Since 2010 the Åland Islands Peace Institute has been participating in a tripartite cooperation project “Overcoming Gender Disparities as a Tool for Social Change” together with the Lithuanian partner organisation Nendre and the NGO Zvezda Nadezhdy (“The Star of Hope”) in the Kaliningrad region (Russia). The project results are monitored and analysed by a researcher from the Karelian Center for Gender Studies.
The overall goal of the project is to introduce a new empowerment approach for working with both sexes inspired by the Nordic girl and boy group method. The method, which is based on a group discussion, involves representatives of both sexes and aims at promoting gender equality and increasing the wellbeing of both women and men, including adults and teenagers. The group members are provided with a forum to reflect on the traditional gender norms and gender based expectations and how they influence their attitudes, relationships and actions. The group leaders were trained in autumn 2010 in Vilnius. All in all, the project involves 40 men, 40 women and 100 teenagers in Lithuania and the Kaliningrad region.
The project is funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers and Emmaus Åland.
