles.
Different people and cultures have different ideas and beliefs about gender roles and responsibilities.
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ACTIVITY 6: DIVISION OF LABOR9
Purpose/description: This activity helps club members understand how society shapes the roles men and women play in public and private lives. In this activity, they will also learn how these facilitate unfair treatment between boys and girls when society sets preferences due to social construction. It will help boys to stop looking down on girls and it will help girls to develop a higher self-esteem. It will give boys and girls an opportunity to learn new behaviours. Tasks will be distributed equally among boys and girls rather than favouring boys
Gender issue to address
Girls’ workload is more than that for girls. Girls and boys would love to do similar tasks but society does not have the confidence to fully give room for this change.
Response to the issue
Girls and boys are going to learn that there are tasks that there are tasks that relate with sex and also socially conditioned Objectives of the Activity
By the end of the activity, club members should be able to;
Brainstorm the conventional patterns of division of work that we learn to associate with each sex Identify how these norms affect the abilities of girls and boys to study and play and make friends Explain the importance of equal sharing of house-hold work
Delivery of the Activity
This activity will be facilitated by the teacher
Facilitator’s Notes for the Teacher
The facilitator should ensure that club members captured the previous activity well and are now able to differentiate between sex and gender. Many expectations stem from an individual’s sex. A man is expected to behave in a certain way and so is a woman. The facilitator should explain that such expectations are made by us and are not an outcome of our being a male or a female. The facilitator should use language that is easily understood by the club members. As a facilitator, he/she should be sensitive to the needs of the club members; try to engage them so that they contribute positively to the discussions.
9 Adapted from Gender Equity Movement in Schools – Training Curriculum for Facilitators by ICRW, CORO and TATA, Mumbai, India
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Facilitator’s Notes for the Teen Club Facilitators (peers)
The Teen Club Facilitator will assist the teacher to write down the answers that the club members will give on the blackboard
Materials: Chalkboard, Chalk
1 hour
Method:
i. On the black board or on a chart paper, draw a table similar to the one given below. The table shows a list of jobs which are done at home and done outside. ii. Ask the club members who (man/woman) usually does these at home and as a job outside.
Work/ Job Man (does this Woman (does Man (does this Woman (does
at home) this at home) outside) this outside)
Tailor
Cook
Cleaner
Waiter
(someone who serves food)
Washing clothes
(Laundry)
Teacher
iii. Start the discussion with the following questions. The texts in italics below are to help you facilitate the discussion. a. Why is it that household related work is done by women, and the same work when done outside the house is performed by men?
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(Social conditioning, how some jobs are traditionally looked upon as a man’s job or a woman’s job in a certain cultural setting. It is okay if a sweeper sweeps the street and the sweeper is a male. But if the same work is done by a man at home, he is looked down upon.) b. Is any work done at home of less importance? If so, which one and why? (Every job has a reason and must be done. Cooking, cleaning, washing clothes etc., are looked upon as jobs requiring not much of skill and therefore can be managed by women even with lesser qualifications. However, a job that earns money and requires qualification is looked upon as more important.) c. Does being born as a boy or girl decide the type of work an individual does when she/he grows up? Why? (Again the social conditioning of what a man’s job and a woman’s job is; what women can do traditionally; the soft skills required for some jobs that suit women better.) d. Can girls/ women take up work that is normally considered done by boys/ men? Which ones can be taken up and which ones cannot be done? Why? e. Can boys/men take up work that is normally considered as done by girls/women? Which ones can be taken up and which ones cannot be done? Why?
Ask club members to try to do something they have not yet done before / that typically a member of the other gender usually does.
Every member of the family should share house work Boys should take up household responsibilities Girls and boys should be given equal opportunity to
develop their skill sets and grow
The work that does not earn money or are lowly paid are mostly done by women, e.g. household work. Work which involves care-giving is thought to be
women related; e.g. nursing, and nursery school
teacher. Men are expected to go out and earn for the family. They are expected to take up jobs which are considered masculine.
However, both men and women can take up any task/chore regardless of their sex
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The reality is that once a child is born, she/he does not know how to do any work. As children grow up, they learn to do various works. But, society
encourages them do certain specific work, e.g. girls are asked to help in cooking and cleaning, while boys
are asked to go to market or repair certain things. This distribution of labour is based on sex, and not on individual capacity or skill sets. This affects girls and women adversely. Since girls are expected to take care of the family and household, their education is not a priority for the family. Both boys and girls should be given equal opportunity to learn different skill sets based on their interest and to grow. Household chores are not only women’s responsibility, it is household’s responsibility and all family members
should contribute to it.
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ACTIVITY 7: MIMING ACTIVITIES10
Purpose/Description: This activity provides the space to discuss gender roles. It also creates space for girls to be able to develop non-verbal communication skills/expressions without using words. They will act out different activities that will get them to start talking about what boys can (not) do and what girls can (not) do.
Gender issue to address
Already, there are things that only boys do and those that they cannot do. There are also those that only girls do and cannot do.
Response to the issue
The club members will appreciate that both boys and girls can do all those things designated for other sex even though society has made them believe that some things are best done by either boys or girls.
Objectives of the Activity
By the end of the activity, club members should be able to;
Develop non-verbal communication skills Act out ‘boys only’ and ‘girls only’ activities Develop skills to be creative
Delivery of the Activity
This activity will be facilitated by the teacher
Facilitator’s Notes for the Teacher
In preparation the facilitator will make cards with expressions/ actions. Each card will have only one expression or action written on it. Make as many cards as the number of club members present in the club. IF the cards are not enough, then the teacher can have the club members rotate their use of the cards.
The cards can have:
Climbing a tree, milking a cow, riding a donkey, preparing mandasi, flying kites, wearing a chitenje, fishing, riding a bicycle, repairing the roof, getting angry, bathing, walking like a drunk person etc… Think of some local things that girls or boys generally do and add up to the list.
The teacher should work with the Teen Club Facilitator(s) to arrange for the cards as needed above.
10 Adapted from CARE’s Tipping Point
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Facilitator’s Notes for Teen Club Facilitator’s (PEERS)
The Teen Club Facilitators can help with organizing and arranging the cards and also handing out to the learner during the exercise.
Materials: Picture cards with some actions, Chart papers, Pencils, Colors
1 hour
Method:
i. Ask each member to pick one card and act as written on the card. While one comes forward and acts, the others try to guess what was given to her/him. The girl/boy who comes forward should not be speaking anything. She/he only has to show through expressions and actions. ii. The facilitator can also think of then segregating the acts accordingly by saying which ones girls do and which ones boys do. This can lead to that gender roles discussion. The facilitator can then ask if there are any of these that boys cannot do, or girls cannot do. iii. Ask them why did they chose to tell about a particular act for a girl or a boy, discuss if it is OK that all that boys do, girls also can/should do, and all that girls do boys can/ should do. iv. Ask – are there any activities that are not beneficial? (This may get into conversations on substance abuse and peer pressure)
a. Why do boys and girls do it? b. What is the problem with it? c. What are ways to resist it?
i. Close the session by saying that all the work that boys do, girls can also do and all that girls do boys can also do. If we promote equality it’s beneficial for both boys and girls.
In some instances, it is more effective to use non-verbal communication to speak out our mind
Biologically, there are no specific tasks for boys and those for girls only. Everyone can do every task. It is our
social constructs that differentiate the tasks for boys and girls.
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ACTIVITY 8: GENDER BOX11
Purpose/description: This activity gets the club members to talk about expectations on them as boys and girls and how it affects their lives and dreams. It also helps them to think about social expectations upon us and reflect on the pressures that girls experience to fit into a narrow and rigid definition of femininity and masculinity
Gender issue to address
The society has clear cut expectations for an ideal boy/girl. A boy/girl that does not do what is expected of them risks being regarded as a non-conformist. This situation creates pressure on the adolescents.
Response to the issue
When they realize stereotypes placed on them by the society, the adolescents will be able to cope with them and develop mechanisms to overcome them.
Objectives of the Activity
By the end of the activity, club members should be able to;
List the community’s expectations of a boy/girl Explain how these expectations affect the way they grow into adulthood
Delivery of the Activity
This activity will be facilitated by the teacher and the teen club facilitator
Facilitator’s Notes for the Teacher
The facilitator should take time to understand the process for this activity and know that they are free to make some adjustments that will ease facilitation of the activity.
Prior to the activity starting, the facilitator together with the Teen Club Facilitator(s) should identify 2 boxes or any 2 things that could stand in the place of boxes
Facilitator’s Notes for Teen Club Facilitator’s (PEERS)
Teen Club Facilitator(s) should prepare adequately and also role play in their own time how to facilitate part 1 of the activity in good time before the day of the activity.
Materials: Flip Chart and Markers, or Chalk Board and Chalk
11 Adapted from CARE’s Tipping Point
29
1 hour 20 minutes
Method:
Part I: Taking the Boy/ Girl Pose (10 minutes) (to be facilitated by the peer facilitator)
i. In a circle, ask everyone to stand up. ii. Ask each person to say the phrase “Be A Boy!” with emphasis, one after the other.
a. Now everyone close your eyes. b. Think about the sound of the words “Be A Boy!” c. Imagine the body posture of the person saying “Be A Boy!” d. With your eyes closed, physically stand like the person saying “Be A Boy!” e. Stay in that position and imagine the expression on the face of the person saying “Be A Boy!” f. Keep holding that position with your eyes closed and make the facial expression of the person saying “Be A Boy!” g. Stay in that position and open your eyes. h. Look around at all the poses. i. What do you see? j. Repeat this exercise with the club members closing their eyes and reading: “Be A Girl!” k. After reading each statement ask club members to:
- Change your position – what would that look like? - Stay in that position and open your eyes. - Look around at all the poses - What do you see? - Let’s do another round – close your eyes:
Part II: Unpacking our Cages (30 minutes) by the teacher
i. Ask people to break up into different groups by gender (e.g. boys and girls). a. Our job is to make a list of the messages people in our group are given about what they must do to be a good (girl or boy). b. There is no right or wrong answers. c. We want to get as long a list as possible. d. This is NOT a list of what is true, but the common stereotypes that people think they must live up to based on their age and gender. iii. Begin the activity by helping each group identify who they will focus on. Ask them to write “Be A Good ____” on a piece of paper a. What do you think when you hear these words? iv. Write the words or phrases suggested by participants on the chalk board as they are spoken. Participants can construct these papers with drawings or magazine pictures as well. v. Continue to write these messages on a chalkboard, until there is a long list.
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For Girls
a. Ask the club members to take a moment to look at each other’s’ drawing or lists. Focusing on girls:
- What happens to a girl who does not fit in this box, or chooses to step out of this box?”
