5.1 End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere
5.2 Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls
Heart-Links partner Centro Santa Angela continues to work with men to reduce violence against women in Chiclayo and the surrounding province of Lambayeque. For a third year, with support from Heart-Links, the Centre is working with men to examine and challenge assumptions about gender roles and to develop new concepts of masculinity and paternity that embrace relationships of equality and respect.
The focus of this year’s project is on raising awareness among youth. Graduates of previous years’ workshops will work with 30 high school teachers to develop videos, radio spots, pamphlets and a guide to use in their classrooms. Topics for these materials include the social and cultural roots of machismo, what gender-base violence is and how to eradicate it from personal relationships, fatherhood, sexuality and managing emotions, and violence against women in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the Organization of American States, the number of reports of domestic and sexual violence in Peru is the second highest in the region. In the province of Lambayeque, an average of 7,000 cases are reported each year. The actual incidence of violence is much higher. While programs and services aimed at protecting and supporting women and children who are victims of violence have increased in Peru in recent years, little work has been done directly with men to change the outlooks that inform this behaviour.
Follow the group’s activities on their Facebook page Masculinidades Chiclayo.
Heart-Links is grateful to Cambia Development Foundation for their financial support of this project.