In June this year, we celebrated Father’s Day for honouring dads and celebrating fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society.
Approximately four out of five men worldwide will be fathers at some point in their lives. And nearly all the world’s men have some connection to children as stepfathers, brothers, uncles, grandfathers, teachers, mentors, coaches or simply as friends. Our partners, Status M from Zagreb, Croatia and ACT for SOCIETY Center from Tirana, Albania prepared some interesting street activities.
High-School Students on The Streets of Zagreb Talking (and Dancing) about What It Means to Be A Real Man
The last day of school on June 14 a colourful and noisy spectacle in the Zagreb city centre happened. Students and teachers from Be A Man Clubs in two Zagreb high schools, along with the Status M team, set up a stand on the main city square and distributed postcards to passers-by, prompting them to write an empowering message to a person they know.
Citizens also had an opportunity to sign the Declaration of the Real Man. The Declaration states that the real man is not violent, never uses fists or insults and understands that gender-based violence is a massive problem which he is willing to tackle. The real man fights for gender equality and women’s rights and he recognizes that turning a blind eye to violence committed by others is as dangerous as committing violence oneself.
Despite the glaring sun and scorching temperatures in the mid-30s, dozens of citizens visited the stand, talked to students and signed the Declaration, thus symbolically expressing their commitment to the principles of non-violence and equality. A special feature of the public action was the step-dance routine the students prepared which drew loud applause and cheering from the gathered crowd.
Be a Good Dad Cards Replaced Car Fines in Tirana!
To mark this day devoted to paternal figures important in everybody’s life, ACT for SOCIETY organized an activity several families of their members, stimulating open communication between them. The young people, Be Man Club members, invited their fathers and mothers to spend some time in each other’s company. During this discussion parents and young people talked about parenting styles, shared and exchanged their experiences.
After the meeting, the youth went out for awareness raising activities for this day. They talked with fathers about the importance of being a parent involved in their children’s life and distributed some cards with ’16 Advises on How to Be a Good Father’, alongside with street action, young people started putting cards on cars which looked like car fines, order to attract more attention.
Both event were organized within the project “Men and Boys as Partners in Promoting Gender Equality and Preventing Violent Extremism among Young People in The Balkans”, implemented by CARE InternationalBalkans and partners and supported by the OAK Foundation and Austrian Development Agency.
#YMI #CareInternational #CARE #ProgramY #AustrianDevelopmentAgency #OAKFoundation
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