- What are the advantages to following these rules and fitting in the box?
b. The girl box affects the lives of boys as well as girls.
- What are the advantages to boys for girls staying in the box?
- What are the disadvantages to boys if girls step out of this box?
Facilitator says: We can see that there are advantages for girls to stay in the box, and disadvantages for stepping out of the box. We can also see that there are advantages to boys for girls staying in the box and disadvantages to boys if girls step out of the box.
All of this strongly pushes girls to stay in the “Good Girl Box.”
For boys:
c. Draw a box around the list. - We are going to ask four questions about this Boy Box. - What happens to a boy who does not fit in this box, or chooses to step out of this box?” d. Give appreciations after each comment. - The second question is: What are the advantages to following these rules and fitting in the box? e. Give appreciations after each comment. - We can see that there are advantages for boys to stay in the box, and disadvantages for stepping out of the box. f. Draw arrows from the outside toward the center of the box.
Facilitator says: This activity demonstrates how boys are trained to fit into a box by rewarding certain kinds of behavior and punishing other kinds of behavior. We have examined what keeps boys in the box – the advantages inside and the disadvantages outside.” [Point to the arrows pushing into the box.]
For both boys and girls: Are there any disadvantages for staying in this box?
g. Facilitators add the following points, if they have not already been identified.
Facilitator says:
- The box teaches boys to use domination. The box teaches girls to accept domination. 31
- The box limits the amount of care and attention boys receive as they are portrayed as strong, and the box limits the potential for girls to lead/excel as they are portrayed as weak. - The box reduces physical and mental health for boys and girls, and may encourage behaviors that harm their health (drinking, drugs) - The box reduces the economic capacities of individuals, families and communities and portrays girls as dependent on boys - The box allows human rights to continue to be violated. h. Ask everyone: Are there any advantages for stepping out of the box? How can we begin to challenge these boxes for ourselves and for one another?
This activity demonstrates that girls and boys are socially trained and pressured to fit into the Girl Box / Boy Box. We also see that this Girl Box
has negative consequences for both girls and boys. Because we grow up believing that the Girl box
or Boy box is natural and normal, we do not question the damaging effects, for girls and boys.
These expectations can place different pressures on us, as well as different opportunities. Sometimes we are under pressure
to behave in ways that we do not want to and in ways that don’t make us happy and undermine our ability to achieve our goals and values.
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Generally boys are privileged and have control over their relationships with girls, but they have other disadvantages. Boys may be expected to be strong and tough and for example to drink a lot and settle arguments with a fight or not to concede defeat. But some boys prefer not to behave like that and would rather be at home and support their family, but may be called names for doing this. Girls may be expected to be submissive and help in the home, which may limit their options in life to reach their own goals.
Through raising our awareness about the damaging effects on everyone from the Girl and Boy Box, boys and girls become partners in
working together for liberation from the Boxes. We can learn to make healthier choices about the kind of Boy and Girl (or person) we really want to
be, and the kind of space we want for our children to develop in healthy ways.
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ACTIVITY 9: DAILY CLOCKS12
Purpose/Description: This activity helps club members to discuss who our family is and how family members spend their days. It will also help club members to talk about divisions of labour, the effect of roles assigned to boys and girls – good and bad and ways to help one another.
Gender issue to address
A girl’s typical day is characterised by huge workload and curfews. Boys have a lesser workload but the work they do is heavier than that of girls. Girls would love to see this change and where possible, elders and gate keepers of culture to intervene in achieving fairness
Response to the issue
There is need to equally share workload between boys and girls.
Objectives of the Activity
By the end of the activity, club members should be able to;
Develop daily clocks for different members of the family Explain what these daily clocks mean in relation to gender roles and expectations
Delivery of the Activity
This activity will be facilitated by the teen club facilitator.
Facilitator’s Notes for the Teacher
The facilitator will need to be cautious in leading this discussion so that boys and girls participate equally and also that the club members should not offend each other by prioritising what they want to be said or heard.
Facilitator’s Notes for Teen Club Facilitator’s (PEERS)
Teen Club Facilitator(s) will need to prepare the first part of the activity and request for assistance from teachers a week ahead of the activity and ensure full understanding of the expectations from both the club members and the teacher.
Materials: A4 size paper, Markers, Pencils, Rubbers 1 hour
12 Adapted from CARE’s Tipping Point
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Method:
i. Ask the girls to identify key people in their lives and divide into groups around each one. Ask boys to do the same. ii. Each group will make a clock. For a change this time they will make a clock for 24 hours. Just to show how each hour of the day is spent. Group 1 will make a clock for fathers/ uncle
Group 2 will make a clock for mothers/ aunt
Group 3 will make a clock for boys
Group 4 will make a clock for girls
iii. Begin with when the people in the group get up in the morning a. What do they do? b. What are the tasks done through the day? If they rest during the day mark that portion with red colour c. Is there any difference in tasks of men and women, girls and boys? d. What is the time they get to rest? e. What is the time they get for entertainment such as meeting friends, going to watch games or traditional dances? f. Is there any difference? Why? iv. Ask them to present their clock v. Try to observe what are the things each group does throughout the day a. Are there differences in jobs and time spent in work? b. What work is valued and respected? What work is paid? c. What does that mean in terms of their ability to relax? And have friends? d. How does this feel in terms of fairness? What can happen to make the world fairer? e. What are the harms of only one gender able to do one task? f. What are the benefits of sharing tasks? g. What are the similarities between the tasks for men and boys, women and girls?
Mostly women and girls have lesser time for entertainment than boys and men.
Women’s and girls’ typical day is packed with household chores. They have less time to rest.
There is need to share household chores to make the world fairer to
both sexes.
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ACTIVITY 10: MOPPING COMPETITION 13
Purpose/Description: This activity introduces a new role for boys and girls through a competition on mopping skills for girls and boys
Gender issue to address
There are specific tasks like mopping that are usually done by girls. When boys do them, there is a lot of negative perceptions and potential backlash
Response to the issue
This activity makes club members and the community members aware that it is possible for boys to do tasks that are designated for girls and that it is a matter of social construct and changing the mind-set.
Objectives of the Activity
By the end of the activity, club members should be able to;
Carry out and accept new roles that are perceived to be for the opposite sex.
Delivery of the Activity
This activity will be facilitated by the teacher
Facilitator’s Notes for the Teacher
Preparation: this activity needs to be done at school forum with parents of girls and boys on looking. Male champions will be asked to co-facilitate the meetings and ensure that parents are invited to the competition.
Prior to the activity starting, the teacher and Male Champions will briefly explain the activities that the club members are doing in the teen club and how these lean on their acceptance of the knowledge, attitudinal and behavioural changes that the boys and girls are experiencing or will be portraying in their day to day life.
Facilitator’s Notes for Teen Club Facilitator’s (PEERS)
The Teen Club Facilitator(s) will be readily available to assign girls and boys who will be responsible to draw water and arrange for mops. The TFCs should do this 3 days before the activity day to ensure that the resources are available as the activity cannot be postponed because it involves parents and other key community members.
During the activity, club members will keep track of the time that boys or girls take to mop.
13 Adapted from CARE’s Stitching Competition
36
Materials: Mop, Bucket, Water
1 hour
Method:
i. Split boys and girls in to 2 same sex groups ii. Girls group: Do the mopping and the boys group watch them doing so. iii. The time in which each person completed will be noted iv. One of the teams which has the mopped neatly and in less time will be given the prize. v. The same exercise will be repeated with the boys group.
While the boys group does their work the girls will watch but will not be allowed to help. Orally they can help and motivate but cannot touch the materials while the boys do their work.
vi. Ask the community members what they feel about this exercise. vii. Ask the participants too how they felt.
Request them to talk about the game at home and tell what the discussion was about in the next meeting.
It is possible for boys to do tasks
that are perceived as designated for girls It all depends on how we
construct the norms and socialize the boys for them to adopt these tasks
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ACTIVITY 11: INVISIBLE WALL14
Purpose/Description: This activity allows club members to discuss the barriers the club members face in their everyday lives such as discrimination and identify ways to take action
Gender issue to address
Gender based violence and discrimination is prevalent in the society and these negatively affect girls.
Response to the issue
Girls need to be liberated from the gender based abuses and discrimination. The exercise will help them learn how to speak out against harmful practices that negatively affect them.
Objectives of the Activity
By the end of the activity, club members should be able to;
Identify gender biases prevalent in their society Develop ways and skills of speaking against the biases with other people in the community.
Delivery of the Activity
This activity will be facilitated by the teacher. Male champions, parents and gatekeepers of cultures can be invited.
Facilitator’s Notes for the Teacher
If the teacher decides to invite the male champion, parents and other influential people in society, there will be need to arrange with the male champions to invite them and given ample notification time.
It is recommended that the activity be repeated with parents present, given time in the academic year. The benefit of repeating it with parents present is that parents will also appreciate how the invisible walls that they create and facilitate affect their children
Facilitator’s Notes for Teen Club Facilitator’s (PEERS)
The teen club facilitator will help the teacher organise fellow club members so that they get seated in time for the activity. S/he will also help in maintaining order and discipline in the course of the activity.
Materials: Paper and pencil, Paper and marker for drawing wall
14 Adapted from Save the Children’s Choices Curriculum
38
1 hour
Method:
i. Open the discussion with the following questions: a. What is the purpose of walls and fences? b. Have you ever seen an invisible wall or fence? c. Do you ever think invisible walls exist?
Facilitator says: Although One day, a young boy overhears his parents talking we can’t see invisible walls, they do about his sister. The parents feel that his sister exist and can be felt. Maybe you should not continue in school, focusing instead on have felt an “invisible wall” before. household chores and preparing for marriage. The Here is one example of invisible wall. young man feels sad because he knows his sister’s life ii. Invite the club members to will be happier if she can continue going to school. He attempt to role play this feels an “invisible wall.” He wants to respectfully talk scenario or read it out to to his parents about his sister, saying he will help them: more around the home so that his sister can continue a. Has anyone ever felt this way? in school. But he wonders what his parents will say if b. What makes us feel this he approaches them with this topic. The “invisible way? wall” keeps him from advocating for his sister. c. What can we do to change these feelings?
