Gender Equality Awareness Raising against Intimate Partner Violence (GEAR against IPV)

Project No: JLS/2008/DAP3/AG/1258

Duration: 08.12.2009 – 7.12.2011

Coordinator: European Anti-Violence Network – EAVN (Greece)

Partners

  • SPI Forschung gGmbH (Germany)
  • Austrian Women Shelter Network, AÖF/ Information Centre Against Violence (Austria) 
  • Hellenic Association of Health Education Teachers (Greece) 
  • CESI – Center for Education, Counselling and Research (Croatia) 

Short description of the project

The Project “Gender Equality Awareness Raising against Intimate Partner Violence – GEAR against IPV” is a coordinated action of primary prevention of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) through interventions in the school setting aimed at raising secondary school students’ awareness by specially trained teachers. The project’s coordinator was EAVN and organizations from Greece, Germany, Austria and Croatia participated as partners. The external evaluation of the project was conducted by Professor Carol Hagemann-White (University of Osnabrück).

The aim of the GEAR against IPV project is to promote the development of healthy and equal relationships between the sexes and the development of zero tolerance towards violence by raising students’ awareness on:

  • the characteristics of healthy and unhealthy relationships
  • the influence that stereotypical attitudes and socially imposed gender roles have on their relationships
  • how power inequality between the sexes is related to psychological, physical and/or sexual abuse against women/girls and
  • how adolescents can contribute to the prevention of all forms of gender-based violence.

Main Activities of the GEAR against IPV Project

  • To achieve its objectives, the GEAR against IPV project developed a complete educational material, which can be used to train teachers (Booklet II) and to implement awareness raising Workshops for students (Booklets III and IV); the material has been developed in such a way that it can be used as a model for the development of National Packages for use in different countries. More specifically, during the Project:
    • the Master GEAR against IPV Package, comprised of four booklets (available in English), was designed and evaluated and
    • 4 National GEAR against IPV Packages (Austrian, German, Greek and Croatian), were developed after translation, completion and cultural adaptation of the GEAR against IPV Master Package’s four booklets
  • Additionally, the following informational material were created:
    • 4 leaflets for use in the 4 countries and one in English
    • 6 bookmarks with SOS lines for the student population in the 4 countries and one in English
  • ​Implementation and evaluation of 9 Teachers’ Training Seminars in Austria, Germany and Greece with the participation of 167 teachers and professionals related to high schools (e.g. School Social Workers, Social Work Students and Health Education Coordinators). The aim of seminars was to train teachers on gender equality and gender-based violence as well as to provide the knowledge and skills related to the methodology for implementing the GEAR against IPV Workshops in secondary schools
  • Implementation of “GEAR against IPV Workshops” –using experiential activities for raising awareness on gender stereotypes and preventing teen dating violence- in 27 classrooms of high schools in Greece (13 workshops implemented in schools located in Athens, Larissa, Achaia, Serres and Milos), Germany (3 workshops implemented in schools located in Brandenburg) and Austria (11 workshops implemented in schools located in Lower Austria, Styria, Upper Austria). A total of 556 students (13-22 years old) comprised the intervention group (252 in Greece, 249 in Austria, 55 in Germany) and 458 students comprised the control group (264 in Greece, 161 in Austria, 33 in Germany).  ​

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The implementation and evaluation results of the project are described in detail in 5 Reports edited by EAVN and submitted to DG Justice (in English)

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​More information for the project: www.1st.gear-ipv.eu 

The “GEAR against IPV” Educational Material 

The “GEAR against IPV” materialwas designed by EAVN (in the framework of the GEAR against IPV Project, with financial support from the DAPHNE III Programme of the European Union) in order to support the implementation of interventions promoting gender equality as a means of primary prevention of Intimate Partner Violence in teenage population.

The Master Package aims at promoting the development of National Packages, if possible, for all EU countries, which was the reason for developing it so as to include necessary instructions for facilitating the creation of appropriately tailored National Packages for other countries.

Each National Package should, after the Master material has been completed and appropriately culturally adapted, be a comprehensive tool for the organisation, preparation, implementation and evaluation of primary prevention of gender-based violence interventions conducted with adolescents (in schools or other settings).

The Master GEAR against IPV Package

The Master Package consists of the following four booklets:

Booklet I. The Master GEAR against IPV Package and How to Develop your own National Package. 

Booklet Ι of the Master Package is addressed to agencies and/or professionals working in the field of IPV prevention and gender equality promotion especially in school settings, aiming primarily at informing them about the existence of both, the material and the program and suggesting to them to develop their own National versions of the material. To this end, Booklet I consists of three main parts: 

The first part provides all of the information concerning the aims and technical characteristics of the GEAR against IPV project as well as the structure and contents of the Master Package’s Booklets and the stages followed for the development of the material. 

