Youth Power organized a street action called “Exclude Violence Against Women”, where over 60 young people, volunteers and students from the schools YP cooperate with, marched through the streets of Mostar to raise awareness among citizens about this problem, that we all should work together to eradicate this problem.
Youth Power regularly celebrates 16 days of activism each year with online campaigns or posting promotional videos on their social pages, and this year they decided to draw attention to this issue in a slightly different way. 60 young people marched through the streets of Mostar, carrying messages against violence and they were sharing information leaflets of the problem of violence against women that is represented worldwide. One of the goals of the action was to remind the citizens of Mostar that we are all responsible as a society when it comes to violence, and that we should all act together when we see violence and work to prevent it.
Nedim Mičijević, program manager of Youth Power said that the action also represents a continuation of many years of collaboration with the eight high schools they are working with.
“We implemented this action as part of the YMI project and it represents the continuation of many years of cooperation with eight high schools in our Canton. The action was joined by students from all high schools and together we sent a message against violence among women. The action took place as part of 16 days of international activism in combating violence against women. The sad fact is that one in four women is a victim of violence, and it is suspected that this number is much higher because there are many women who do not report violence, so we want today’s action to encourage the citizens of Mostar to respond to violence when they see it and to work to prevent it, ”said Mičijević
Emina Jusufbegović, expert advisor for secondary education from the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the CNC / HNZ, mentioned that the ministry has been successfully cooperating with the Youth Power for 6 years and she mentioned the projects that they are implementing together.
We, as educational institutions, can work to educate young people in raising awareness, starting at an early age, and implementing various prevention programs in primary and secondary schools. For 6 years, we have been successfully working with Youth Power, who put the biggest focus on high schools. There were also projects, in collaboration with them, that we also implemented in primary schools. Raising awareness and creating values that are durable and that entail dignity and equality is our mission. ”Said Emina
Alma Drljevic, a school pedagogue of the High School in Mostar, spoke about the workshops they are conducting in collaboration with Youth Power.
“We came today to support the action to fight against violence against women and all other forms of violence. Our school has been implementing prevention programs for many years in the prevention of violence, which we carry out together with Youth Power. Youth Power educates our peer educators who later pass on the learned knowledge to all other students in our school in class community classes. We do different programs, workshops and activities to say NO to violence, ”Alma said.
The activity was implemented as part of the YMI project “Promoting Healthier Lifestyle among Young People in Bosnia and Herzegovina by Challenging Gender Stereotypes II”, supported by the Governments of Switzerland, OAK Foundation, Austrian Development Agency and CARE International Bosnia and Herzegovina.