DISCUSSION
iii. Ask the club members to share other “invisible walls” that exist in their community. iv. After sharing examples of “invisible walls,” ask the same opening question again: a. What is the purpose of walls and fences? (Sample answers: To keep animals and people in their place. To exert control over animals and people.) b. Have you ever seen an invisible wall or fence? (Sample answers: We don’t see invisible walls, but we can feel them. We see the impact of the walls and fences on lives every day. Invisible walls keep boys and girls in different roles in the same community. Some invisible walls lead boys to happier lives than girls. Some invisible walls keep boys and girls in traditional roles.)
c. Do you think invisible walls exist? (Sample answers: Invisible walls can form powerful fortresses that seem impossible to remove. Although the invisible walls appear strong and indestructible, they are just a façade, meaning that they are just made up from what people imagine and make up to be. The
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invisible walls can be taken down by discussion and respectful action over time. These activities are providing you with the tools to take down invisible walls.)
v. In addition, ask these questions: d. How are walls and fences taken down? (Sample answers: Walls and fences are taken down one stone or post at a time. It takes patience and time to take invisible walls down.)
e. What actions can you take to remove “invisible walls” in your life? f. What will you do when friends or family try to keep the “invisible wall” in place by their actions or words? g. What can boys say to parents who don’t want you to help your sister, who want the “invisible wall” to remain? h. How will your life be better if you remove some of the “invisible walls” that exist in your lives? i. How will the lives of your family and friends be better if you remove “invisible walls,” one action at a time? j. How will others view children who choose to remove “invisible walls” so their lives and the lives of their family and friends can be better? MAKING CHOICES
vi. Ask all club members: Suppose you had a choice. Which would you choose? a. Choose to take down the “invisible walls” that exists between boys and girls so that both girls and boys can live full, equal and happy lives. b. Choose to ignore or support the “invisible walls” that keep girls and boys from being respectfully treated.
This week, discuss with your friends and family what types of invisible walls exist within your community. Explain what an “invisible wall” is and discuss how it can be removed. Bring back a written summary of the discussions in form of key points to share with other members at the next session
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“Invisible walls” are taken down the same way visible walls and fences are removed: One stone or
pole or pillar at a time. Patiently and deliberately, children can remove “invisible walls” by taking small actions.
Actions may be small but impact on others is huge when “invisible walls” are scaled and demolished. Fear of what others might say keeps some people
from removing “invisible walls.” Removing walls—invisible or visible—requires
strength and determination. Children have choices. They can choose to remove “invisible walls”, one action at a time, or hide in fear behind “invisible walls.”
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ACTIVITY 12: STAYING IN SCHOOL DRAMA AND SONG15
Purpose/description This activity aims to encourage club members especially girls to stay in school and ways to encourage and support those who dropped out due to different reasons to get back to school.
Gender issue to address
There is higher rate of girl drop out than boys. Parents prefer to send their male chid to school and encourage or marry off their girl child when there are challenges in the family for example, food shortages.
Response to the issue
The exercise seeks to encourage girls and boys to know why it is important to stay in school and to know what they are missing when they drop out so that they can go back to school.
Objectives of the Activity
By the end of the activity, club members should be able to;
Encourage each other to stay in school Encourage drop outs to get back to school Enlighten parents on importance of educating both girls and boys
Delivery of the Activity
This activity will be facilitated by the teacher
Facilitator’s Notes for the Teacher
This activity will initially be done in school with the teachers as facilitators. The teachers with support from Male Champions will arrange that on a separate day, the club members showcase their skits/songs to the larger community especially parents to emphasize the points to girls and boys staying in school
Facilitator’s Notes for the Teen Club Facilitators (peers)
Teen Club Facilitator(s) will assist the teachers to organize the club members in their respective groups and make sure that they understand the instructions on how to do the drama and songs
Materials: Scripts of skits/songs
15 Adapted from the GREAT toolkit
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1 hour
Method:
Ask the group to form a circle and read this out loud: Today we are going to talk about how boys and girls can help one another stay in school.
i. The facilitator should read this out loud to the club members: First, I would like you to think about the age mates in your village that do not attend school. ii. Ask the club members the following question: What are some reasons that they are not able to go to school? iii. Give the participants time to think and discuss. Make sure that many participants have a chance to speak. iv. Read this out loud: Some reasons that boys and girls do not stay in school include, having to do chores that keep them from completing homework; having to go to work with a parent; having to take care of siblings or younger children in the home; not able to afford school fees; and for girls, not having sanitary pads while menstruating. v. Read these instructions out loud: Team 1’s goal is to make up a drama that shows how family and age mates help a girl get back into school. Team 2’s goal is to make up a song and dance about why it is important for boys and girls to stay in school and the positive impact of staying in school. Team 3 can work on a poster campaign on the importance and benefits for all children staying in school. vi. Allow club members to choose which team they would like to join. vii. Read the instructions in Step 5 again to make sure everybody understands. viii. Give the teams 15 minutes to discuss and make up their dramas and songs. ix. After 15 minutes, call the teams back together in the circle x. Ask Team 1 to perform their drama for the rest of the group. xi. Ask Team 2 to perform their song and dance for the rest of the group. xii. Invite the club members to form a circle and ask these questions. Allow participants time to think about and respond to each question. Call on both boys and girls to participate. Do you feel that the things we acted, talked and sang about today happen here in your community? Why might it be important for both boys and girls to stay in school? Would it be acceptable in your community for boys to do some of the things discussed today in order to help girls stay in school? Explain your answer. Many families believe that if there is little money in the family, on the male children should go to school. What do you think about this? How would you advise a friend that wants to help his sister stay in school?
On a separate day, the teacher and male champion will arrange that the club members showcase their skits and songs in the community in the presence of parents and the larger community.
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Ask the club members to write in their diaries one thing that you can do to help girls in your family stay in school.
Great communities are those that work to keep their boys AND their girls in school.
When girls stay in school, they grow up to have more job options and raise healthier and more successful families. It is important that girls have time to do their
homework every day. Boys can be GREAT by helping their sisters with household chores so that their sisters can do their homework.
Boys and girls can also be great by talking to adults about the importance of staying in school.
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C. EXPRESSING OURSELVES
ACTIVITY 13: PUT DOWNS AND PUT UPS16
Purpose/description: This activity aims to help learner to know that they have potential and capacity to do similar things and to know that negative feedback should not discourage them but they should use them to their advantage and also positive feedback should not make them act bossy and lose focus.
These are short exercises to show how we communicate and how our communication styles make people feel. In these activities, club members will create a ‘put up’ box in the space for people to appreciate one another.
Gender issue to address
Adolescent boys and girls use words that demean members of the opposite sex. For example, girls laugh at and make bad remarks about boys wearing torn clothes and boys laugh at and make bad remarks about girls when they discover that the girl is menstruating. Additionally, community members expect boys to be intelligent and visionary. Girls are called dull and myopic.
Response to the issue
The activity prepares boys and girls to positively react to put ups and put downs.
Objectives of the Activity
By the end of the activity, club members should be able to;
Identify put ups and put downs Explain the impact of put ups and put downs on who they become in a society
Delivery of the Activity
This activity will be facilitated by a teacher.
Facilitator’s Notes for the Teacher
Put downs are words/phrases/sentences that de-motivate others
Put ups are words/phrases/sentences that motivate others
Both put ups and put downs can motivate or demotivate depending on how one reacts to a situation. For example if someone gets carried with comments that s/he is intelligent and stops working hard, the put up will have a negative impact. On the other hand if someone is called dull and decides to start working hard to prove the people wrong, the put down is a motivation.
16 Adapted from the Morningside Center’s The Heart Story
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Facilitator’s Notes for Teen Club Facilitator’s (PEERS)
The teen club facilitators will be responsible for ‘PUT UP’ box and during each activity meeting pull out an idea from the box and share it with the group.
Materials: ‘Put-up’ Box/bucket/carton 1 hour
Method:
i. Ask the club members, "What is a put-down?"
The facilitator should say: Sometimes people say hurtful things to one another. Such remarks tell a person that he or she is not good, not important, and "less than" other people. That's why they are called ‘put-downs’
ii. Ask people to silently think of examples some of the put-downs that are said in our communities, by our peers and other people around us. iii. Lead the team to discuss the following questions:
o Where do people learn put-downs and put-ups? o How do put-downs and put-ups make other people feel? o Why do we say put-downs? o If people in the group say these things to one another, how might it affect the group?
iv. Ask the group to think of ‘put-ups’, that is, kind and friendly things to say to each other. List the contributions of chart paper. a. Once up, ask – are there certain put-ups we tend to give girls? Are there certain put- ups we tend to give boys? b. Why is that? (For example, if they say appearance for girls or intelligence for boys – ask why do people only talk about these qualities for boys or for girls? Can boys look nice? Can girls be intelligent? i. Lesson: all people have the capacity to have these high standards. However, sometimes society only expects or focuses on certain qualities for boys and for girls. c. When people do this, what is the effect on girls? And on boys? i. Lesson: sometimes this limits what is allowed for boys and girls. It may discourage them to develop certain areas of themselves or affect how they see themselves. That is why it is important to embrace a more whole way of recognizing and acknowledging one another as individuals. d. Commitment: Let’s try to ensure we can appreciate the different qualities and talents of girls and boys – and not limit ourselves to these narrow ‘put ups’.
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v. Have club members turn to the person next to them and share a ‘put-up’ with them. Add more ideas to the chart. vi. How does it feel to receive put ups?
Activity: Put-Up Box:
Create a box for ‘put-ups’. Ask club members to write new ‘put-ups’ on a card whenever they say a ‘put-ups’ or when they hear someone else say one and deposit the cards in the box. During each activity meeting, the facilitator can pull out an idea from the box and share it with the group. Remind club members to write their names on the ‘put-up’ cards so they can be recognized and to ensure that a variety of club members participate. Add their new ideas to the ‘put-up’ chart.
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Put downs are words/phrases/sentences that de- motivate others Put ups are words/phrases/sentences that motivate others All people have the capacity to have these high standards. However, sometimes society only expects or focuses on certain qualities for boys and for girls. Sometimes put downs and put ups limit what is allowed for boys and girls. It may discourage them to
develop certain areas of themselves or affect how they see themselves. That is why it is important to embrace a more whole way of recognizing and
acknowledging one another as individuals. Let’s try to ensure we can appreciate the different qualities and talents of girls and boys – and not limit
ourselves to these narrow ‘put ups’. Boys and girls should anticipate and be prepared to positively react to put ups and put downs
Girls and boys don't tease their peers for behaving in ways which are not consistent with traditional gender norms
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ACTIVITY 14: GOOD LISTENING17
Purpose/description: In this activity, club members learn that listening is a powerful skill. They will practice and talk about what makes a good listener. Club members will pay attention and improve their listening skills. There is a capacity that any learner can learn good listening or practices good listening skills.
Gender issue to address
Usually boys dominate discussion. This makes girls better listeners than boys as they usually sit back in a discussion and listen to boys. In some instances listening is affected by physiological challenges such as fatigue from heavy workload. As a result boys and girls in general fail to concentrate and listen emphatically.
Response to the issue
Club members will develop listening skills that will help them communicate with others positively. As boys participate in this activity, they will build listening skills which will be benefit them to be active listeners just like girls and also give chance for girls to speak.
