“Healthy Relationships” 2022-2023, EEA Grants, Civil Society programme In cooperation with Association for Human Rights and Civic Participation PaRiter, Croatia Project “Healthy Relationships" focuses on the problem of lacking content in the field of Comprehensive Sexuality Education in school curricula and insufficient recognition of its importance. The main goal of the project is to contribute to the introduction of Comprehensive Sexuality Education in primary and secondary schools in the Republic of Croatia. The project activities will also be aimed at establishment of a dialogue with local and regional self-government units, as well as at raising public awareness on importance and value of sexuality education in schools. Project coordinator at KUN Center for Equality and Diversity is Tanya Skjønhaug Meeting project in Croatia, Rijeka 15. -16. January 2023
2-day workshop on the topic “Sexual health education on the example of Norway” 17.-18. January 2021
Over 20 educators, teachers, psychologists, and people from the civil sector attended the workshop. Participants of the workshop had fruitful discussions and knowledge sharing on how one can cover CSE topics on all levels of education from kindergarten to high school. Some of the themes that we elaborated one included relationships and feelings, digital sexuality, laws and sexual rights, gender and sexuality, boundarysetting and consent, and others.
About SafeNet projectThe Greek-Norwegian collaboration project “SAFE-NET: Creating a Safety Net for girls’ victims of Online Violence” (2021-2023) aims to create a security network to address online violence against women and girls. Click here for background information on online violence and cybersafe toolkit. The project aims to raise awareness among parents, school professionals and potential victims of online violence. Project activities include
November 2022 Meeting for the project in Heraklion, CreteProject partners from the participant organizations, The Union of Women Associations of Heraklion Prefecture (UWAH), the “Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences (IAKE)”, and KUN Centre for Equality and Diversity, had the opportunity to collaborate and further develop the project deliverables, as well as plan the next steps. The project partners focused on development of tools for school professionals and secondary school teachers, as well as parents of adolescents aiming at addressing and preventing incidents of cyberviolence. By the end of the year the project group aims to release a practical manual on how to handle an incident of cyberviolence for frontline professionals (social workers, teachers, psychologists). It will contain the necessary knowledge on this type of violence, tools for reporting of cyberviolence and supporting its victims. Read the full press release here August 2021 A new intervention to tackle cyber violence against girlsA new intervention to tackle cyber violence against girls and women has been launched, aiming at a sustainable and effective response by frontline professionals and their family members. Online violence is predominantly targeted at women and girls, with young women and adolescent girls being at particular risk of online abuse and harassment. The United Nations (UN) report “Cyber Violence Against Women and Girls: A Worldwide Wake-Up Call” notes that globally 73% of women have experienced some form of online violence. Online abuse and harassment originate, reinforces, and reproduce the same structural inequalities and discrimination as other forms of gender-based violence. The prevention of the phenomenon and its effective response is considered to be of paramount importance. Changing societal attitudes and perceptions is the first step in changing the way cyber violence is treated as a serious challenge. In this context, it is essential to raise awareness and inform both the new generation of technology users, i.e. boys and girls, and parents and school professionals, as well as to create tools to protect and support women and girls who are victims of violence. The project aims to create a safety net to address gender-based online violence and support girl victims of violence, through actions developing the capacity of school professionals to identify and manage incidents in the school environment, raising awareness of parents and families about the phenomenon and management of disclosure of violence. It is particularly important to create a framework of safety for adolescent girls, so that they can disclose phenomena and incidents of violence online without fear and, most importantly, in a safe and supportive environment. Research has shown a very low level of perception on the part of teachers but especially on the part of parents of this phenomenon. Furthermore, research has shown the weakness of frontline staff in dealing effectively with such incidents, a gap that SAFENET is called upon to fill. In this framework, a reporting and support protocol for victims of gender-based cyber violence will be developed and disseminated to frontline staff in Greece and Norway. In addition, guidelines for parents and their supportive context will be developed for the phenomenon, while all these interventions will form the central core of education and dissemination activities in school communities and society. The SAFENET project is implemented in the framework of the Active citizens Fund programme, with the Union of Women Associations of Heraklion and Heraklion Prefecture, and partners KUN - Centre for Equality and Diversity (Norway) and the Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences IAKE (Greece). The €13.5 million Active Citizens Fund programme is funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway and is part of the European Economic Area (EEA) funding mechanism for the period 2014 - 2021, known as EEA Grants. The programmeaims to strengthen and enhance the sustainability of civil society and to highlight its role in promoting democratic processes, enhancing citizens' participation in the public sphere and defending human rights. The Active citizens fund grant for Greece is managed jointly by the Bodossaki Foundation and SolidarityNow. Read more here. “I have a dream”, 2021-2024, EEA Grants
