PCV Project: Sexual Diversity Training for Teachers

All it takes is a slightly awkward dinamica to get people participating

Recently teachers and MINED técnicos in Muelle de los Bueyes, RAAS had the opportunity to participate in a workshop about sexual diversity. The workshop involved presentation on topics such as concepts of sexual diversity, gender rights for the LGBT community, and stigma and discrimination. Participants watched the video “Diversidad a todo color” and presented sociodramas about topics like coming out to family or rejection from friends.

The workshop was part of a VAST project that HE 61 PCV Monica is organizing with a group called Movimiento de Diversidad Sexual, based in Rama. Coordinating with Consejería Escolar and the delegación of MINED ensured permission for teachers’ participation. 

Presenting sociodrama situations

If you’re interested in learning more about this project, contact Monica.
To watch or use the “Diversidad a todo color” video, contact Health sector staff about borrowing it, or look it up on YouTube. 

Teacher Training on Gender

Have you ever found yourself wondering why only the boys ever play soccer during recess, or how girls are almost always called on when the class needs mopping but not nearly as often when a question needs answering? Have you heard teachers giving advice to students like “Girls, you’ll have to take care of yourselves in the future because your husbands will probably be unfaithful” or “Real men don’t cry”?

In honor of the upcoming Day of the Girl, here’s a workshop designed by volunteers to address just those issues of how gender norms affect the school environment. The charla has three objectives:

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!)

Resource: Camp in a Box

Although it may be hard to believe now, summer vacations aren’t far away for class in Nicaragua. If you’re wondering what kind of project you can do to fill the often empty month of January, check out the Camp in a Box.

These resources were compiled by Peace Corps to guide and support volunteers looking to do all kinds of camps in their communities – environmental education, HIV, gender equality, life skills, TEFL and more!

Click here to see and download the Camp in a Box folder. 

PCV Project: Torneo de Billar

Generally when we work in sexual and reproductive health we focus on youth and pregnant women. This makes sense in that they are a sexually active population, or soon to be sexually active and they are often under-informed or misinformed about their sexual health and rights. Also, they are fairly accessible populations here in Nicaragua, what with casa maternas and high schools in every town.

But there is one very large and powerful population that we too-often forget about, MEN!

They are half of the population after all, and in the machismo culture that exists in Latin America, men often hold most of the power within their relationships, families, and communities. Because of this, working with men can be intimidating and uncomfortable for a lot of volunteers. One idea that came out of the manual Aquí entre nos from Peace Corps Honduras is the Billiards Tournament.

The idea is simple, gather a group of men in the local Billiards Hall and hold a Tournament. The only catch is that the tournament also includes presentations about HIV/AIDS and condom use, and in the final game the players have to answer questions based on the information from the presentations.

During the Health 63 practicum week in my site, we pulled off a very successful Billiards Tournament. It was definitely one of the most fun and rewarding events in my first year of service. Here are a few things that went well with the tournament that we hosted.

PCV Project - Literacy at the Casa Materna

Yet another project idea for working with women in the Casa Materna! Isabel from TEFL 60 shares about her experience teaching the alphabet to women waiting to give birth…

I was fresh to site and looking for ways to get involved in my community. I tapped my Health 58 site mate Melissa who worked at the Casa Materna and told her I would love to put my interest in reading to use and do workshops with the pregnant women about the importance of early childhood literacy and how to read aloud to their kids. 

There was a long pause from Melissa. “Well, the problem is that most of the women don’t know how to read themselves. Lots of women come in and can’t even write their name. So...”  

PCV Project: Pinto para Aprender

In Peace Corps we give a lot of charlas: charlas about teaching strategies, charlas about how to start a business, charlas about how to use a condon, charlas about how to give good charlas, but we all know this isn’t the only way to share information or explore a topic with a group of people. In this blog post we’ll share details about three health volunteers that used art and creative expression to engage girls and boys in topics of sexual health, healthy relationships, and positive lifestyles.

PCV Project: Garden in the Casa Materna

Want to improve women's nutrition or generate money for women's health?  Consider doing a garden project at a Casa Materna! Read this post for some ideas on how to get started and some tips based off my experience working on a garden project in Rio San Juan.

 

Gender Conscious Movie Night

We’re all aware of how gender stereotypes in movies and TV shows can negatively affect our perceptions of ourselves or others; however, watching movies is a fun activity to do with kids, women, men, your host family, or other community members. Many schools use movie nights as a way to collect money for a specific purpose or event—charging one or two córdobas as an entrance fee and hosting it at school once classes are over.

In this post we’ll discuss two ideas for making movie nights a little more gender conscious: (1) including a gender checklist while watching any movie or (2) showing a gender-equality themed movie or documentary like Girl Rising or Half the Sky.