The Åland Islands Peace Institute and Folkhälsan på Åland have been awarded Paf-funding for co-operation in the framework of the project “More and Better Girl and Boy Groups on Åland”. The goal of the project is to lay a firm basis for long-term co-operation between the Peace Institute and Folkhälsan på Åland and to improve the quality and Boy Group activities. Folkhälsan is a Finland-wide Public Health Association. The Girl and Boy group method aims at individual empowerment and has an integrated gender perspective. The method’s direct objective is to create settings, which are non-discriminatory and norm-critical at the same time, and to encourage teenage girls and boys to question and critically reflect upon prevailing gender stereotypes, to discuss gendered norms and expectations and gender-based discrimination in a deliberative process contributing to their personal development and individual empowerment, and to improve their conflict management skills. The method’s indirect objective is to prevent the social risks that are reinforced by traditional gender norms such as gender-based violence, including human trafficking, mobbing, drug abuse or juvenile delinquency. The method thus has a strong public health perspective and is a part of a boarder peace agenda, which includes the absence of violence and the empowerment of individuals. The Åland Island Peace Institute’s key function within the project is the assessment and development of the method, as well as ensuring a focus on the core values of the activities such as non-violence and gender equality. In autumn 2013 the first databank for Girl and Boy Group leaders with a wide range of method material was created and the creation of guidelines for leaders has commenced.
