VOICE 4 Girls begins work with boys
Fireflies camps to help create a gender-equal society
Hand-washing and social distancing are vital ways to help slow the spread of the corona virus. But space is a luxury for most of India’s 1.3 billion people and fighting the virus is hampered by crowded living conditions.
Our Indian Partner VOICE 4 Girls have recently run their first their BOYS 4 CHANGE programme.
Though VOICE works extensively with girls towards empowering them to take care of themselves, make informed decisions and negotiate for their rights, VOICE has a larger vision – a gender equitable society. This vision can only be achieved when all stakeholders can participate in this dialogue and invest in this vision; focusing on girls helps to untangle only one side of this equation. To this end it is important to work with adolescent boys who are still in their formative years and can be taught to resist social conditioning with reason and logic. Bringing boys into the fray and empowering them to become facilitators for a gender-equal world is important to the larger vision of VOICE.
VIDEO – Watch Hanock from Ibrahimpatnam, who attended the Fireflies camp, taking charge and promoting healthy actions among his peers, family and community.
