To kick off the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, the Zonta Club of Cebu II, Philippines, staged ARTivism 2023 to show women’s universal perspectives on various gender issues through diverse stage art forms.

The club’s advocacy committee organized the exhibit, which merged art and activism, at Oakridge Garden Plaza starting on 26 November.

Women ARTivism 2023 emphasized the power of performing arts in conveying advocacy messages. The performances ranged from singing to dances, poem recitals to monologues, all amplifying women’s voices. By encouraging attendees to identify various issues, the club wanted to convey that women who want to share their advocacies can use their art to communicate.

During the event, the club tackled various issues, such as monologues on climate change, dramatic readings on human trafficking based on real-life interviews with survivors in Cebu, songs that celebrated women’s empowerment and short plays that discussed gender-based violence and life as an activist.

The Zonta Club of Valea Prahovei, Romania, partnered with the Z Club Spiru Haret Prahova, Cocorastii Colt Secondary School and the Prahova County Police Department to create awareness surrounding our cause- prevention of violence by putting in place workshops with 10 classes from Spiru Haret High School. 

Together with the school’s educational advisor and headmaster, the club presented its organization and projects and started its anti-violence workshops. They involved 200 students and discussed types of violence and cyberbullying.

The challenge presented in this campaign was with a specific class: 10K. In this class, there have been several reported violent incidents involving students and extra counseling and guidance were needed. The club wanted to take specific action to improve this community of students where the Z club studies daily.

This class consists of twenty boys and only one girl, who is subjected to bullying instead of being protected. Two opinion leaders have behavioral problems and refuse to work with specific teachers or school counselors. For this class workshop, the club requested the help of the Prahova County Police Department. The club received help from Commissioner Liliana Marin and Inspector Ana Stroe, who participated in counseling and debates. They discussed with the students about violence, its causes and consequences, and concepts such as discernment were explained to them, as well as crime, misdemeanors, assault and what charges can be made for such behavior.

To further address this issue, the club:

• Followed up with our anti-violence prevention campaign in Cocorastii Colt Middle School, where over 60 students participated.
• Carried out a debate activity with the support of the local Argo Debate Club. Sixty Spiru Haret High School students, 10 leading teachers, the educational council and the two debate teams formed three teams. The debate theme consisted of the Romanian Parliament’s motion to sanction mass media institutions for the perpetuation of stereotypes related to the issue of violence.
• Organized a short film competition on the theme of violence at Spiru Haret High School, where they awarded two prizes and a mention. 
•  Arranged a raffle named “Together we do good deeds” with 300 participants. The raffle raised 800 euros, which were directed to the counseling of victim violence support therapy and equipment for the high school canteen.
•  Illuminated the Spiru Haret High School in orange and made an orange panel with anti-violence messages for all the students that come to school every day to see. Twenty students and five teachers were involved in this activity.

The Zonta Club of Adelaide Hills, Australia, launched its Expect Respect Project in 2012. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the club had to change its vision.

Goals of The Expect Respect Project. 

This awareness-raising and educational initiative involves children, adults and the broader community in a coalition to break the cycle of domestic violence. The continued prevalence of violence against women and girls, especially in recent years, is a massive challenge to Zonta’s vision for a world in which women’s rights are recognized as human rights and equality for everyone is a reality. The Expect Respect aim is to use education to create cultural change as a primary prevention strategy. While emergency care services and legal support are necessary, it is only through education that the leap in attitude and behaviors required for lasting change will happen. Further, education of the young is most effective at an age before poor habits can develop. The project is centrally and purposefully focused on education within and with the community.

How the Expect Respect Project works.

In a snapshot, the Expect Respect project is targeted at children in the early primary school years and incorporated into the school health and wellbeing curriculum. It is run over two consecutive years. Children learn about bullying, respectful relationships, safety laws and children’s rights. They attend workshops run by police and teachers, then continue learning in their classes. Posters are produced by the children reflecting their learning, and they then create a calendar for distribution in the community.

Young adults get involved as mentors and can help to produce the calendar. High school student leaders are often present at a community event where everyone celebrates what the children have learned.

The project grew rapidly from 2012 to 2019, reaching more than 1,200 students. That was the story up to 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, and lockdowns were enforced throughout Australia.

Initially, the inability of Zontians and the police to visit schools paused the project. Following the pandemic, the police service found it was under pressure and less available to do the school visits, which the club depended on to begin each project. As a result, some schools left the project. This shift caused the club to review and revise the project to make it more sustainable. 

As a result, the club strengthened the educational support by adding educators with various specialties that could be taught. Teaching units can now support students with more targeted lessons and a variety of different lessons to both broaden and deepen knowledge. One example is a retired elite STAR Force Police Officer and White Ribbon Ambassador, Derrick McManus, who conducts workshops on human resilience, teamwork and respect for older students. The club worked with Derrick on a lesson for younger students, and he now teaches a memorable message to “Fight the Fright and Do What’s Right.” This lesson resonates strongly with students ages 8-10. Police are still essential to the mix, but the project is no longer dependent on them exclusively. The club will further strengthen the in-class teaching by creating a 12-week teaching unit as an option for schools to use.

The club revisited the age group, identifying that children at age 8 are aware of others’ impacts on their thoughts and feelings and are ready to think about relationships for themselves. This cohort has two to three years following the Expect Respect training to be older buddies and mentors and grow in confidence with their relationship skills before entering the older world of high school.

The collection of evidence of student learning has been enhanced with lessons designed to show student understanding at the project’s beginning, middle and end. The multi-faceted project allows for the club’s involvement as they liaise with schools, plan and conduct displays and events, and work with media for promotion. 

In 2023, the club brought this revamped project to a new area, Blackwood, with a cluster of eight primary schools and one high school. They had one class in one school take up the project, but they have received great feedback, and already, the reputation is growing with people keen to get on board. Community leaders got behind it and promoted it through their words and attendance.

The benefits of the revised project were clear to see at the public event and launch of the calendars. The students stood before the crowd and taught us the affirmation with hand signals they had learned to “Fight the Fright and Do What’s Right.” The room resonated with the sound of appreciative parents and community leaders. 

The club’s vision is to have all primary school students in one district doing the project simultaneously. This vision will mean every child of the same age will receive the same messages over two years. The same messages will be present when they meet and mix in the community. The club hopes that we will see a recordable uplift in respect in the community when this happens.