As a result of a co-operation between researchers on Åland and in Latvia within the project Challenging Gender Roles for Prevention of Trafficking, the ÅIPI can present the report Effects of the girl and boy group method – A gender and social psychology perspective on gender equality youth work on Åland and in Latvia.

It is an effort to initiate scientific knowledge and interest on the girl and boy group method that has been used in the Nordic countries and elsewhere for some time and where Åland has been an eager actor. However, not much structured and comparative documentation and evaluation has taken place. In the report the effects of praticipation in girl or boy groups in relation to gender norms, gender equality, social attitudes and empowerment.

Within the project Challenging Gender Roles for Prevention of Trafficking consultant Mia Hanström wrote a method book for girl and boy groups. The manual vas edited by Jenny jonstoij and Ulrika Navier and published in Swedish and Latvian in 2011 by the Ålands Island Peace Institute and Resource Center for Women Marta in Latvia.

The manual (in Swedish) can be downloaded in pdf here.

On the 15th of December a closing conference of the project Challengng Gender Roles for Prevention of Trafficking was held in Swedish on Åland.

At this conference the project results were presented.

- 29 girl and boy groups have been run within the project and all together approximately 230 young people have been involved in the group activities.
- A new girl and boy group method manual has been produced within the project. The girl and boy group leaders have been involved in the process of writing the manual, giving comments and including practical exercises in it. The manual is available in Swedish and Latvian. Read more here.
- The research conducted within the project is one of the first evaluating the method. The research report is available in English, Swedish and Latvian. Read more here.
 - Two information campaigns have been run within the project; “What is gender equality” and “FAIR SEX”.  The Fair Sex campaign has been developed into a workshop, which will be given to all students in the second year of upper secondary school.   Read more about Fair sex here.

 In addition to project staff and consultants from Åland, two international guests held speeches. Ms Iluta Lace, Manager of Resource Center for women Marta in Latvia shared how the introduction and implementation of the girl and boy group in Latvia has worked out. The ÅIPI also welcomed Mr Magnus Sjögren, Swedish expert on gender issues and one of the initiators of developing methodologies for boy group activities.

On the Swedish version of this site pdf:s of power points in Swedish, presented during the conference, can be downloaded.

Read more about the project on the project website, here.

The Peace Institute’s first long-term project with Yuva, a women’s organization in Baku/Azerbaijan, officially started on October 1, 2011. Yuva is, just as the Peace Institute, a non-profit, non-governmental organization that promotes the rights of women and  the participation of women in decision-making process on all levels of society. The project centers around the Nordic Girl group method which shall now be introduced also in Azerbaijan. The Peace Institute will support Yuva in establishing a girl club in one of Baku’s most disadvantaged districts, where Yuva will offer meaningful after-school activities with a feminist perspective. The Girl Group method will be part of the activities offered, as well as IT and English courses, which right now are extremely popular among the youth of Azerbaijan.

The EU-financed project Challenging Gender Roles for Prevention of Trafficking is about to close, which will be marked through two closing conferences. On the 8th of December there will be a closing conference in Riga, where project partner Resource Center for Women, Marta, has organized a programme where the project results will be presented. During the project time the Nordic Girl and Boy Group Method has been introduced in Latvia, and group leaders and project staff will tell about experiences made. In addition, the project researchers will present fresh results from research about the effectiveness of the method, a theme that has not previously been much explored.

On the 15th of December a closing conference will be held in Swedish on Åland. At this conference a newly published manual for boy and girl group leaders will be launched, and results from research will be presented to the audience on Åland. In addition to project staff and consultants from Åland, two international guests are invited to give speeches. Ms Iluta Lace, Manager of Resource Center for women Marta in Lativa will share how the introduction and implementation of the girl and boy group in Latvia has worked out. The ÅIPI is also happy to welcome Mr Magnus Sjögren, Swedish expert on gender issues and one of the initiators of developing methodologies for boy group activities.

The conference will be hled between 1 p.m and 5 p.m in the hotel Pommern in Mariehamn.