Objectives of the Activity
By the end of the activity, club members should be able to:
Practice effective listening and talking Address issues of limited participation of girls during discussions
Delivery of the Activity
This activity will be facilitated by a teacher
Facilitator’s Notes for the Teacher
By the time this activity starts, the facilitator should have prepared a listening checklist to list down good listening characteristics or strategies. An example is attached at the end of this activity guide.
Facilitator’s Notes for Teen Club Facilitator’s (PEERS)
The teen club facilitators will assist the teacher to keep the ‘good listening’ checklist handy in preparation for pasting it on the wall when the teacher is about to go to step v.
Materials:
‘Good listening’ checklist
17 Adapted from the Morningside Center’s 4Rs program
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30 minutes
Method:
The facilitator will say to the club members: One of the ways that people cooperate is to listen to each other.
i. Ask for a volunteer from the class to come up front and tell you something. While the person is talking, the facilitator will model poor listening (looking away, fidgeting with clothes or hair, doing something else). ii. Ask how the person felt while he/she was doing this. iii. Ask the class what they noticed. iv. Now have the person tell you the same information, but as a facilitator you should model good listening (attention focused on the speaker, positive body language, no interrupting, repeat back what was said). v. Ask club members to pair up with each other and practice good listening for about 30 seconds each. Make a good listening checklist to post on the wall. vi. Ask club members to pair up and to listen well to each other as they each talk about the message for about 30 seconds. vii. Afterwards, ask the children to name the ways their partners listened well. Add new strategies to the chart. viii. Ask if there are strategies that are easier to do than others (for example, keeping eyes on the speaker may be easier to do than repeating back what was said).
Listening is the ability to accurately receive and interpret messages in the
communication process. Listening is key to all effective communication, without the ability to
listen effectively messages are easily misunderstood – communication breaks down and the sender of the message can
easily become frustrated or irritated.
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ACTIVTIY 15: WIN-WIN SOLUTIONS18
Purpose/description: This activity helps the club members to discuss how to relate with each other toward win-win solutions through role play. With focus on enforcing gender equality, the activity will help boys and girls to identify ways in which they relate with each other without one group feeling at a loss more than the other. Girls are submissive so this activity will address the disparity.
Gender issue to address
Boys are told not concede defeat. Girls are expected to be submissive. This means that girls usually resign to boys’ or men’s wishes. They are usually the ‘losers’ in most cases.
Response to the issue
The activity will help boys and girls to identify ways in which they relate with each other without one group feeling at a loss more than the other.
Objectives of the Activity
By the end of the activity, club members should be able to;
Identify ways that help them relate with each other without one group feeling at a loss than the other Identify ways of managing conflicts. List characteristics of an assertive girl Explain how peacefully resolved conflicts can enhance coexistence and enhance respect for one another
Delivery of the Activity
This activity will be facilitated by a teacher
Facilitator’s Notes for the Teacher
The facilitator should be cautious in leading this discussion because this activity might make girls to withdraw even further. The facilitator should pay special attention to how boys are behaving and also how girls are responding to the activity.
Facilitator’s Notes for Teen Club Facilitator’s (PEERS)
The teen club facilitator will help club members to pair off and role play different endings to win-win story and come up with diagram of ways that conflict could come out.
18 Adapted from the 4Rs program: Win-Win Solutions
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Materials: Conflict Outcomes Table Jane is in standard 8, has a big test coming up, the Primary 1 hour School Leaving Certificate of Education (PLSCE), and has just Method: settled down to study. Peter, her
WIN-WIN ROLEPLAY older brother, comes home from the soccer field, and starts
i. Role play the following situation with another adult demanding for her to give him or learner. Freeze the action where the argument is food. Jane refuses by arguing heating up. that she is busy studying and ii. Ask the group to describe what's going on in the story shared in the box on the right. cannot stop to dish up food for a. What does Jane need? What does Peter him. Peter insists and asks their need? If Jane won, what would she get? How father to intervene. would she feel? b. If Peter won, what would he get? How would he feel? iii. Show club members the following diagram of ways that conflict could come out.
Conflict Outcomes Table
Peter gets what he needs Peter doesn’t get what he needs
Jane gets what she needs Win-Win Win-Lose
Jane doesn’t get what she Lose-Win Lose-Lose needs
iv. Ask for ideas about how this conflict might come out. Have club members pair off and role play different endings to this story: a. Group A: With the original situation b. Group B: With Jane as a boy c. Group C: with Peter as a boy d. Group D: with both Peter and Jane as a boy v. Take turns and have club members perform the ending of their stories. vi. For each, discuss where the ending is located on the chart. a. Does Jane get what she wants? b. Does Peter get what he wants? vii. Then what kind of an ending is that?
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viii. For discussion on gender: How was the story different when we changed the gender of the characters? Why is that? a. LESSON: as we discussed, being born a boy or a girl can change how others see and interact with you. This will change your experiences. b. Is that fair? How can we make sure people are equal in their conversations? i. Lesson: No it is not fair. However, how we interact can still be respectful. Ask – were there examples where we saw the characters respecting one another across genders – even within the argument? What are ways we can make sure to do this during disagreements? ii. Make a list of ideas. ix. For discussion on win-wins: Did any role plays end up in the win-win category? Discuss as many win-win solutions as they can come up with. Go for quantity. Point out that most conflicts have many win-win solutions depending on what is acceptable to both parties.
Being born a boy or a girl can change how others see and interact with you. This will change your experiences. Sometimes how others see and interact with you turns out not to be fair. However, it is important to make sure that we interact in respectful way. Boys and girls compromise on issues they
differ or value so that they can get a fair outcome of a situation
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ACTIVITY 16: WAYS WE SHOW WE CARE19
Purpose/Description: This activity allows club members to share scenarios/stories and discuss ways in which they show that they care for and support others. Club members need to know that everyone deserves to be loved and to be cared for. Love needs to show actions that can be felt or seen and that caring should be shown loudly and silently. The activity will address gender based violence because gender based violence occur due to lack of care and love.
Gender issue to address
The existence of gender based violence in the communities is a manifestation of lack of care for others. It is normal for a girl to be beaten under certain circumstances. Girls’ assault is blamed on the girls themselves - they ask for it by the way they dress and walk
Response to the issue
Adolescents will freely express their emotions and be able to support one another socially, emotionally and physically.
Objectives of the Activity
By the end of the activity, club members should be able to;
Identify ways for supporting one another, socially, physically and emotionally Freely express their emotions Change the way they act towards each other and the way they socialize
Delivery of the Activity
This activity will be facilitated by a teacher
Facilitator’s Notes for the Teacher
By the time the facilitator introduces the activity, he/she should have prepared in their mind or written somewhere scenarios that show that someone cares for another person.
Some example scenarios have been provided as statements on instruction (ii) in the ‘Methods’ section to guide the teacher in what kind of scenarios they should think about.
Facilitator’s Notes for Teen Club Facilitator’s (PEERS)
The teen club facilitators will assist the teachers to read out the scenarios if the teacher feels that there is time to allow them to do so. They will also arrange to put up 2 boxes: one for ‘Loud caring’ and the other for ‘Silent caring’.
19 Adapted from Save the Children’s Choices – Showing you care loudly
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Materials: Paper and pencil or paper and marker for drawing wall 1 hour
Method:
i. Open the discussion by asking the club members these questions and give them time to discuss the answers. Allow about 5-10 minutes for discussion :
a. How do you know when someone cares about you? What do they do to show that they care for you? Their words or their actions?
ii. Give club members scenarios that show that someone cares for the other. Ask them to identify if these situations show they care “silently” or “loudly”.
The facilitator can give this hint: Showing you care:
‘loudly’ means that you care with actions and it is non verbal
‘silently’ means that you care with no actions and it is verbal
And the facilitator should read out this statement: A sister makes her brother’s bed and prepares his food. She cleans up after he eats.
Ask the club members: Is this “silent” or “loud” caring?
The facilitator should read out this statement: A brother helps his sister with the evening meal so she has time to do homework.
Ask the club members: Is this “silent” or “loud” caring?
The facilitator should read out this statement: He asks his sister questions on the way to school so she is prepared for the daily test.
Ask the club members: Is this “silent” or “loud” caring?
The facilitator should read out this statement: Brother hears his parents talking about marriage for his younger sister. He is proud of his sister and knows that she dreams of finishing school. He talks to his father and asks if his sister can stay in school, offering to help with the chores so his sister can do both school and household tasks.
Ask the club members: Is this “silent” or “loud” caring?
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The facilitator should read out this statement: Sister and brother talk about the hopes and dreams they have for their lives. Both listen with respect and promise to support and encourage each other.
Ask the club members: Is this “silent” or “loud” caring?
iii. The facilitator should introduce a discussion by saying these words:
‘Most people know when people care about them. Caring and loving words are wonderful, but actions show that one cares much more.’
i. How does it feel with others show they are? ii. One way to think about it is to think about your care as a bucket, and when someone shows they care, it fills your bucket leaving you full and able to show care to others. Sometimes our buckets get empty if we do not feel the care and appreciation of others. Then, it is hard to give appreciation and show our care for other people. So the facilitator can encourage everyone to show they care and appreciate one another to keep our buckets full. iii. For brothers or sisters, is it easier for one or the other to show they care? What happens when a boy or a girls shows they care? Why is that? Can we support them to be able to express care more fully? iv. Ask club members to draw a picture of each of the following: (if there is no paper or pencils, these questions can just be discussed) a. One thing you did in the past day that let your sister/brother know you care for them? b. One thing did you do in the past day that let your friends or parents know you care for them? v. Allow children to explain their drawing to the group and discuss their caring actions.
Ask all the club members:
Children have choices. They can choose to care for others “silently” or “loudly”. Suppose you had a choice. Which would you choose?
Choose to express how you feel about people “silently”?
Choose to show how you feel about people “loudly”?
Ask the club members to:
Discuss with your friends and family how your life will be better if you choose to care out loud. Discuss with family and friends how they feel when you care out loud.
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Ask them to bring the summaries of their discussions at the next session to share with the rest of the club members
“Silent” love—love with no caring actions—is difficult to see or feel. “Loud” love—love with caring actions—feels
warm and wonderful and is easy to see Boys feel confident they can support other
peers who are being bullied or pressured to have sex Boys support girls in attending school and thriving in school Showing ‘loudly’ that you care means that you care with actions Showing ‘silently’ that you care means that you care with no actions
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ACTIVITY 17: JUST A MINUTE 20
Purpose/Description: In this activity, the club members to get to talk about any variety of topics for 1 minute. The purpose of this activity is to instil confidence in club members to develop skills of speech and be open about what they want to say. It also helps them to develop skills to use words and sentences in sequence, develop imagination and thinking capacity for particular topics and observe others articulating and organizing their thoughts as a way of learning from others
Gender issue to address
Girls lack confidence to speak in front of other people and peers. They look down upon themselves and feel that they are inferior to boys.