In cooperation with LARGO The aim of the project is to test, implement and disseminate new methods for empowering Roma women through advocacy. KUN Centre for Equality and Diversity participates in the project by conducting a desk study on good empowerment practices in Norway and the EU, and a qualitative study of the situation of Roma women in Norway. The results of the research will be presented in two reports and during deliberative discussions in Bulgaria. Furthermore, KUN will assist in the organization of at least six advocacy campaigns on topics related to empowerment of Roma women in Bulgaria. Cávado + Igual 2021-2023, EEA Grants
In cooperation with CIM Cávado (Portugal) The Cávado + Igual project is an Open Call#5 – Intervention projects to promote gender equality at local level, within the scope of the Work-life Balance Programme and funded by EEA Grants. The objectives of the project are centered on the assumption of a municipal and sub-regional commitment to the promotion of gender equality and balance of professional, personal, and family life. Gender Equality Promotion 2021 – 2023, EEA Grants
In cooperation with Inštitút ľudských prav, Slovakia The objective of the project is to raise public awareness about gender equality through numerous online campaigns and educational activities directed at young women and men. Young people will be engaged in a thinking process on the topics of gender stereotypes, gender roles, as well as will have a chance to examine and reflect on their own prejudices on themselves and on other gender. DIVERS@S AND ATIV@S: Promoting diversity and non-discrimination in the professional workplace 2021-2023, EEA Grants
In cooperation with Associação Portuguesa para a Diversidade e Inclusão (APPDI), Portugal The project intends to develop a set of transformative tools and instruments to promote workplace diversity and combat discrimination against vulnerable groups. Through construction of a collaborative awareness campaign and involvement of numerous companies and social entities, the project will stimulate promotion of inclusion and equality in the workplace. An Erasmus + project with Estonia and the Czech Republic Starting in 2019, KUN together with Genderove informacni centrum NORA (Czech Republic) and the Eesti Naisteühenduste Ümarlaua Sihtasutus (Estonia) were granted Erasmus + funding to work on gender-sensitive education in schools. The project aims to focus on the gender segregation in education and what effects can be found on a societal level. Representing three European countries with differing demographics, geographies, histories and current gender roles, the project partners will be offering their own insights while encouraging those taking the course to reflect on their own experiences, biases, privileges and possibilities. The project addresses the issue of gender in education. It aims at enhancing teachers’ sensitivity to gender issues. In this way, it will contribute to more inclusive classroom environments where girls and boys can develop their competencies in a safe and welcoming atmosphere without the pressure of restrictive gender stereotypes. Gender differences are often taken for granted in a school environment, but gender stereotypes have a strong influence on the achievement of children, and if teachers are not sensitive to issues related to gender, the school environment can reinforce sexist patterns in children’s everyday lives. The goal of this project is to help teachers be reflective on the existing gender order and gender stereotypes in society and their own biases, and act against this order. It is a very important component of the teachers’ competencies. For more information, see the Czech partner's website, mainly in English (opens in a new window).
Most recent events:
The project events planned for 2022 include a workshop in Prague, where we hope to celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8th with the Norwegian Embassy. The study tour to Norway has been rescheduled for June 2022 and will be held in conjunction with the Norwegian dissemination event, before a final dissemination event in Brussels in August. May 2020: Covid-19 and changes to the project progress plan Due to the Covic-19 closedown in Europe starting mid-March, the planned joint staff training event, to take place in Steinkjer March 16th to 20th, was cancelled on very short notice. We have tentatively re-scheduled the event for March 2021. The project group meeting in Tallinn planned for late June has similarly been cancelled and tentatively re-scheduled for October 2020. Work on the Intellectual Outputs will proceed as planned, with consultations on digital platforms.