More information about the project can be found here.

Nyhetsbrev från Ålands fredsinstitut
Newsletter from the Åland Islands Peace Institute

Slutkonferens för projekt mot sexuellt våld/ Closing conference of project against sexual violence
Workshops om Fair Sex på gymnasiet/ Workshops on Fair sex in Upper Secondary Schools
Ny publikation om Ålandsexemplet/New publication about the Åland Example
God jul!/ Merry Christmas!

Ladda ner nyhetsbrevet i pdf här.

The newsletter in pdf can be downloaded here.

Today, 25th of November is marked as The International day for the elimination of violence against women. The ÅIPI highlights this day throug publishing two blog pieces. One, in Swedish, is written by Project manager Jenny Jonstoij and deals with Nordic circumstances. the other blog piece named Gender based violence in Azerbaijan is written by Gunel Isakova, volunteer at the ÅIPI.

The International day for the elimination of violence against women was designated by UN in 1999. The resolution established that the violence against women hinders to achieve the equality in the society, in legal, social, political and economic sense. Violence against women refers to any physical, sexual or psychological aggression, in a public or in a private sphere.

For more information:

Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)

The Åland Islands Peace Institute’s latest publication, an edited volume entitled “The Åland Example and Its Components – Relevance for International Conflict Resolution”, was launched on 1 November 2011 in the framework of an international conference that attracted more than 100 participants, among them prominent diplomats, politicians and scholars. (Read more about the conference here.)

The publication presents the conclusions from a research project that has ben conducted during 2010 and 2011. The original research project followed two strands; continuity and change as characteristics of the Åland Regime on the one hand, and the Åland Example as a tool in international conflict resolution on the other. Sia Spilopoulou Åkermark, Sarah Stephan and Heidi Öst have outlined features of both continuity and change in what can be classified as the three components of the Åland Example: the autonomy regime and its institutional design, the demilitarisation and neutralization, and the cultural and linguistic safeguards of the minority protection regime.

While conflict resolution literature covers a wide area of subjects, there has been limited attention paid to the role of territorial autonomy as a possible conflict resolution tool. Moving beyond the formal aspects of the division of competences between center and periphery, the present book achieves a dual goal. It develops an analytical tool for understanding the durability and robustness of evolving autonomy arrangements.

Further it documents and analyses how the Åland Example and its three major components (autonomy, demilitarization and language and culture safeguards) have been used in specific disputes and conflict situations, including in the Caucasus, in Kashmir, in Japan, in East Timor, Tibet and the Israel-Palestine conflict. The book represents a unique combination of theoretical
insights with the experiences of well-known diplomats and politicians.

The volume further features contributions by Professor Emeritus Yash Ghai, who has provided a comparative perspective, Professor Kjell-Åke Nordquist, who has written on the use of the Åland Example in connection with the negotiations on the international status of East Timor in the end of the 1990s”, Dr. Fuijo Ohnishi, who contributed with an analysis on the Japanese perspectives on the Åland Example and by Member of Parliament Elisabeth Nauclér who has written on her experience in the application of the Åland Example, among others on the Balkans.

Spiliopoulou Åkermark, Stephan and Öst had the opportunity to interview prominent diplomats, politicians and scholars, namely Heikki Talvitie, Jan Eliasson, Pär Stenbäck, Terhi Hakala, Thorvald Stoltenberg and Sten Widmalm, on the use of the Åland example in relation to the conflicts in Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Kashmir, South Sudan and Israel-Palestine.

On Tuesday 1 November 2011 over a hundred participants from different parts of the world gathered in Mariehamn Åland for the international conference with the title "The Åland Example and its components - Relevance for International Conflict Resolution".  The conference was organised by the Åland Islands Peace Institute, as a closing conference of the research project ”The Åland Example: Still of Global Interest and Relevance?” Simoultaneously a publication including the results of the research was launched.

Pictures taken at the conference by photographer Lukrecija Bielskyte

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