Response to the issue
Girls will build their confidence and boys will learn to give girls space to speak. They will be able to say effectively what they want in life. In turn, the adolescents will start working as a team.
Objectives of the Activity
By the end of the activity, club members should be able to;
Use words and sentences in sequence Talk about a variety of topics articulately in one minute Decide and act quickly Display confidence in the way they do things
Delivery of the Activity
This activity will be facilitated by the teacher.
Facilitator’s Notes for the Teacher
Knowing that adolescents may not be able to say something in one minute due to shyness and confidence issues, the facilitator should exercise some flexibility on time. 1 minute is just a minimum under the circumstance that the adolescents are not shy. This is likely to be the case for girls. The facilitator will be expected to observe with care how the club members are behaving and be self- aware not to judge or put on a spot a learner who is not able to say something in 1 minute.
As prior preparation, the facilitator should source readily available pictures of many other things that the club members can say something about. The list of things that can be on the pictures is provided under the Materials section but this is just a guide. Facilitators should be free to identify pictures within their reach and those that the club members can relate.
The key point is that the club members should say something about a picture.
20 Adapted from CARE’s Tipping Point
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In cases where there are many students, the teachers and teen club facilitators will split the club in to numbers that are manageable.
Facilitator’s Notes for Teen Club Facilitator’s (PEERS)
The teen club facilitators should ably manage the pictures that are available for the activity for that day by handing over a selected picture or any picture at random to a learner.
The Teen Club Facilitator(s) should arrange with 1 or 2 of the club members to bring a ball for this session at least a week before.
Materials:
List of pictures: picture of chair, tree, table cycle, boat, mother, father, a girl football, and girls together, boys together, a girl riding a bicycle, a boy carrying a bucket of water on the head, a girl sitting in an office, a boy cooking. Make slips of these pictures and fold them, mix them well in a box.
A soft ball – this ball can be made of plastic papers
A radio (or an alternative device that can make sound like a whistle, a drum) 1 hour
Method:
i. Ask the club members to stand in a circle ii. One Teen Club Facilitator will play a song on a radio or using the drum or make a sound using the whistle and facilitate that the ball should go from one participant to another using the sound. iii. The teen club facilitator will be the one to make the initial pass of the ball to the group members. At the sound of the device, the facilitator will pass the ball to a group member at random and the group member will pick a card from the box. iv. The person who picks the card prepares for 1 minute and then begins to speak about the card for another minute. v. Ask them to share the most important lesson they picked when one of the club members was speaking
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For one to relay a message, you need to think deeply about what you want to say on a topic It is important to have confidence in what you want to say
Confidence means that you believe in your own abilities. Believing in your ability to do something enhances your ability to do it. Confident people;
a. Display composure
b. Are not easily offended c. Speak with authority d. Celebrate others e. Are decisive f. Focus on their strengths g. Take initiatives
h. Maintain an open body posture i. Are loving and humble j. Never stop learning We are all born with confidence, but sometimes setbacks snatch it away
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D. EMOTIONS
ACTIVITY 18: IMAGE OF THE HOUR21
Purpose/Description: This activity allows club members to reflect on what they do in different moments and how they feel about what they are doing. Club members will appreciate how workload is unfairly distributed between boys and girls and they will have an opportunity to reflect on how best they can use their time and prioritize.
Gender issue to address
Tasks are assigned based on gender. Girls have a heavier workload in a day than boys. When asked how they feel about it, girls always complain that the workload is not shared equally as the boys get a chance to play and relax while they work for longer hours with little time to play and relax. This also makes it difficult for them to have adequate time to study.
Response to the issue
The activity brings an idea of workload sharing which is desirable for both boys and girls. it is expected that boys will learn to appreciate the load that girls have in a typical day and begin to relieve it and regard that as a normal and kind thing to do in life.
Objectives of the Activity
By the end of the activity, club members should be able to;
Understand the workload of boys and girls and how the differences contribute to gender inequalities
Delivery of the Activity
This activity will be facilitated by a teacher and peer facilitator
Facilitator’s Notes for the Teacher
This activity involves boys and girls taking poses and for good participation, the facilitator should select an ideal place where the boys and girls will not be shy to pose. Spectators may disrupt the participation so a private place such as a classroom is ideal.
Facilitator’s Notes for Teen Club Facilitator’s (PEERS)
Teachers can request Teen Club Facilitator(s) assistance as they deem fit but this activity cannot be facilitated by a Teen Club Facilitator(s) by all means.
21 Source: Theater of the Oppressed- A technique in Theatre of the Oppressed developed by Augusto Boal
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Materials: No materials required 1 hour
Method:
i. This activity asks people to walk around the stage. As the club members are walking around the stage, the facilitator shouts out a particular time of day or a particular moment in time. Upon hearing the shout the club members have to pose and then demonstrate or show what they would be doing/feeling at that particular time of day or moment. Below are examples of the day and time that the facilitator can use to shout:
a. Monday 7am b. Friday 6pm c. Sunday 10am
ii. Then start to get more specific. After several questions, the facilitator sometimes taps someone to say what they are feeling during a particular moment. Make sure to tap a range of girls and boys to see what they are doing and how they are feeling at different moments:
a. 8pm on the night before the first day of school b. On closing day of school c. as soon as you get back from church d. At 3pm on a week day e. at 9am during holidays f. As soon as you get home from school g. When you are late for class h. When you go to bed i. At lunch time on Saturday j. One hour before dinner k. When you wake up
iii. Conclude the session with a discussion that focuses on these questions:
a. Ask what did we notice when we saw what we did and what others did? o What kind of emotions did we see? b. What were the poses that boys made that were similar or different to those of girls? What were the poses that girls made that were similar or different to those of girls? For example: add examples here Also note: because we have different positions in society as girls and boys, and as people from different groups/family types, the same experience may be very different for each of us. Sometimes this relates to the level of power and respect we have within communities and households. c. In terms of time and work: Was there a difference between girls and boys in terms of how we spend our day? How?
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o Based on what we see – did we see studying? Did we see play? Who was doing this? o How might these differences affect girls? And how might they affect boys? Given differences, how does that affect households? Note: The facilitator may observe that at different points of day girls are busy with domestic work. This can limit their opportunities to study and do homework, or build strong relationships. Are there ways we can support one another so both girls and boys can enjoy these opportunities? What are some ideas related to this? d. In terms of how we are treated by parents/teachers did we see any differences? o What are the differences? Why is that? o How can we build support at home and schools for all of us to benefit from learning? e. What did you learn from this game?
People have different ways of experiencing things depending on who they are and on how others see them. It happens because we have different
bodies, different kinds of families and different kinds of experiences. In life tasks are assigned based on these differences some of which are being a boy and being a girl
It also possible for people with such differences to do similar tasks.
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ACTIVITY 19: IMAGE THEATRE 22
Purpose/Description: In this activity, the club members will list out emotions, and then express them as a team exercise. The purpose is to allow the club members to learn how to express emotions as an important aspect of their social lives. This activity will also help Club members to understand that emotions are normal and they need to be expressed especially for boys and it will also encourage boys and girls to share emotions
Gender issue to address
Adolescent boys have difficulties expressing emotions. This is so because of how they are socialized, they are taught that boys not cry if they are to be treated as ideal boys. On the contrary, girls are perceived weak because they show their emotions by crying. This becomes the source of teasing and bullying for boys to perpetrate.
Response to the issue
The activity will help club members to understand that emotions are a normal aspect of life and that expressing one’s emotions does not make them weak in the eyes of the other.
Objectives of the Activity
By the end of the activity, club members should be able to;
List out emotions Strengthen skills in articulating and expressing emotions
Delivery of the Activity
This activity will be facilitated by a teacher
Facilitator’s Notes for the Teacher
The adolescents may not be able to list out more emotions because most of the emotions are hidden, meaning that people do not express some of the emotions in public. The facilitator can provide scenarios/situations that club members can act out the emotions. The scenarios/situations can be but not limited to when a boy asks a girl out, when a girl gets a good remark in class by a teacher, when a boy beats up a girl, when boys are playing soccer, when girls are playing netball, when boys and girls are singing in a choir, during funerals and/or weddings
The facilitator should be able to adjust the number of club members to go into a group depending on how many club members are in a teen club. Given that the activity is timed for the different steps, the time can also guide the facilitator on how many club members can go into a group
Facilitator’s Notes for Teen Club Facilitator’s (PEERS)
22 Adapted from a technique in Theatre of the Oppressed developed by Augusto Boal
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The Teen Club Facilitator(s) can help with listing the emotions on a board and counting the club members available for the activity to organize them in smaller groups
Materials: Chalk Board, Chalk, Clock/Time 1 hour
Method:
i. Ask the club members to share the emotions that they know or have heard of before. As they are listing, the TCF should list these on the chalk board ii. Divide the club members into smaller groups of 4-5. Note to facilitator: This number can be adjusted depending on how many club members are in a teen club. Ask participants to select a word from the list and work together to create a scene that represents one of these words. The smaller groups will do their own scene in turns iii. Give each group 5 minutes to discuss how to make their image out of the emotion word that they have selected and another 5 minutes to act out their image. After 10 minutes, the groups take turns ‘performing’ their image. As each group presents, the rest of the club members will be guessing which word they are trying to express. Hint to the facilitator: they can act out their image of the word by spelling the word of the emotion with their bodies or they can actually act out what someone does or how they look when they feel that selected emotion iv. Initiate a discussion for the club members with the following questions:
a. How easy/difficult was it to create a ‘scene’ of an emotion? b. How do we know that others have certain emotions at particular point in time? c. How do you share your emotions? d. Who do you share your emotions with? How does it feel to share your emotions with others? e. What is it like to share your emotions? How does it feel to keep your emotions hidden inside? f. Have you had people in your life share their feelings with you? How do you respond when they do? g. How different are emotions shared by boys from those of girls? How different are emotions shared by girls from those of boys? o LESSON: We may all have these emotions but sometimes society tells us it is not okay to express emotions – particularly for boys. However, expressing emotions is a healthy way to community with one another and build bonds with one another. It is also healthy to be able to share what you are feeling so we do not bottle up emotions inside.
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Ask the club members to document any changes they observe or adopt in how they share their emotions after this session. They will share what they have written down during the next session on Feeling Map.
We may all have emotions but sometimes society tells us it is not okay to express emotions – particularly for boys. However, expressing emotions is a healthy way to communicate with one another and build bonds with one another. It is also healthy to be able to share what you are feeling so we do not bottle up emotions inside.
