UpShift team “Voice of the Woman”: Stop normalising violence!

When a project proposal was submitted for the 9th UpShift workshop, Nadia, Sumeja, Adna, Merima and Naida, students of the First Secondary School in Cazin, decided to apply as the team “Voice of the Woman” and try to attract support for the project of raising awareness of domestic violence and femicide, which they had long wanted to bring to fruition. By the end of the workshop, they became one of the top five teams whose projects received BAM3,000 grants.

“We heard of UpShift through our teacher, the psychologist Alma, who suggested that we apply. We have long thought about something like this, but we didn't really have time or resources to carry it out, so UpShift showed up when the time was right,” recounts Nadia and adds:

“During the workshop we created a survey, spoke with the Social Work Centre, Health Centre Cazin and the police. We were mostly in touch with the Social Work Centre, Alma helped us with contacts, and employees at the Centre helped us with conversations with the victims who told us about their experiences.”

They discussed the topic of domestic violence and femicide a lot with the teacher of technical and theoretical subjects in the department of traffic, Aladin Žunić, who voiced support for all of their efforts.

“In practical training lessons they have an opportunity to talk about their problems, and I try not to be strictly just a teacher and lecturer but to act as their friend too and try to listen to what they have to say. We are a big school, with 900 students, our psychologists can't manage to speak to everyone and resolve all their problems,” says teacher Aladin, adding that all topics are open for discussion:

“We spoke a lot about the topic of violence. I told them of domestic violence experienced by female students of my wife, who used to work at this school, and I believe that story was the biggest trigger for them to get actively involved in trying to solve the problem. First, they researched the topic and later they decided to analyse femicide, inspired by a case in Gradačac, which was shown live on social networks, and seriously shocked them.”

Girls from the “Voice of the Woman” say that, apart from the fact that the crime had been broadcast live on social networks, they were appalled that people had kept on sharing it via direct messages. They are particularly concerned about the growing “normalisation of violence” in the media and public in general.

“We want to tell everyone and educate the public that violence is not something normal, we want to minimise the normalisation of violence. We have observed the problem growing by the day, violence being normalised more and more; we see that people find it almost normal when a parent beats their child up, when a husband beats his wife, as if she were his possession, but things should not be like that, and we must all change it together!” say the girls from Cazin. Their goal, they add, is to inspire the public, decision-makers and media to take an active part:

“As volunteers, the five of us can’t contribute so much on our own, but if we encourage others to act and if more people become involved and give us support, then we can do more. First of all, we would like to encourage everyone to think about this topic, and then become involved, give support and simply contribute to reducing violence, together with us. We would like to let our peers know that they need to change their attitude towards women, that they too can recognise violence, both violence against women and violence in general.” 

They intend to communicate their messages via video content which they would post on social media, as well as conventional media whose support they also expect and where they plan to appear and discuss the topic of domestic violence and femicide. They are still preparing the video and its key messages, but they have the main idea:

“We are going to record interviews with survivors recounting their experiences, and we will also interview a representative of the Social Work Centre, a psychologist, police spokesperson and other actors, create a link among all the institutions involved in solving the problem of violence. So that victims and everybody else can see there is a whole circle of institutions that are involved, and that there is a solution,” teacher Aladin and the “Voice of the Woman” say.

They are also planning preventive programmes and presentations that will be given during class meetings in all grades. In addition to their peers and wider public, they want to address the victims and potential victims of violence in particular:

“During the survey, the police told us that violence is not reported, that there is so much of it really. Victims sometimes simply do not want to report their partner, or the person committing the violence, and in some cases, they do not even recognise violence. We would like to help the victims primarily to recognise violence, to tell them there is someone they can turn to, and in what way, that there is a solution to their problem and that they are not alone.”

The psychology teacher at the First Secondary School in Cazin, Alma Hebilović, had been working for two years as a mentor during UpShift workshops, and encouraged the girls to apply for the 9th online workshop, which was taking place from 24 until 31 March.

“They had started working earlier on the topic of violence with teacher Aladin and as soon as I saw the new round of applications for UpShift, I shared them the links and they did the rest on their own. This is a programme that gives an opportunity to young people to develop ideas on their own and work on problems that they perceive in the local community. Schools generally don’t have financial support for such projects, so it is a unique opportunity where their ideas can come to fruition,” teacher Alma says, pointing out that she is happy with the way the girls handle such a serious and difficult matter:

“We believe that this is one step in Cazin that will later take roots, and encourage other younger generations to deal with similar or other issues. I think ultimately it will be an educational story and that it will raise awareness not just among the students of this school, but among everyone else as well.”

Teacher Aladin says that everything the girls have been doing has already brought change and encouraged others to act:

“Recently a boy, who had heard that the girls were studying the issue, came up to me in the hallway and confided in me, deciding to share his story with them. He prepared a presentation and spoke about a case of domestic violence in his family, and in the end his message to everyone was that they should not solve their problems through violence.”

Emina Huremagić, the Principal of the First Secondary School in Cazin, says it is an honour for the school to have such students who are aware of the problems of today and want to resolve them:

“It was a nice surprise for me that they were able to recognise such a big problem even though they are so young. First of all, I would like to thank UpShift and Genesis, who recognised and guided them throughout the project. I attended a day of the workshop listening to what the girls had been doing, and I am thrilled by them. They are young, they are girls, they will soon finish school, but I am fascinated by their effort to make the project sustainable after that.”

The UPSHIFT programme was designed by the UNICEF Office of Innovation and is carried out in 38 countries around the world. UPSHIFT in Bosnia and Herzegovina is implemented by the Humanitarian Organisation Genesis Project in cooperation with UNICEF Office, with financial support of DP World.