Human Rights Education for Women’s Empowerment and Promotion of Gender Equality The Human Rights Education Program for Women (HREP)by Women for Women’s Human Rights – New Ways : Human Rights Education for Women’s Empowerment and Promotion of Gender Equality The Human Rights Education Program for Women (HREP)by Women for Women’s Human Rights – New Ways Evre Kaynak
HREA Webinar
April 2010
Slide 2 : WOMEN for WOMEN’S HUMAN RIGHTS – NEW WAYS Foundation: 1993
Areas of Work:
Human rights education and support to local organizing initiatives by women
Advocacy and lobbying (Ex. Campaign on the Reform of the Turkish Penal Code; U.N. CEDAW Shadow Reports)
Action-research, publications, awareness-raising materials
Networking (Ex. Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies)
www.wwhr.org
The Human Rights Education Program for Women (HREP) : The Human Rights Education Program for Women (HREP) Developed by Women for Women’s Human Rights-New Ways in 1995 as a grassroots training program
The longest running and most widely implemented human rights training program in Turkey. Implementation since 1995; reached 42 provinces spread throughout Turkey.
Elected as one the best tactics by the International Project on New Tactics in Human Rights (2001).
Made into a documentary series of 12 episodes entitled “The Purple Series with Women” with NTV; and broadcast on this national channel. (2006)
Development of the HREPOrigins: Findings of an Action-Research Study : Development of the HREPOrigins: Findings of an Action-Research Study 1994-96: WWHR-New Ways conducted two comprehensive field researches on the status and problems of women through face-to-face interviews with approximately 1200 women Women were often unaware of their existing legal rights and hence, lacked the strategies to overcome violations of their rights in both private and public spheres, There was a severe lack of independent, grassroots organizing among women.
Slide 5 : For 3/4 of women participating in the research, their marriages had not been arranged by the couple themselves. The types of marriage for these women: The data is based on the field research conducted WWHR - NEW WAYS in 1996 -97, in the Southeastern and Eastern regions of Turkey. Consent of both spouses is a precondition for marriage under the Turkish Civil Code.
Slide 6 : Domestic violence is considered a crime by the Turkish Penal Code The data is based on the field research conducted WWHR - NEW WAYS with 599 women (face-to-face interviews) in 1996 -97, in the Southeastern and Eastern regions of Turkey.
Slide 7 : Umraniye, Istanbul Eastern Turkey At the time of the research, 5 years of elementary education was compulsory for both girl and boy children *The data is based on field research conducted by WWHR - NEW WAYS among 1054 women (face-to-face interviews).
In Turkey, many women’s lives are shaped by customary practices and patriarchal traditions, rather than official laws! : In Turkey, many women’s lives are shaped by customary practices and patriarchal traditions, rather than official laws!
Objectives of the Human Rights Education Program for Women : Objectives of the Human Rights Education Program for Women To enable women gain critical awareness of their legal and human rights;
To facilitate women’s reflection on how customary practices and structures limit or violate their rights;
To create a safe environment in which women can share experiences and determine common problems in an atmosphere of solidarity and seek solutions,
To support women in acquiring the necessary skills towards implementation of their rights in everyday life;
To enable women to develop personal and collective grassroots organizational skills to assist them in mobilizing around self-identified needs;
To raise women’s critical consciousness on social and political systems on the local, national and international levels.
Slide 10 : Respond to local and regional needs,
Integrate the principle of democratic participation into workshops from the very beginning. Needs Assessments in the beginning of each round of implementation were a central part of the program. This allows the Program to:
Human Rights Education Program 16 Workshops : Human Rights Education Program 16 Workshops Introduction and Needs Assessment
Women’s Human Rights
Constitutional and Civil Rights
Violence against Women and Domestic Violence
Strategies against Violence
Women’s Economic Rights I and II
Communication Skills I and II
Gender Sensitive Child Education
Women and Sexuality I and II
Reproductive Rights as Human Rights
Women and Politics
Feminism and the Women’s Movement
Local Organizing and Activism
Human Rights Education Program Workshop Format and Methods : Human Rights Education Program Workshop Format and Methods Closed groups of 25-30 participants
Roundtable meetings
Participatory methods
Trainers act as facilitators (not “teachers”)
Visual and written training materials
Implementation of HREP : Implementation of HREP Phase I: Trainer Training
of Community Center social workers by WWHR-New Ways.
Phase II: Field implementation
with local groups by social workers at Community Centers; reporting to WWHR-New Ways; participant certificates.
Phase III: Monitoring and Evaluation
Follow-up, field supervision, evaluation meetings, on-going technical and other support by WWHR-New Ways such as supply of training materials, update information on human rights issues, media relations, etc.
Phase IV: Local Organizing
Support to emerging local women’s organizations emerging from the HREP groups.