People may have different interpretations of the emotions. Some may be positive and others may be negative. You cannot control how people interpret emotions because people feel differently about different things
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ACTIVITY 20: FEELING MAP23
Purpose/Description: This activity helps club members relate their feelings to their bodies by mapping where they feel different emotions in the body. The activity also aims at helping club members to get used to start talking about feelings and recognize physical signs of feelings especially fear and worry, as early warning signs. In addition club members will begin to relate their feelings to how they understand their physical developmental growth. It will also help club members to understand that it is important to respond to feelings accordingly and not hide them. It can be a defensive mechanism in such a way that boys and girls can make a decision to refrain from doing things that can bring problems afterwards.
Gender issue to address
Boys and girls express emotions differently. Men and boys are not expected to show tears in their eyes when they cry, but women and girls can. Boys think that each time they get the desire to have sex, they must have it.
Response to the issue
Club members will learn how they can recognize physical signs of feelings and use them as early warning signs. They will also relate their feelings to their physical development and how they can control what they feel and realise that it is part of the normal physical growth.
Objectives of the Activity
By the end of the activity, club members should be able to;
Map out feelings on their bodies Recognise physical signs of feelings and be more aware of one’s own feelings Relate the feelings to their physical development
Delivery of the Activity
This activity will be facilitated by a teacher/peer facilitator
Facilitator’s Notes for the Teacher
The facilitator should carefully lead the club members to list down emotions that are not only related to sex because at this age, they are inclined to think more about sexual issues due to the phase of development that they are going through or have just gone through. The list of emotions is included on page 68.
23 Adapted from Plan International’s Feeling Map
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Facilitator’s Notes for Teen Club Facilitator’s (PEERS)
The teen club facilitator will help the teacher create groups for the activity and help club members who are finding it difficult draw pictures and describe where and how different feelings and emotions are felt
Materials:
Flip chart/ chalk board/ floor (ground), Markers/chalk/stick 1 hour
Method:
i. In groups of any number that the facilitator may deem feasible, ask club members to draw an outline of a body of a girl on the board and of a boy on the other side of the board. If paper is available and the club members are comfortable to draw on paper, they are free to do so. Tell the club members that you are going to give examples of different feelings/emotions (for example, fear, happiness) and that as each feeling is mentioned club members should draw on their pictures and describe where and how different feelings and emotions are felt (for example fear might be their heart beating faster). ii. After each emotion has been drawn, discuss in a larger group to compare club members’ ideas. iii. Initiate a discussion on the differences between the emotions that they have drawn on boys’ pictures and those drawn on girls’ pictures a. What differences are there in emotions drawn on pictures of boys and those on pictures of girls? b. Are there similarities? What are they? How do these similarities come about? c. Why do you think these differences come about? d. Do these differences play a role in how boys and girls respond to situations in their lives? List of emotions:
. Sadness . Joy . Surprise . Shame . Pity . Envy . Guilty . Depressed . Lonely . Calm . Optimistic . Insecure
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our bodies can sometimes help give us clues that can keep us safe, and that we need to be able to
recognise these indicators Feelings are powerful tools that protect us from harm. For example, if we express fear, people know that we are afraid or that we are concerned; Feelings help people to communicate. For example,
smiles mean a good welcome to something or someone The pictures of boys’ and girls’ feelings show us that boys and girls express different feelings some times and in other times they express similar
feelings Sometimes though boys are not as allowed to express emotions so they do not show up as clearly in the map
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ACTIVITY 21: TALKING ABOUT FEAR24
Purpose/Description: In this activity, boys and girls in separate groups discuss a story about fear. In these groups they will talk about their experiences about facing and overcoming fears. In the boys’ groups, linkages will be made to expressions of fear and expectations on masculinities.
Gender issue to address
Boys are socialized never to have fear. They are told never to fear but to be brave. This exposes them to a great deal of danger.
Response to the issue
Feelings are powerful tools that protect us from harm. For example, if we express fear, people know that we are afraid, that we are concerned. It helps people to communicate, for example, smiles mean a good welcome or greeting
Objectives of the Activity
By the end of the activity, club members should be able to;
Share their personal experiences about facing and overcoming fear Link the expressions of fear to expectations on masculinity Recognize that some of the social expectations put limitations to their psychological growth
Delivery of the Activity
This activity will be facilitated by a teacher with assistance from the teen club facilitator
Facilitator’s Notes for the Teacher
The teacher should share his/her own story about fear and how it affected the decision you made. As the teacher is sharing his/her story, he/she should be as brief as possible but also try to open up so that the club members should be brave and comfortable enough to share their own fears. If tension arises, the teacher should switch to an energizer to make club members feel comfortable.
Facilitator’s Notes for Teen Club Facilitator’s (PEERS)
Share their own fear story if the teacher is not around and help club members who are finding it difficult to draw human body
Materials: Floor, chalk, board, chart paper, markers
1 hour
24 Adapted from Morningside Center’s Talking About Fear
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Method:
i. Share with the club members a poem about fear
Poem about Fear
ii. Ask club members to share, without further explanation, one or two fears they have. Let club members know that they can share big fears or small fears – any fears that they feel comfortable sharing with others in the room. iii. Consider modelling the activity by sharing a fear of your own. (Facilitator should share his/her own experience of a story about fear). iv. Ask the club members to share how fear affects the decisions they make, their behaviours and reactions. Does fear affect them negatively or positively or both? v. Are boys justified to express fears? How? Are girls justified to express fears? vi. Summarize what club members share vii. Then explain a few points about fear as given by the example in the box
Expressions of fear viii. Ask the club members to draw a large outline of the human body on the board, Floor or on chart paper. ix. Then ask club members to think about fear. Where do they feel it in their bodies and how? x. Hand out sticky notes (piece of paper and glue or ulimbo25) or chalk. Instruct club members to write different ways that fear manifests itself, each on a different sticky note and place on the outline of the human body xi. Invite them to look at where the points are placed/written on the body outline and read how the different body parts are affected by stress. xii. Ask them what they notice about the sticky notes on the body: Are there sticky notes that are clumped together? Do some parts of the body have only one sticky note? Is there anything that surprises club members about how the sticky notes are distributed?
25 Local material used as glue
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Some of the fears we share are normal and natural.
Others fear tend to be common at particular ages of development or are based on personal experience or the context we find ourselves in. We all get afraid
sometimes. Fear is a natural emotion that can be very useful. It can serve as a warning of sorts and keep us safe. Think of how the fear of getting hit by a car may
keep us alert while we’re crossing the street. Fear of getting burnt may keep us away from hot water, and
fear of getting bitten by a snake, will prevent us from using paths that are prone to have snakes. Being afraid puts us on edge, which can sharpen our senses and help us react more quickly or become more focused. This can be useful when we’re taking a test, for instance. Fear of getting a bad grade or of being disappointed by how we do on a test may make us study harder. Of course, fear can also keep us from trying new things, having new experiences, going beyond what we know, stepping outside our comfort zone.
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E. VALUES AND FUTURES
ACTIVITY 22: VALUES26
Purpose/description: The purpose of this activity is to share and discuss values that are important to boys and girls and how these values shape their thinking as they transition in to young adult men and women.
Gender issue to address
Boys and girls are living in an environment where they feel pressured to do or believe in things that they do not value. Such things may be norms, beliefs and socialization processes. As peer pressure presses on, boys and girls feel challenged to stand for what they believe in and what they have been taught to believe in as their values
Response to the issue
Boys and girls will understand what it means to have values and how these shape their relationships with each other and with other people in society. It will also help them to enhance cooperation and respect for diversity which will help them live as equals.
Objectives of the Activity
By the end of the activity, club members should be able to:
Share values Explain the ways in which the values shape their thinking as they transition into adulthood
Delivery of the Activity
This activity will be facilitated by a teacher
Facilitator’s Notes for the Teacher
Be aware that club members will share diverse values that may offend others. Therefore the facilitator should be very cautious to manage the dynamic values shared by club members and also allow for an environment that is not judgemental. The facilitator him/herself should not be judgemental and should not impose his/her own values and respect the values that the club members are sharing.
26 Adapted from Morningside Centre’s Core values grab bag, p 3
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Facilitator’s Notes for Teen Club Facilitator’s (PEERS)
The Teen Club Facilitator(s) should liaise with the teachers on what materials are needed for the session and ensure that they are available.
Materials: Value cards (3 cards of each value), A box or plastic bag to put in the value cards 1 hour
Method:
i. The facilitator should explain to club members that: values are principles or qualities that are important and desirable when groups of people come together. Values can support people in creating a safe space where they can share openly and honestly. Values are at the root of healthy, strong relationships ii. The facilitator should explain that he/she has a range of different values written on cards in a bag that he/she will send around the circle so that everyone can pick one. iii. Ask club members to read the value they picked, before passing the bag to the next person in the circle. Facilitator should note that: Club members can exchange their value if they don’t know what the value means and/or cannot relate to it in any way. iv. Ask club members to think about an experience they had in which this value played an important role – either because it was present or because it was lacking. v. Invite the club members in turns to describe this experience. vi. Ask each of the club members to contribute their value to the box at the centre after they shared. vii. Explain that these are the kinds of values for us to consider as we build our relationships in the teen clubs. viii. Ask the learner to think about how these values inform their adoption of gender roles as expected by the society
The club members should list down in their notebooks (diaries) the values that they want to adopt for the future and how they intend to use them to help them shape their decisions. They should also write down in their notebooks/diaries how they intend to use these values to relate with members of the opposite sex
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Values are principles or qualities that are important and desirable when groups of people come together. Values can support people in creating a safe space where they can share openly and honestly. Values are at the root of healthy, strong relationships Values help build good relationships among peers They enhance cohesion between boys and girls The enhance cooperation in respect to diversity
They create an open minded environment They can reduce tension and conflict but in some cases they can in fact advance tension and conflict If we are confident in our values, we stand firm
by them
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ACTIVITY 23: TELLING OUR PAST AND FUTURE STORIES27
Purpose/description: This activity aims at getting adolescents to tell stories and learning from their parents and elders and how they want to influence these stories to allow for fairness in treatment, roles and expectations from society. It will also allow club members to think about what they can do now as the bridge between the past and future societal expectations ancestors.
Gender issue to address
The adolescents are socialized through the stories, songs and myths that are told by elders such as uncles, aunts, brothers and sisters and are passed on from generation to generation. These have some key messages that boys and girls are expected to learn from.
Response to the issue
Through this activity, club members will be able to relate the stories that they have been hearing to what changes about their lives that they want to see in the future. They will be able to identify stories that promote fairness in treatment of the people in the society.
