Youth Power is one of the three major project partners, and the project activity bearer for the Mostar and Hercegovačko – Neretvanski canton and the general areas of Herzegovina.
Project Young Men Initiative – promoting healthy lifestyles among youth in Bosnia and Herzegovina by contesting gender stereotypes II or Young Men Initiative II (YMI II) started on 1.12.2017. and it is supported by the Swiss Government, the OAK Foundation, the Austrian Development Agency and CARE Germany – Luxembourg.
Young Men Initiative is connected to the CARE’s all-inclusive and programmatic efforts to combat interpersonal and gender-based violence as well as to improve gender equality in Bosnia and Herzegovina and to work on prevention issues related to extremism and youth violence. Young Men Initiative II will be implemented in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of Srpska and three cantons of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( Hercegovačko – Neretvanski canton, Canton Sarajevo and the third canton will be selected in the first quarter of the first project year). This project will be focused on youth, especially young men who are subject to violence and their antisocial behavior through the strengthening of relevant skills, knowledge and attitudes leading to the improvement of behaviors associated with gender equality and nonviolence.
This project aims to increase and include earlier achievements related to the implementation of the Program Y, through targeted advocacy and close co-operation with relevant interested sides through support of building a movement/ coalition through the development of new alliances involving parents and citizens in support educational programs for life skills aimed at gender equality. Relevant interested sides include the ministries of education at entity and country levels, academic institutions, high schools, gender agencies, media and other relevant interested sides.
The goal of the intervention is to deal with harmful lifestyles who are affecting both young men and women. It is also our intent at this stage to introduce a social enterprise and a coalition of citizens with state administration to actively promote/ address issues pf gender equality, prevention of gender-based violence, life skills and health education at school. Through the work with local NGOs who are active in promoting gender equality and youth development, it will reach a larger percentage of young people with the aim of learning important life skills and to apply gender mainstreaming and behaviors in practice. In co-operation and synergy with other similar initiatives that are undertakes by governments and other international non-governmental organizations, this project would contribute to the overall reduction of violent incidents at school and community where are young people involved as well as the increase of healthy, non-violent and gender-based attitudes and behaviors mentioned by targeting groups of young people.
