EmpowerHer: “There is no such thing as mild or severe violence”

Girls and boys from Zenica took part in an interactive workshop held at the end of May in Zenica with young trainers Iman and Hena. They had the opportunity to learn about gender-based violence, how to recognize it and how to fight against it.

Prejudice, stereotypes, discrimination, types of violence, digital security, sex and gender were some of the topics that the young trainers covered through an interesting interactive workshop in active participation was very high. Participants expressed their opinions, proposed solutions and talked about how they will pass on what they have learned to their peers.

"Fighting, belittling, rejecting, insulting, restraining, denying and banning...", are just some of the associations with violence that the participants together with the trainers brought up, and after discussing which of the above could be mild, and what are the more severe forms of violence, they concluded that none of the above can be a mild form of violence:

"There is no mild violence. No matter how mild some form of violence seems at first when we think about it better, we see that none of it is good and that no one should experience it, but we should stop it at the beginning, and report it to parents, teachers, or the police. As a rule, each form of violence leads to another, which in the end can end fatally", they jointly concluded.

Iman and Hena also reminded us of the existence of the "Blue Phone", a helpline for children and young people where any form of violence can be reported:

"If you or someone close to you experience any form of violence, you can report and consult at any time by calling 080 050 305, the number is free, and you can report violence anonymously. Write down this number and share it with your peers".

In addition to other forms, the topic of violence within relationships, which is especially present among young people, was covered at the workshop:

"A healthy relationship knows no prohibitions, nor the need for anyone to manipulate someone, determine when they can see their skin, where they can go, and the like. Pathological jealousy is not healthy. Quite often, the partner in such relationships, through various prohibitions, first separates the victim from her friends and close circle of people, so that even if violence happens, she has no one to turn to," warned Hena and Iman.

To hold the workshop, they previously went through training for trainers where, together with young activists from Mostar, Tuzla, Zenica, Prnjavor and Sarajevo, they acquired knowledge and skills in the field of gender-based violence, which they then passed on to young people in their communities. The workshops are held as part of the "Empower HER" project, which the CURE Foundation implements with the support of UNICEF BiH, as part of the program of small grants for the realization of goals from the UNICEF Strategy for Adolescent Girls 2023-2025.

Iman is 18 years old; this was her first workshop that she held independently after the aforementioned training:

"The training we had before this workshop was useful and helped me a lot to learn how to have a good interaction with the young people to whom I give the workshop, how to get the most out of them and get answers to key questions, and reach common conclusions," says Iman. adding that she is satisfied with the results:

"We fulfilled the goals and together came to conclusions about gender-based violence, how and where it happens, what are the forms of violence, what is the difference between gender and sex and in the end came to a common message that violence should be prevented and reported if it occurs him. From the reactions and answers to the questions, I saw that we achieved our goal, through the interaction we got answers to certain questions that are very important for understanding this topic, and based on their answers, I saw that they learned a lot that they can pass on to their peers.”.

Hena is also 18 years old, and says that she is glad that she got the opportunity to pass on her knowledge to others:

"I brought some new knowledge from the workshop in Sarajevo, I learned something more about the topic of violence, gender-based violence, and most importantly, how to transfer the knowledge I acquired to other young people and present everything to them in an interesting way, so that it would benefit them and so that they themselves could further expand what they have learned", she says, adding that she is particularly satisfied with the positive reactions of the participants:

"According to their first impressions, I can see that they accepted everything very well, and I think that we also conveyed everything to them in a high-quality, interesting and varied way, using what we learned at the previous workshops. Before the workshop, we were a little afraid that this topic might be difficult for them, because it is simply not something that is often talked about in our society, but I think that they reacted very well, actively participated, and I believe that they will pass everything on to their society, that the more young people know how any violence should be prevented and reported", concludes Hena.

The participants actively participated during the entire workshop, and 15-year-old Ajla says that she liked this way of conducting the workshop.

"It was fantastic, it wasn't boring or monotonous at all, I'm glad that we all leave here with new and expanded knowledge. Now I am more generally familiar with this topic and the problem, which is too common in our country, but it is not talked about enough, and I think that more workshops like this are needed in order for as many young people as possible to become familiar with the topic of violence, gender-based violence, and how oppose it.”

Ajla’s peer Harris says that he also likes that they had the opportunity to learn about very serious and important topics in an interesting way, adding that it is especially important that men also participate in such workshops:

"I learned a lot, for example I didn't know before what exactly the difference between gender and sex is, and how important it is to know that. In my opinion, we should talk about the topic of gender-based violence every day, and men should be educated more about this topic, not only women, considering that in most cases it is men who commit violence against women."

Sajra is 14 years old, and she says that she would like there to be more similar workshops on this topic in her community:

"I believe that more people should be made aware of the topic of violence and gender-based violence, because I think that 90 percent of them in the Balkans do not know exactly what violence or prejudice are, and they do not recognize stereotypes, so I think that as many of these as possible are needed workshop for young people. And the most important thing is to learn how to recognize violence, how to act in that case and help as best we can."

Through the program of small grants for the realization of the goals from the UNICEF Strategy for Adolescent Girls 2023-2025, in addition to the CURE Foundation, six other organizations were supported for the implementation of activities in one of three priority areas: the protection of every adolescent girl from violence, exploitation and abuse (within which the project mentioned "EmpowerHer" is supported); promotion of health and nutrition of adolescent girls; and improving the right of adolescent girls to quality education and acquisition of relevant skills.