Working with young people to end violence against women
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In 2014, UN Women initiated a partnership with UNESCO and UNICEF (co-chairs of the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative in the Asia-Pacific region) to address issues of school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV). The partnership extended both to joint advocacy on the issue as well as to the development of regional tools and knowledge on how the role of education sector in preventing such violence can be reduced. In commemoration of the International Day of the Girl Child, Asia-Pacific UNiTE and UNGEI developed and produced joint advocacy materials on SRGBV, which were disseminated in multiple languages throughout the region to raise awareness of the issue. A regional curriculum for schools on how to address and prevent SRGBV, together with a teacher guidance’s document, were also developed in 2014 and will be piloted and disseminated in 2015.
In 2014, UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, as part of its role as secretariat of the Asia-Pacific UNiTE Campaign, finalized, piloted, produced and disseminated a youth-friendly toolkit for peer educators working on ending VAWG and promoting healthy and equitable relationships. Called “The Change-Makers – a Young Activist’s Toolkit for Ending Violence against Women and Girls”, the tool brings together good practices from around the world, while adapting them to an Asia-Pacific context in an attractive, youth-friendly format.
In 2014, the UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific initiated a new partnership with the world governing bodies of the sport of Muaythai, a highly popular and traditionally male-oriented sport in the Asia-Pacific region. The partnership focuses on raising awareness on violence against women and girls amongst young people, with a focus on young men; promoting zero tolerance for such violence within the sport; and using male and female athletes as positive role models for young people to reject all forms of violence against women and girls.
As part of a partnership with advertising firm Saatchi & Saatchi, a PSA targeted to young men in South East Asia was also produced, called Bro that’s not OK, which brought home the message that VAW is never OK in a creative and youth-friendly way.