During the period 2004-2009, the Åland Islands Peace Institute participated as a partner in the project “Girl Power in Lithuania”, implemented by the Missing Persons‘ Families Support Centre in Vilnius, Lithuania. The project, which is still running, focuses primarily on strengthening the girls’ self-esteem and self-awareness and providing them with tools for formulating their own opinions, developing their individual skills and reflecting on the society from a gender perspective. The target group are girls from socially vulnerable families who are at risk of becoming victims of trafficking. Many of the girls are selected from high schools and raised by single and marginalized mothers, alcoholic parents or brought up in institutions. Even girls who have suffered from sexual slavery and returned back to Lithuania have the chance to join the girl group activities. In 2010 the project received a new name, “Girl and Boy Power in Lithuania”, in connection with the plans to educate boy group leaders and to launch boy groups with a gender perspective.