KUN (NO), Ekvalita (FI), Elevernas Riksforbund (SE) in the project "Safe schools" will develop a common Nordic method based on norm criticism to create an inclusive and equal school with a focus on increased student participation.
This will be done through five different work packages with the inclusion of student councils, principals and student representatives in upper secondary schools and secondary schools in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Åland. We will end the project with a digital launch for the project's target groups: rectors, student councils and student representatives in the Nordics. The student representatives will be the ones who continue the work and spread the method further in their own countries. The project manager at KUN is Karin Hovde. Through the project, we will carry out a network gathering among queers in Sápmi, for the exchange of experience and organizational development. The aim is to strengthen the queer Sami organization and in that way build up more and better meeting places for the whole of Sápmi. In the long term, more meeting places and a stronger queer Sami organization will contribute to more openness and knowledge, both among queer Sami, but also the general population.
The network gathering will bring together participants from the Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian sides. Such network gathering has two main purposes:
The project is financed by Nordisk Ministeråd, and is a collaboration between KUN, Garmeres Norge, Sameföreningen i Stockholm Sweden and Suomi Sami Nuorat Finland. BridGEs: Alto-Minho companies for Gender Equality 2020 - 2023, EEA Grants
In cooperation with Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of the University of Porto (FPCEUP), Portugal The project aims to create and test instruments to measure and study gender inequalities in work organisations, involving the direct and active participation of organisations. Since the project's actions are essentially directed at the business sector, it is of utmost importance for companies to participate in this process, contributing from the outset to the co-construction of the products addressed to them, analysing their feasibility and feasibility in their contexts and anticipating obstacles and ways to overcome them. Social and Legal Actions to Combat Honor Related Abuses 2019 – 2021, EEA Grants
In cooperation with Center for Development of Sustainable Communities (Bulgaria) and Women Lawyers Association (Bulgaria) The project gave focus to the problem of honor related violence existent in the Bulgarian and Norwegian societies. The partnership organizations worked towards creating awareness about the issue and to the present inadequate protection of honor violence victims. During the project implementation, an analysis of the existing policies on the issue was carried out, recommendations for changes in policies and legislation aimed at the prevention of honor related violence were developed and presented to public institutions. Inclusive Workplace 2021, EEA Grants: Active Citizens Fund, Bilateral Initiative
In cooperation with Zensky algoritmus ( Slovakia) KUN Centre for Equality and Diversity participated in the project by providing a series of training sessions on the topic of “Diversity and Inclusion in the workplace”. Best practices were shared, and discussions were held around the topics of how to attract and implement diversity in the workplace, how to keep it and measure it. ENVOLVI 2019 – 2021, EEA Grants
In cooperation with Novo Dia - Associação para a Inclusão Social (Portugal) The defense of human rights of elderly people living in the Azores (Portugal) is the focus of the present project, aiming to foster healthy intergenerational relations to strengthen social cohesion and promote active citizenship and aging. The project includes activities that acknowledge and value the potential of older generations, as well as the issue of isolation and violence against the elderly is given focus to. Vietnam 2009-2014
The project was carried out together with the Vietnamese Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs with the goal of enhancing Vietnam's capacity for gender equality work through application of the Norwegian experience. The project contributed to integrating a gender perspective in legislation, strategy and action plans, and influenced policy development in the gender equality field. JUWOBA (Justice to women exposed to violence in the Barents region) 2010- 2011
Funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services The goal of the project was to map and discuss society’s institutionalization of measures to ensure justice for victims of violence. Through four seminars in the Barents Region, Norwegian and Russian representatives from health care, the police, the judicial system, organizations working with state compensation to victims of violence and crisis centers exchanged knowledge and discussed their experience from their respective work fields |