Objectives of the Activity
By the end of the activity, club members should be able to;
Get stories from their parents and elders Share the stories
Delivery of the Activity
This activity will be facilitated by a teacher. Male champions will be invited to tell the stories to the club members
Facilitator’s Notes for the Teacher
The teacher should make sure that the stories being told have moral lessons and can motivate the club members. S/he can listen to the stories in advance to be able to be sure of the content of the stories. The teacher may also document stories which are very captivating which may be used in future lessons.
Facilitator’s Notes for Teen Club Facilitator’s (PEERS)
When the stories are being told, the teen club facilitators will help in maintaining discipline among fellow club members so that they are all attentive to the stories.
Materials: Chalk, Floor
27 Adapted from Decolonizing our Stories and Futures’ Thinking back, Visioning forward
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1 hour
Method:
IN GROUPS: TELLING THE STORIES OF OUR PARENTS/ANCESTORS (10 minutes)
i. To start thinking about what we want, it is helpful to think about where we came from. ii. Ask the club members to work in small groups of same sex. iii. Each learner should think about what stories that they were told when growing up about being a boy or girl? How did these stories shape who you are and your values? iv. After 10 minutes, the facilitator asks everyone to come together and may ask for 1-2 examples. PERSONAL DRAWING TIME: THE STORY OF OUR FUTURE PARENTS/ANCESTORS (15 minutes)
i. Once groups finish sharing, explain that we are uniquely positioned as the bridge between our histories (what we learn from our parents and elders) and our future ‘ancestors’ or descendants. And so we can build on what our ancestors gave us to shape the future for our own children, and children’s children, etc. ii. As a facilitator, draw the story of your future as a demonstration to club members iii. Individually, ask the club members to take 15 minutes to draw: what they want the story of their future to look like. What would they like to see in their siblings and future children that show fairness between boys and girls? What would they like to tell parents and elders about how they should treat boys and girls? SHARING: OUR VISIONS AND WHAT THAT MEANS FOR OUR LIVES NOW (15 minutes)
i. the facilitator asks them to share their future stories and talk about: Bridging our histories and our future stories – a. When it comes to treating boys and girls equally, what was being done in the past that they would like to maintain? b. What was being done in the past that they would like to change? c. How do they think they can help in achieving this? d. Who else can help besides them? e. How can they help? The facilitator brings all groups, boys and girls, back together and discusses with the group using the following guiding questions (20 minutes):
a. Ask the groups to share what they discussed in their groups b. Guide them to identify common characteristics discussed in all groups that they would like to see in their future ancestor’s world c. What would girls be able to do, that they cannot do now? What would boys be able to do differently? o How does that reflect the values we share? d. What are the actions you will take forward in your own life to reach that far away future? e. What were the main values we saw in these stories?
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As boys and girls, we should know the stories that we learnt that made us what we are like today. Learning and understanding these past stories will help us to think about the future and imagine what changes we would like to see that will affect the lives of our descendants. Coupled with the values that we have, we will begin to challenge norms and beliefs that are
not favourable for both boys and girls and confidently share with others what would make a better future for our descendants
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ACTIVITY 24: ALLIES28
Purpose/description: In this activity, club members will learn what it means to stand by others in support for what is right and also appreciate the same when done by others. The sharing of their personal stories helps them to internalize and learn from real life situations about support
Gender issue to address
Boys and girls support each other on issues like academic assignments, but they do not adequately support each other on household chores. Most often, the household chores are left for girls to do.
Response to the issue
Club members need to understand and appreciate the importance of supporting one another. It feels good to support a person and to be supported.
Objectives of the Activity
By the end of the activity, club members should be able to;
Build commitment for club members to support one another against hardship
Delivery of the Activity
To be facilitated by a peer facilitator but the teacher should be available
Facilitator’s Notes for the Teacher
The teacher has the responsibility of orienting the Teen Club Facilitator(s) to the activity, take them through it and make sure that they understand what the activity is all about. Here, the teacher should make sure that the support that the club members are talking has a positive impact on others. They should not talk about support with negative connotations like being supported to cheat or engage in any other immoral behaviour like smoking chamba (weed), having sex or lie. The teacher should explain to the TCF prior to the activity. Prior to the activity, the teacher and TCF should identify a local song known by most of the club members that talks about support.
Facilitator’s Notes for Teen Club Facilitator’s (PEERS)
The TCF should explain to his/her fellow club members about the activity before the teacher walks in. the teacher will come to emphasize the objective of the session. As club members share their experiences, the TCF maintains order and discipline.
Materials: No materials required
28 Adapted from Morningside Center’s Allies
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1 hour
Method:
i. Invite club members in a pair to talk about a time they felt supported, by a friend, family member, group mate, teacher, or possibly a stranger.
What did this person do or say that was supportive?
ii. Invite a few club members to share out with the full group.
Circle format: If you are using a circle format for this activity, consider using the following opening ceremony from any song that shows support from a friend, family members, teachers or any other people in society.
Come up with a song about support.
iii. Ask club members to talk about a time they had someone “stand by them,” a time they felt supported by a friend, family member, group mate, teacher, or possibly a stranger. What did this person do or say that was supportive?
As we discussed, sometimes because of who we are – as boys, with people who have enough money to get an education – we are able to do more and get better opportunities.
How do we stand by our brothers and sisters that might not have these advantages?
iv. Ask club members to list out ideas - For the classroom - At home - In the community v. As a closing, ask people to make a commitment on how they can use their positions to support others
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Boys and girls interact at different levels in our communities.
This interaction has contributes to their socialization process. They are encouraged to support each other both at home and school irrespective of gender.
They must look up to each other as partners to realize their dreams. Elders and gate keepers of culture should help boys and girls create and maintain relationships that advance their goals and ambitions.
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F. EXPLORING OUR LIVES
ACTIVITY 25: I AM ME!29
Purpose/description: This activity helps club members to learn about the value of diversity and reflect on what makes them unique through a story and drawing exercise. The purpose is to help them to start to draw similarities of boys and girls across gender lines.
Gender issue to address
There are myths that are told to both boys and girls. Some of these myths act as barriers to the success of the adolescents.
Response to the issue
Club members will be content about themselves and they will accept themselves and each other
Objectives of the Activity
By the end of the activity, club members should be able to;
Explain the value of diversity
Delivery of the Activity
This activity will be facilitated by the teachers
Facilitator’s Notes for the Teacher
Club members should focus on similarities and not differences. The similarities between boys and girls should act as a benchmark for them to start working together and looking at each as equally important.
Facilitator’s Notes for Teen Club Facilitator’s (PEERS)
Teen Club Facilitator(s) will work with teachers to prepare for the activity.
Materials: Story, flipchart, markers 1 hour 30 minutes
29 Adapted from: Sticks and Stones (Plan International)
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Method:
ii. The facilitator introduces the session to say that in some activities done before, the club members discussed commonalities among them. Today they are going to look at differences and what makes everyone unique and special. iii. The facilitator then reads the story of the frog. At the end of the story, note that like the frog, they learn that they all have something that makes them special. iv. Ask club members to get into pairs, preferably with someone that they do not know well and give each pair flipchart and markers v. Invite the club members in pairs to draw a picture of themselves, showing their physical characteristics and including other important information such as their skills and talents (if necessary giving examples) – their partner should help them by asking questions. Give them opportunity to swap roles vi. After 20 minutes invite club members to show their drawings, giving them the opportunity to explain/say more if they wish. vii. The facilitator can then lead them to discuss based on the following questions: a. What are the similarities across boys and girls in terms of skills and talents?
Facilitator says: Individuals have different talents – though just because someone is a boy or a girl it does not mean they cannot do something
b. Are there differences – what are the differences? Why is that?
Facilitator says: sometimes we are also taught and given space to learn different things. Sometimes boys do what is traditionally considered for girls; and sometimes girls do what is traditionally considered for boys, too.
c. Reinforce that we are all unique and special – because we are different.
Ask the club members to write in their notebooks the differences that they note about the opposite sex. Against each difference, they should indicate whether they can do something to make it similar or not.
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The Frog Story (Plan International)
There was a little green frog that sat on a rock by the river.
The frog looked up and saw a bird flying overhead. “I wish I could fly,” said the frog, “but I am just a little green frog and all I can do is sit on a rock in the river.” The frog jumped off the rock and hopped into the forest. He looked at the trees and thought, “I wish I was as tall as a tree, but I am just a little green frog,” and sadly he hopped further into the forest. In the forest he saw a beautiful flower and he thought, “I wish I was as beautiful as that flower, but I am just a little green frog.”
While the frog was looking at the flower a tiger appeared and gave a terrible roar. The frog was startled for a moment, but he was not too frightened, as he knew he could hop to safety, but still he thought to himself, “I wish I had such a loud voice but I am just a little green frog with a quiet croak.”
By this time the frog was very upset because he could not fly, he was not tall, he was not beautiful and he did not have a loud roar.
He hopped slowly and sadly through the forest. Suddenly he met Uncle Rabbit, who could tell the frog was upset.
“What is the matter, little green frog?” asked Uncle Rabbit.
The frog told him he was unhappy because he could not fly like a bird, he was not tall like a tree, he was not as beautiful as a flower and he did not have a loud roar like a tiger. “And”, he said, “I don’t have a fluffy tail like yours.”
Uncle Rabbit was very wise and he thought for a while then he said. “It is true you are not like a bird, or a tree or a flower or tiger, or even a rabbit, but that is because you are a frog. You are a lovely green colour, you can jump very high and you are the best at catching flies, and that is what makes you special.”
Everyone is unique in their own way. Everyone has unique character, personality, physical make up and various other things We must accept and appreciate who
we are There is no need to compare oneself with others
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ACTIVITY 26: OUR DIVERSE TALENTS AND LEARNING STYLES30
Purpose/Description: This activity allows club members to use different types of skills. As they go through it, they will be able to discover the richness in diversity in skills and knowledge (different challenges are posed using different skills like singing, drawing, etc.).
Gender issue to address
Club members have diverse talents and skills. They do recognise each other’s talents and skills but they do not adequately support one another in developing those talents and skills.
Response to the issue
They will identify talents and support each other’s future carrier.
Objectives of the Activity
By the end of the activity, club members should be able to;
Use different skills which they possess Identify each other’s talents and skills
Delivery of the Activity
This activity will be facilitated by the teacher.
Facilitator’s Notes for the Teacher
Some activities can be omitted to reduce time on the exercise. Encourage everyone to display at least one skill. Skills are not only in soccer or netball. Explore more areas where club members can display their skills.
Facilitator’s Notes for Teen Facilitator’s (PEERS)
The teen club facilitators will help the teacher with a list of sporting activities that most of the members of the club play. They will also help in identifying as many as possible so that even those that are not quite common come out.
