Everything starts with oneself – closing seminar of the project KID

On October 18, a closing seminar of the project “KID – Equal Opportunities for pre-school girls and boys” was held on Åland. Ida Eriksson, supervisor of the project at the Waldorf kindergarten Regnbågen, presented the project results. The staff of Regnbågen and children’s parents shared lessons learned and experiences of the project. Finally, the audience was involved in a general discussion on gender equality in the bringing-up of children.

The project KID was implemented by the Åland Islands Peace Institute since 2015 in cooperation with the Waldorf Åland association, the non-governmental kindergarten Nendre in Vilnius, Lithuania and the Star of Hope organisation in the Kaliningrad region, Russia. The purpose of the project has been to promote a gender-sensitive attitude among the staff of the kindergartens and among the children’s parents, and to reduce gender stereotyping in the communication and interaction with children. The project also strived to create equal opportunities for girls and boys to develop their skills and interests without being limited by gender-stereotypical expectations.