15 Years of Uninterrupted Implementation… : 15 Years of Uninterrupted Implementation… HREP has reached more than 8000 women in 42 different cities throughout Turkey,
124 social workers participated in the ToTs,
16 grassroots women’s organizations were established
According to an external evaluation research study on HREP conducted in 2002: : According to an external evaluation research study on HREP conducted in 2002: Participants report:
Have increased self-confidence (93%)
Problem-solving ability has increased (%90)
Ability to express herself has improved (91%)
Husbands’ attitudes towards women improved (72%)
Women’s attitudes towards children have improved (93%)
Has stopped or substantially reduced domestic violence (63% and 22%)
Has improved say in family decision making (74%)
Became community resource person on women’s human rights (88%)
Started paid work (33%)
Started to follow national and world news with much more interest (73%)
Became a (founding) member of NGO (32%)
Slide 16 : Being in constant dialogue with group facilitators and local training groups,
Maintaining communication with the General Directorate for Social Services,
Facilitating information flow among local training groups and maintaining an information network between them,
Linking local training groups with national and international women’s movement(s) and other civil initiatives,
Emphasizing the significance of local, grassroots women’s organizing in all interactions with group facilitators and local groups,
Supporting emerging grassroots initiatives and assisting them in bringing their ideas for action to life. Key points to follow while implementing the Human Rights Education Program for Women? Interviewing prospective group facilitators before they attend the trainer training to make sure they are motivated to participate in the program and have the capacity to continously implement it,
Slide 17 : Holistic approach: Underlining the interconnected nature of all women’s human rights issues, conceptualizing them as a whole... Factors Contributing to the Success of the Program
Slide 18 : Participatory methodology and length: Taking women’s own experiences and self -identified needs as basis, creating group solidarity, providing time and space for internalization and application of new strategies and knowledge. Factors Contributing to the Success of the Program
Slide 19 : Partnership with Community Centers: Utilizing state resources for the establishment of a human rights culture, transforming approach to gender issues within state agencies, building a model of NGO - State collaboration. Factors Contributing to the Success of the Program
Slide 20 : 42 Provinces HREP has Reached
Slide 21 : After participating in the Human Rights Education Program for Women, I regained my self confidence. I realized that I also have rights, and that I can use these rights I don’t have to do everything my husband told me to do. Now, my ideas and my decisions are also taken seriously.
… I decided to go back to school and complete my formal education. I registered with ‘Open Schooling’ to get my middle school diploma. I passed my first and second semester exams and finished 1st Grade in one year. Now I am in the second year of middle school, I will continue with high school. I will also take courses to become a professional hairdresser. I think the schooling and the job will go well together. I believe I will be successful. I will get somewhere, through my own efforts, my own initiative. In any case, the most important thing to me is the future. Participant from Izmir Right to Education ?
Slide 22 : Once we completed the Human Rights Training Program for Women, we immediately moved to organize among ourselves, as a group of participants. We decided to put into practice all that we’d learned throughout the training and to become a part of the women’s movement in Turkey. As women, we experience discrimination in our lives, and see it happen to other women around us. We have to fight against this discrimination. We realized that we had to mobilize as a group to succeed in this struggle. Hence, we decided to register as an association and acquire an official identity. We aim to ensure that the women in Canakkale actively participate in the social, political and economic spheres. All governmental and non-governmental institutions must function with a gender perspective. While we participated in the training program at the Community Center, we had to become independent after a while. Otherwise, it’s difficult to link the program’s experience with the women’s movement. We held long meetings among ourselves and with other groups in the city. Finally, we founded the Canakkale Association to Promote Women’s Labor. We are the first group to have organized after participating in the Human Rights Education Program in Turkey. Autonomous women’s organizing: The Association to Promote Women’s Labor and the Canakkale Women’s Center
Slide 23 : Throughout 15 years of my marriage, I endured the physical violence of my husband and his family. I’ve experienced beatings, violence, anything you can imagine. I would hide under the chairs to sleep and they used to wake me up by kicking me. I did not resist. There was no one to support me. My face covered, my lips sealed, I was just a bride. I was another person then.
…
At work I heard about the Community Center. I started participating in the Human Rights Education Program for Women and I started to put up a fight against my husband. I learned about human rights and the Purple Roof Women’s Shelter Foundation. I learned that I have rights, women have rights. I started saying ‘ I do not deserve this violence’. I have been married for 20 years now and for the last 5 years I’ve been living like lady. I struggled to bring about this change myself. I changed here during the training program.
…
The violence I experienced has to do with the whole of society. Now my husband says ‘ I am proud of you’. I ask him ‘How come you’re proud of me now? I used to do everything you told me, I used to get beaten and you weren’t proud of me’. He understood that I’m defending my pride as a woman. He even visited our Human Rights Education group of 10 women and said ‘I am proud of my wife, everything I had done was wrong.’ Ending Domestic Violence
Human Rights Education for Women’s Empowerment and Promotion of Gender Equality The Human Rights Education Program for Women (HREP)by Women for Women’s Human Rights – New Ways : Human Rights Education for Women’s Empowerment and Promotion of Gender Equality The Human Rights Education Program for Women (HREP)by Women for Women’s Human Rights – New Ways Evre Kaynak
HREA Webinar
April 2010