Materials: cards, pens, play-do/clay (can also be made with flour and water), cards of different colors: Red, Green, Blue and Black
30 Adapted from CARE’s Tipping Point
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1 hour
Method:
i. The facilitator introduces this activity as one that helps us to see the diversity. ii. The facilitator will ask the boys and girls to split into 4 or more teams of same sex. Boys’ teams will meet in a separate space from girls’ teams. Each team should think of a name for themselves. iii. The facilitator should give each team a few minutes to agree on a name and then announce it to the room. iv. On a flipchart, the facilitator can write the name of each team. This will also be the scoreboard. v. The facilitator then first hands every learner 3 cards and different colored markers. On each card, they must write:
a. Red: a song b. Green: an animal or thing c. White – play soccer, play netball, thatch the roof, rinse maize for flour, drive the oxcart, carry water bucket on the head, wash dishes, sweep the home surrounding, cooking, building a house etc. d. Blue: a person who everyone must know in their community (e.g. known leader, famous person, etc.) e. Black: a quiz question (and answer) on something we learnt as a group – perhaps from school
vi. Once written, the facilitator will collect the cards and create 5 piles for each color. The facilitator then explains the rules:
In a bag, there are different colored cards (red, green, blue, black or white). The first team will select a member to select a card out of the bag. Based on the color the selected team member has 1 minute to try to get their team member to guess what on the card is. If the card is:
a. Red = HUMMING. The member must pick a card from the red pile and hum that tune to get the team to guess the song (no words!) b. Green = DRAWING. The member must draw on the flipchart to represent what is on the card. c. White = SING. The member must sing a song about one of the tasks written on the card d. Blue = ACTING. The member must use movement only (no words) to act and get the team to guess the person. e. Black = QUIZ. The facilitator will read one of the black cards to the selected players. vii. Once one team does the activity, they will get a point if they succeed. After that, it is the next team’s turn. Play this way for 3 rounds. The facilitator stops and presents the points earned across all teams.
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viii. The facilitator then suggests a slight change to the rules. For this round, members may choose which category they would prefer when it is their turn (Humming, Drawing, Acting, Quiz or Singing). Keep playing until one team reaches 10 points. ix. After the game has concluded, the facilitator thanks all participants. The facilitator then asks participants:
a. Which activity was the hardest for you? Which was the easiest? b. Did you notice some members had strengths in areas that were more difficult for you? c. What was the value in being in teams with different abilities?
We can all learn from one another We are stronger together than as individuals, and can draw from the
talents and knowledge of one another.
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G. OUR COMMUNITIES
ACTIVITY 27: PEACEMAKERS31
Purpose/description: This activity prepares club members to begin to talk about peace, and start identifying peace makers in the community. As part of this activity, the club members will take home a task to interview a peacemaker with the purpose of identify people who are peacemakers that are both women and men and specifically those that are have the capacity to open up possibilities for boys and girls to step out of the ‘box’. In the long term, club members will identify everyday peacemakers
Gender issue to address
There are disagreements between parents and children regarding the behaviour of the later. Parents complain that children are not dressing properly, drinking alcohol and smoking chamba (weed), indulging in sexual activities and wearing miniskirts. The children say it is their right to do what pleases them and that the parents infringe on their rights when they tell them to stop the bad behaviour. In the society, there are already people who work towards achieving peace.
Response to the issue
Parents and children will resolve their differences amicably with the help of local people.
Objectives of the Activity
By the end of the activity, club members should be able to;
Identify male and female peacemakers from their community Interview the peacemakers Draw lessons from the peacemakers
Delivery of the Activity
This activity will be facilitated by the teacher and will be done in 2 sections as shown in the ‘Methods’ section
Facilitator’s Notes for the Teacher
The identification of peacemakers should be made prior to the activity. Before agreeing on the names of peacemakers to be used, the teacher together with club members should come up with a criterion for selecting peacemakers. In the criteria, you may include such things like definition of a peacemaker, qualities of a peacemaker, characteristics of a peacemaker and others. The selection should not base merely on simple voting, but rather on the criteria developed.
31 Adapted from Morningside Center’s Peacemakers
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This lesson requires an adult who agrees to be interviewed by the group. Ideally this person would be someone the club members might identify as a peacemaker. Male champions will help the boys and girls in identifying and interviewing the peacemakers. They will firstly identify men and women who meet the criteria and are open to the interview. Then they will support them by arranging for the interviews. Brief the peacemakers on the type of questions that will be asked so he or she can think about the subject in advance
Facilitator’s Notes for Teen Club Facilitator’s (PEERS)
The Teen Club Facilitator(s) will help the teacher suggest names by consulting people from their community who they think make good peacemakers.
Materials: List of qualities of a peacemaker, Agenda written on chalkboard or chart paper 1 hour 30 minutes
Method:
Section 1 (30 minutes)
ii. The facilitator will write the questions on the chalk board ahead of the session that will lead the club members to imagine peace
IMAGINING PEACE
What colour is peace?
What kind of weather is peace?
What animal is peace?
What sound is peace?
What holiday is peace?
What form of transportation of peace?
What gender is peace?
What height is peace?
What weight is peace?
iii. Model the activity by choosing one of the questions and answering it. (Example: Peace is like the colour green). Go around the group asking each learner to choose one of the questions about the quality of peace to answer. The facilitator can add new questions if they are not enough. iv. Prepare for an activity: PEACEMAKERS IN THE COMMUNITY (1Hour)
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a. For this activity, club members will interview an adult about peace and peacemakers. b. Assist the club members to brainstorm a list of interviewing questions and write them on the board or on chart paper. Some possibilities are: - What does peace mean to you? - Describe a time when you experienced peace. Where were you? What were you doing? Who was with you? - When was a time that you were a peacemaker? What happened? Who were the people involved? - How did it come out? - For women: What was difficult as a woman to be a peacemaker in the community? How did you overcome this? - For men: Did you feel certain expectations as a man peacemaker in the community? What was this – and how did it affect you? - Are there some ways that you think you are not a peacemaker?
Section 2 (1 hour)
c. Model an interview by interviewing a student. Use questions the group has brainstormed, with follow-up questions if appropriate. d. Have the club members interview an adult from the school or community. These role models should be women and men of different ages and may include male champions. They should use the questions they have brainstormed. Let the club members know they can ask questions that are not on the board to follow up what someone has said if it seems appropriate.
In every society there are people who are capable of bringing about peace Boys and girls can look up to these people to
learn about and practice peace Peace brings people together and therefore they are able to work together, share ideas and respect their differences.
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H. CLOSING OUT
ACTIVITY 28: GIVING THANKS CIRCLE32
Purpose/Description: This activity helps club members to appreciate one another. Having completed the sessions and built strong relationships with each other, it helps them to place value/importance on others by showing appreciation.
Gender issue to address
Adolescents form groups and build relationships. They help each other but not as much as they should. In some cases some groups are formed according to gender and this increases the gap that is between boys and girls. As such, there is no appreciation of the opposite sex members’ work, efforts and skills. There is need for boys and girls to put in more effort to support each other.
Response to the issue
They need to develop a spirit of giving thanks where it is due. This activity will help the club members to appreciate members of the opposite sex
Objectives of the Activity
By the end of the activity, club members should be able to;
Appreciate the importance of giving thanks to others
Delivery of the Activity
This activity will be facilitated by the teacher
Facilitator’s Notes for the Teacher
If the facilitator coaches the Teen Club Facilitator(s) in good time and well, the Teen Club Facilitator(s) can take lead in facilitating the activity
Facilitator’s Notes for Teen Club Facilitator’s (PEERS)
The Teen Club Facilitator(s) can liaise with the teacher to prepare for the activity in good time.
Materials: No materials needed 30 minutes
32 Adapted from the 4Rs program: Closing Circle: Give Thanks
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Method:
i. Invite the club members to be in a circle/pair and share a common saying or proverb that talks about appreciating others ii. Invite club members to share something they have appreciated about others in the circle, or to thank others for things large and small. This can include thanks for things like: making me laugh; Challenging me; Putting up with me when I’m in a bad mood; Pushing me to do better; Not giving up on me; Being a good friend; Showing me how to do something; Making me realize things about myself; Being patient with me, etc. iii. Invite club members to challenge themselves and express gratitude to someone who isn’t an obvious friend or someone they would usually hang out with. Invite them to spread the wealth. iv. Invite club members to reflect on which role they liked more: giving thanks or receiving thanks.
Giving thanks and receiving thanks can help change people’s outlook and create a stronger sense of connection and community among people Boys and girls should be free to support each other freely
Giving thanks creates a stronger sense of connection and brings love among peers
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I. APPENDIX – ACTIVITY MONITORING TOOLS
CHECKLIST FOR ASSESSING EACH ACTIVITY IN THE CURRICULUM This checklist will be used by the teachers and teen club facilitators for every session delivered in a week. It is of ultimate important to fill it in as the checklist will be collected by CARE staff every 2 weeks. Please make sure to fill each item/question accordingly.
Do not hesitate to contact CARE staff if you have question on these numbers: 0999956934/0993021009/0995867463
1. Day & Date: Day______Date______
2. Time______
3. Last Meeting Day______Date______
Time______
4. Facilitator(s): Name______Sex [M] [F]
______Sex [M] [F]
a. Teacher [ ] TCF [ ] Other [ ]
5. Attendance
Boys Girls Total
Class 4 [ ] [ ] [ ]
5 [ ] [ ] [ ]
6 [ ] [ ] [ ]
7 [ ] [ ] [ ]
8 [ ] [ ] [ ]
Totals [ ] [ ] [ ]
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6. Topic Discussed/Activity Done: ______
7. Materials used: i. ______ii. ______iii. ______iv. ______v. ______
8. Other additional Materials (not available but were important for effective delivery of activity) i. ______ii. ______iii. ______
9. Methods used i. ______ii. ______iii. ______
10. Other additional methods i. ______ii. ______iii. ______
11. All steps of the activity were followed Yes [ ] No [ ]
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12. Time in minutes [ ]
13. Time adequate to complete the activity? Yes [ ] No [ ]
14. Club members were active and responsive during the activity
Yes [ ] No [ ]
15. What went well with club members that they enjoyed and engaged actively?
______
______
16. Where there any challenges for club members to discuss or engage effectively?
______
______
17. Did you make any changes to the methods? If so, what? i. ______ii. ______iii. ______
18. Did any important topics come up, that you hope to discuss further with club members?
Yes [ ] No [ ]
Topics: ______
______
______
______
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19. Methods used: ______
______
______
______
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ATTENDANCE REGISTER Teen Club Register Name of School______
Month
Name of __/__/2 __/__/2 __/__/2 __/__/2 __/__/2 __/__/2 __/__/2 __/__/2 __/__/2 __/__/2 # Learner Sex Age Class 016 016 016 016 016 016 016 016 016 016
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8