“Gender equality is a matter of human rights. It is also an effective way to reduce poverty in the world.” (Sida)

The international volunteer camp «Strong-equal» is conducted in order to help the Ukrainian young people to pass from passive knowledge to action: to show the growing understanding in acts and conduct. It is targeted at young people from 15 to 23 years. It’s aim is to raise awareness of social aspect of gender, discrimination based on sexual character, human rights violation and violence against sexes.

Reflecting above the questions of social sex, deepening understanding of this topic we can begin decoding the all complex of persuasions generating on gender based discrimination and, as a result, human rights violation. At the same time we will be able to promote potential of local young people as activists resisting to this world human rights violation.

The workcamp on gender and human rights awareness will be conducted in the city of Berdyansk, which is located in Zaporozhye region, south-eastern Ukraine, on the seashore of Azov sea. Berdyansk is a small but picturesk city with 120 thousands people, but during summer it’s getting much bigger because of it’s main attraction – the warmest, shallowest and sweetest see in the world. The project’s dates are September 5-19, 2006.

The local partners of SVIT-Ukraine in this project are Berdyansk Pedagogical University and local NGOs of Berdyansk.

The Work

In the framework of the workcamp volunteers will:

• get acquainted with situation on gender in Ukraine and countries of participating volunteers
• jointly prepare educational sessions and materials for further education activities in the project framework
• organize presentations at 3 schools on the topic “Gender in my country”
• conduct training sessions at schools "Basis of gender rights consciousness"
• conduct 2 teaching modules in the university : "Gender, or sex?", "Gender discrimination in the system of human rights"
• organize the conference "Open space" - "Women and men’s rights in the society"
• organize the public action "Gender balance is society with the sticky floorings and glass coverage"
• develop a booklet on gender

Innovative feature of this project is its international character. It will become as well a practical example, providing Ukrainian young people with concrete examples of gender situation in other countries. For participating young people it will become an opportunity to break traditional for Ukraine views on male and female roles in every day life.