The second part is compiled in the form of a guide addressed to those interested in developing their own GEAR against IPV National Package in their countries’ official languages: namely, it provides guidelines on how the material can be adapted in order to be more appropriate for use in accordance with the specific cultural and other characteristics of each country as well as on country-specific parts that need to be completed (e.g. the extent of the problem of IPV, the existing legislation concerning IPV and the existing supporting structures for abused girls and women and/or perpetrators). 

The third part contains suggestions to any interested party on how to effectively disseminate their National Packages and to lobby in order for the GEAR against IPV intervention to be incorporated in the curricula of secondary education.

Booklet II. Guidelines for Conducting a GEAR against IPV Teachers’ Training Seminar

This Booklet proposes, in three separate sections, a step-by-step description for organising, implementing and evaluating training seminars in order to guide comparable, effective trainings of teachers that intend to implement GEAR against IPV Workshops with secondary school students either in the same or in different countries. A few instructions (in orange font) on how to complete specific sections and for cultural adaptations that may be required when creating a National Booklet II have been embedded into the text.

The training has been designed in a way that includes separate parts of the Seminar that focus on teachers’ sensitization and training on: a) gender equality issues and gender stereotypical attitudes, as well as how they relate to IPV, b) how to handle cases of abuse (IPV or child abuse and neglect) and c) the methodology for organizing, conducting, monitoring and evaluating the GEAR against IPV Workshop in their classes. 

Section B includes tables that were specifically created with the aim to link each part of the seminar with the respective supportive material in Booklets III (Teacher’s Manual) and IV (Students’ Activities Book). Booklet II concludes with Annexes that provide useful tools for organizing and evaluating the Seminar. 

Booklet III. Teacher’s Manual

Booklet III provides high-school teachers with all of the information and material needed for the organization, step-by-step implementation, documentation and evaluation of the GEAR against IPV Workshops in the classroom. A large part of the Manual consists of a toolbox of experiential activities that are structured in order to address three topics:

  • Gender Stereotypes and Gender Equality (27 activities) 
  • Healthy & Unhealthy Relationships (6 activities)
  • Intimate Partner Violence (12 activities).

In order to facilitate the teacher, the activities are presented with the following format: short introduction, learning objectives, duration, material and preparation, suggested step-by-step process, expected outcome and teacher’s tips. The material and preparation section refers to the material included in Booklet IV (Students’ Activities Book) that can be used to implement each activity. Also included as Annexes, are the suggested reporting form and evaluation tools for the Workshops and useful theoretical information concerning the issues addressed in each section of the Manual. 

Sections of the Manual that need to be adapted and/or completed with culturally appropriate information for the development of a National Booklet III are indicated in the text with orange font letters (i.e. Gender (In)equality in the specific country, the Magnitude of the IPV Problem, How to react if you suspect or a child discloses child abuse or IPV).

Booklet IV. Students’ Activities Book

All of the material necessary (Worksheets and Handouts) to implement each of the activities described in Booklet III is available in Booklet IV. This booklet has been developed so as to assist the implementer in locating suitable material for each activity and in reproducing it (printing and photocopying). There is ready-to-use material available that can be used in class, along with material that can be given to students to work on at home. Lastly, self-assessment material and informational material can be distributed to students for their own use, either at present or in the future. 

Parts of the Booklet that need to be completed with culturally-specific information for the development of a National Booklet IV are indicated in the text with orange font letters.

The National GEAR against IPV Packages

Four National (Austrian, Croatian, German and Greek) GEAR against IPV Packages have been developed.
Booklet I is an introductory booklet, which mainly provides information on the project, material and the project’s activities and describes the dissemination actions carried out by the organisation responsible for implementing the GEAR against IPV intervention in each country, as well as possible ways of lobbying in order to incorporate the GEAR against IPV Workshop in secondary schools’ curricula. 

The National Booklets I have been developed on the basis of specific parts and guidelines of the respective Booklet of the Master Package. 

Booklets II, III and IV of the National Packages include material and describe processes that have been considered as culturally appropriate to be used for conducting Teachers’ Seminars (Booklet II) as well as for organizing and conducting Students’ Workshops (Booklets III and IV).

The Master GEAR against IPV Package addresses organizations and professionals working in the fields of gender-based violence prevention and gender equality promotion and/or in the field of education and are interested in:

  • creating material suitable for their country, which can be used to implement the GEAR against IPV Workshop in secondary schools (or in other settings where work with groups of adolescents is conducted or can be conducted) and
  • training teachers, or other professionals, especially for this purpose.

The National GEAR against IPV Packages address…:

  • secondary school teachers –and other professionals working in the school setting (e.g. psychologists, social workers, nurses)– who are interested either to implement the GEAR against IPV Workshop in their classroom or to incorporate some of the experiential activities in their everyday teaching, when addressing similar topics in class,
  • professionals and organizations active in the fields of health promotion and education, prevention of gender-based violence, and gender equality in each country,
  • decision-making centres related to education and policy makers with an interest in promoting the integration of the GEAR against IPV Workshop in secondary education’s curricula.