The "Towards the Girls" association has been found for the purpose of satysfying the needs of all the Girls. We would like the particular Girls problems of arising in the adolescent age to be noticed and understood by adults. We would like to support Girls in their difficult moments and to propose them some knowledge and skills necessary for opposing economic and social inequalities faced by women.
We would also like to work with coeducative groups of young people - school classes, workshop groups and others to give examples of good equality practices, respectful cooperation and peaceful, non-violent ways of conflict solving.
The House of Polish-German Cooperation in Gliwice.
Brief herstory of the "Toward the Girls" association:
The organisation was founded in February 2006. The main founder of the Association is Anna Wołosik, and all the other members are co-founders of it. Some of us provided further support with legal and foundrising advice, website maintening etc.
All of our members are or at least were involved in education and/ or feminist/ women rights issues. Almost all of us are women, except for one man. Women hold all the board positions of our organisation. The opening of the ngo was enthousiastic, since there was no organisation until now in Poland, which would work primarily in the field of education from the feminist positions. The rights of Girls, their empowerment and stories were usually omitted in the educational system, therefore we felt we should do something there.
Our organisation in counted amongst "teachers ngos" in Poland, it was also joint to the group of education-working ngos by the CODN (Teachers Education National Centre). We belong to the "Partnerstwo dla Łomianek" (Partnership for Łomianki), local union of ngo's, business entities and city authorities for the development of Łomianki (a small town near Warsaw). We cooperated with some women rights organisations in Poland, like: Feminoteka, PSF Centre for Women, UFA (The Centra Foundation) and with some other ngo, like Fundacja Nowoczesna Polska and The House of Polish-German Cooperation in Gliwice.
We did and participated in several educational projects and cooperated with some women iniciatives in Poland. This applicationis our first one to be sent abroad. We got a couple of small institutional grants until now, but in general the Polish funds for education/ women rights are very restreind now because of the political situation. We were supported by the Mamacash Foundation from the Netherlands (2007-8) and by the funds from the EEA Financial Mechanism and the Norwegian Financial Mechanism (2007-8).
Our main activities until now:
2009
Spring/summer 2009
We held a small project directed to the gymnasiums in Warsaw. Its main topic was conflict solving and it was mainly for pupils of gymnasiums, their teachers and parents.
We write two manuals for schools: about ending the harassement of Girls and a book for civic education (about human rights, equality and democracy). Both should be ready this year.
2008
We finished two important projects: the „Herstory” and „Internet academy of equality and democracy” - both of them focused on writing scenarios for lessons and other educational material, both – gender-sensitive, egalitarian and oriented at a wide presentation of the history of women and their rights. All our materials and lessons scenarios are available on our website in the pdf format. They are all published on the Creative Commons 2.5 SA license which opens them for publishing, using at schools and even writing new materials on its basis. We strongly belive, that the culture of open publication, participation and sharing can provide better results than restrictive copyright policy, at least in the sector of human rights.
The „Herstory” scenarios are available here:
Link:Herstory
The „Internet academy of equality and democracy” scenarios and materials are here:
Link: Internet School
In Automn and Winter 2008 we trained teachers and other workers of the field of education in 10 cities in Poland. We trained about 450 persons about how to prevent and end the harassement of Girls in schools and peer groups. Most participants of the trainings downloaded our educational materials and some begun to use them in their work.
2007
We begun two important projects: „Herstory” (supported by the Mamacash Foundation) and „Internet academy of equality and democracy” (financed from the EEA Financial Mechanism and the Norwegian Financial Mechanism )
Some of us participated in writing the manual for teachers „Equal school”. The book is available on our website:
”Equal School” manual pdf
2006
12 January 2006, Warsaw - The "Equality and Tolerance at School" project, organised by the local Municipality in Warsaw with the cooperation of our organisation. The project was a set of workshops and a lecture for pupils of secondary schools from the region (Mazowiecki Voivodeship), some of which were done by us.
5 April 2006, Gliwice - The "Equal School? Gender equality in Education" - a conference by the House of the Polish-German Cooperation and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. The participants of our organisation provided two lectures and a workshop for the participants of the conference (see longer description below, point 9).
1 September - 30 October 2006, Warsaw, Łomianki - Girls and Boys. Without fear, prejudices and violence. How to deal with difficult emotions, discrimination, annoyances and malices in same-age youth relationships - a project by our organisation (the biggest until now). The main purpose of the project was to propose scenarios for lessons about the problems mentionned in the title of the project. We wrote approximately 20 scenarios in five thematic blocks, all of them are available on our website and ready to use by teachers who want to make lessons based on them. (see longer describtion below, point 9). The project was financed by the Polish Ministry of Work and Social Policy. All the scenarios are available on our website: www.wstronedziewczat.org.pl.
To provide some methodological basis for our scenarios we used the non-violent communication pattern of Marshall Rosenberg and some feminist methodologies and researches, like Judith Herman and Ellyn Kaschack for scenarios about violence, the "Blue Eyed" project of Jane Elliott and Nathalie Angier "revolutionary biology" for the stereotypes lessons etc, and also our own researches and publications about domestic violence and about the equal rights education - see in our biograms attached. We try to base our educational projects and proposals in the Bejing 1995 Platform of action, which explicitly mentions girls as target for institutional equality actions and gender mainstreaming. We try to show legal basis for our activities also to show to the teachers themselves, that by not accomplishing the principles of equality in education, the schools oppose to the international laws and Polish constitutional equality guarantees. We try to show also, that preventive measures, such as gender-sensitive education, can be a better tool for freeing schools of violence, than reactions after the dramatic situations, which could be predicted and stopped.
The Girls and Boys. Without fear, prejudices and violence project was meant to influence and inspire feminists teachers, but also the ones who, while not describing themselves as feminists, still want to stop violence against women and girls and teach about equality, stereotypes etc. Therefore we try to mix our strategies and inspirations, and to show feminism and feminist approaches as the ones which open new ways for non-violent, cooperative education, which - starting with gender based experiences, can be also applied to analyse race, age, economical and ethnic discrimination.
11- 12 November 2006 - Violence against Women and Girls at Homes, in Public and at Schools. A workshop by Anna Wołosik and Ewa Majewska from the "Toward the Girls" association for Teachers and Social Workers. Part of the "Equal School? Gender equality in Education" project by the House of the Polish-German Cooperation in Gliwice (see longer description below, point 9).
1 November - 4 December 2006 - We support the Adolescents. A set of lessons for youth in the local gymnasium in Łomianki. Bridges instead of Walls - a set of seminar for teachers and parents in the local gymnasium in Łomianki. With support of the Mayor of Łomianki.
9 - 10 December 2006 - Equality in Education. How to teach about Women's and Girls Rights at School - a workshop by Anna Wołosik and Ewa Majewska from the "Toward the Girls" association for Teachers and Social Workers. Part of the "Equal School? Gender equality in Education" project by the House of the Polish-German Cooperation in Gliwice (see longer description below, point 9).
Contact:
info@wstronedziewczat.org.pl
