Boys Camp Progress Report

The effort to create a camp whose goal is to educate young men on gender issues and promote gender equality is well under way.  In this post you'll find information about how the boys' camp is drawing from Camp GLOW precedents while finding its own way in securing a place to hold the camp, collaborating with Nicaraguan counterparts, getting funding, and structuring activities. 

Near the end, you'll also find a list of links of materials being used to guide the content of camp. Check it out!

Boys just wanna have fun (too)!

The GAD Committee is proud to announce that the first steps have been taken to create a camp to promote gender equality among young men.

GAD member and Health volunteer James giving a session on healthy masculinity using the "Hombres de Verdad" manual (check the resources page!) with a group of juvenile delinquents as part of their parole agreement

GAD has long recognized the importance of addressing male actors in the progression towards achieving gender equality, and with the creation of a camp that focuses on men and masculinity, the efforts that manifest Camp GLOW, another GAD staple, will achieve a sort of balance.  Indeed, it was at the suggestion of past GLOW planners that the seed for a men’s camp was planted.  At one point it was even suggested that Camp GLOW alternate participants every year to include young men.  Another suggestion was to integrate male and female campers into the same camp.  Happily, enough interest has been united in order to create a second gender camp, with similarities to Camp GLOW and a gender theme, without affecting the powerful experience that Camp GLOW has come to represent.  Camp GLOW and those who organize it have therefore fostered a younger brother.

Mark your calendars! Upcoming: Day of the Girl and Men’s Day

October 11^th is internationally celebrated as Día de la Niña (known in English as Day of the Girl or Day of the Girl Child) to recognize girls’ rights and the unique challenges girls face around the world. It’s only 4 weeks away! Here are some ideas for celebrating in your site…

• Host a movie night with films like Girl Rising or other local variations that show the challenges girls face and their potential to contribute to their communities. (click here for our post on gender consciousmovie nights)
• Perform plays and sing songs about the importance of girls' education at primary schools
• Do a poster contests depicting girls’ life goals or women’s role in work or society
• Hold a sports tournament for girls—volleyball, soccer and kickball are all huge hits.
• Organize mentoring activities for girls, such as Take Our Daughters to Work
• Have a parade, feria or other public event with local women’s groups
• Discuss how gender norms affect the classroom with teachers in your town (more info on this to come!)

Role Plays on Gender Roles

To get the group you work with thinking about the traditional roles and occupations for men and women, try a role play! In the activity Aprendemos Ser Hombres y Mujeres small groups choose one person to be a woman and one person to be a man, and then dress them up using papelógrafo and other recycled materials.

When all the ‘women’ and ‘men’ are ready, they act out how they think men and women would act in a normal situation—talking and moving around—while another member of the group takes notes. The notes are then used to start a discussion about the difference between sex and gender and the ways gender roles are learned and imposed by society.

Non-machinsta things to say to young boys

A lot of our work as volunteers when it comes to gender focuses on young girls and how we can elevate their self-esteem, and motivate them to study, work and avoid pregnancy at a young age. But, by ignoring half of the population (young boys) we are missing out on a group of people that are equally involved in and harmed by cultural standards that dictate what people should do or feel according to their gender identification.

With that in mind, here are a few ideas of things we can include in our interactions with young boys to change the machista dialogue they often hear. These ideas come from things I’ve heard around my community and especially in the classroom…

•  “It’s ok to cry.”  They, like a lot boys in the US, are told that boys and men don’t cry. Not only does this encourage boys to bottle up emotions instead of finding healthy ways to express themselves, it also suggests that crying, which is ok and expected from girls, is a sign of weakness.

Nicaragua wins award for Fatherhood Campaign

La Red de Masculinidad por la Igualdad de Género (REDMAS), a coalition of over 20 organizations in Nicaragua working on masculinity and gender issues with boys and men, is reponsible for the popular “Que tuani no ser machista” and “Ganale a las ganas” campaigns. REDMAS also coordinates MenCare Nicaragua, which launched a “Vos sos mi papa” campaign that recently placed as a finalist in the 2014 Avon Communications Awards.

The Campaña de Paternidad, or Fatherhood Campaign, included posters, handouts, t-shirts and even baseball caps with messages encouraging men to be involved in parenting their children in a way that shows respectful and non-violent relationships between men and women.

Here’s one of the posters from the campaign:

Check out Men-Care.org for more information about the campaign, including 2 short videos about being male in Nicaragua. 

Also check out the REDMAS website for other campaigns and information about who they work with. 

Resource highlight: Yo Merezco and Yo Tambien Merezco manuals

Peace Corps Volunteers in Honduras created the Yo Merezco manual with the idea of reaching out to young women, ages 10-15, through a course that would encourage positive decision making, especially when it comes to their bodies and sexual relations. After the successful implementation of the manual around the country, health volunteers developed a twin manual for boys: Yo También Merezco.

The four goals of the program are to: 1) postpone sexual relations, 2) empower adolescents and promote self-respect, 3) lower the number of youth who become pregnant, and 4) decrease la rate of HIV transmission and the stigmatization that people living with HIV/AIDS face.

Each chapter is comprised of a different topic with its own objective.