We are happy to invite you for another session in the Childhub INSPIRE webinar series! On Thursday, February 7th, we will have a pleasure to hear from two excellent speakers about good practices they have been involved with, linked to two new INSPIRE strategies:
Strategy 2 Norms and values
Norms guide attitudes and behaviour around child-rearing, gender roles, and the acceptability of violence within a group or society. Efforts to promote positive norms and values, and to reduce the impact of harmful ones, are an essential part of all INSPIRE strategies to protect children’s well-being.
Promising practice from Care International Balkans
CARE International Balkans’ Engaging Men and Boys Initiative is part of its Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment program in the region. Since 2006, CARE International Balkans has worked and engaged with boys and young men around gender transformation and the promotion of healthy masculinities. As an outgrowth of that program, CARE saw a need to work with young fathers-to-be and those who recently became parents. Since 2012, it has been doing research to better understand the role of fathers in the regional Balkans context that helped lay the groundwork for the program it has developed.
The presenter will discuss:
- The Young Men Initiative in the Balkan region, addressing social norms around what it means to be a man in society
- Impact of the program and positive changes, lessons learned and comparison from Baseline and Endline research done with young men, measuring changes of attitudes and behaviors around healthy life style and violence prevention
- The program and campaign`s using social media to transform gender norms and their impact and Promoting healthy lifestyles,
- Program accreditation in the region by Ministry of education and examples from Bosnia and Herzegovina where the program is now being tested and it is mandatory in some of the schools there
About the speaker:
Besnik Leka is Project Coordinator for CARE International in the Balkans for YMI program in Kosovo and Albania and he is also a member of MenEngage Alliance Europe, a network of European organizations involved in engaging men and boys work, which is also a part of a global Men-Engage Alliance.
Upon finishing his studies in Sociology in the University of Prishtina, he went to Dartmouth College on 2015, where he successfully finished a Professional Certificate Program on Women’s and Gender Studies. His two main courses were Sex, Gender and Society and Feminist Theory and Methodology. After finishing this program, he went back to the Department of Sociology in Prishtina to pursue a Master’s Degree in Sociology and continued to work on challenging embedded gender roles as well as in promoting a positive masculinity among men in Kosovo.
Furthermore, as a part of the YMI project Leka’s work includes involvement of parents in family life, focusing on fathers and other men role models through the project, who are empowered to act as allies in the promotion of a peaceful masculinity and identities around manhood looking at gender equitable relationships as it related to the household, child care and violence prevention.
Leka has also implemented workshops with Journalists and editors on gender sensitive language use. Currently, he is an active board member of Kosovo Women’s Network, network with 124 organizations from Kosovo.
Strategy 5 Income and economic strengthening
Family economic stability and empowerment reduce the risk factors for violence and increase protective ones. Access to resources allows parents to invest in children’s health and education, increases families’ economic resilience and reduces financial stress. Economic independence helps protect women and adolescent girls from sexual exploitation and other risks. When paired with genderequity training, income-strengthening efforts may reduce risk factors for child maltreatment, witnessing IPV, exploitation, child labour and early marriage.
Promising practice - Micro-finance initiative : ProSEED
The programme “Sustainable Economic and Regional Development Employment Promotion, Vocational Education and Training in Albania” (ProSEED) aims to increase the entrepreneurial skillset among owners of new or existing SMEs who want to expand their business, in order to increase their potential competitiveness in the national and global market. The target group for this intervention is both men and women who are in the early stages of their entrepreneurial activity (in the process of setting up their businesses or have done so within the last 3 years) or who plan to innovate and invest in scaling up their business. The IDEA Business Plan Competition – implemented in close cooperation with AIDA and the private sector – intends to build up also a Network of Mentors and Business Angels. It Is also helps to reduce domestic conflicts, anger and possible violence with helping to introduce basic financial skills and help to maintain financial stability for the family.
About the speaker:
Yetona Myteveli Diploma Psych Diploma Medical Doctor and Economics, is a change agent, facilitator and a psychotherapist with a private practice in Tirana. She has broad expertise with more than 15 years working experience for international organisations with focus on economic development and start up promotion. She is Board member of the Albanian Association of Positive Psychotherapy and member of World Association of Positive Psychotherapy. She is a certified Positive Psychotherapist from Wiesbaden Academy, Germany, and graduated as a medical doctor and holds a MA diploma in economics. She offers services for individuals and teams in transcultural issues, stress management, conflict mediation, business development training and coaching. She applies a trans-cultural and capacity development-oriented approach and combines and integrates psychological expertise on personal change with organizational know-how, international experience and a humanistic-ethical attitude.
About the INSPIRE series:
In January and February ChildHub features the INSPIRE package: The INSPIRE package represents an evidence-based approach to revitalizing, focusing, and expanding current multisectoral efforts to prevent and respond to violence against children. It was developed in collaboration with the WHO, CDC, the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children, PEPFAR, PAHO, UNICEF, UNODC, USAID, Together for Girls, and the World Bank. The package is based on convergence between these agencies and partnerships in the strategies they have been recommending, and presents the best available evidence.
The seven strategies are:
- Implementation and enforcement of laws
- Norms and values
- Safe environments
- Parent and caregiver support
- Income and economic strengthening
- Response and support services, and
- Education and life skills.
These seven evidence-based strategies are complemented by two cross-cutting ones: multi-sectoral coordination, and monitoring & evaluation. The core INSPIRE document is now complemented by a detailed INSPIRE Implementation handbook setting out how to select and implement interventions from each of the seven strategies, and a compendium of Indicators by which to measure their impact and uptake.
Now you can read all of the INSPIRE materials and find recordings of our past webinars in this series!
How to attend the webinar:
Use the button below to sign up for the webinar. A few hours before the webinar you will receive an email with the link to the webinar room and instructions how to join. Joining our webinars is very easy, doesn't require any special skills from you and only takes a minute or two. You can join the webinar from your computer, tablet or mobile phone.
You can check here when the webinar starts in your time zone.