A Young People’s Toolkit on Issues Connected to Gender-Based Violence: Raising Awareness on Roles & Responsibilities in Relationships

This toolkit, designed for facilitators and staff who work with young people in a variety of organisations in Cambodia, is focused on issues connected to gender-based violence. It is intended to be used with young people who are entering adulthood, between 15 and 18 (potentially extended up to age 25) years of age. It was developed through a programme called the “Promotion of Women’s Rights” (PWR) implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft Für Technische Zusammenarbeit (German Technical Cooperation - GTZ) in co-operation with the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA) of the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC). The programme was funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). GTZ and the MoWA carried out research through focus group discussions with young people, then designed and wrote the manual and other relevant tools, piloted them, and then re-wrote the toolkit.

Toolkit objectives are the following:

• To raise awareness amongst young people on issues connected to gender-based violence, specifically: child rights; culture and gender inequalities; sexual relationships; sexual violence and exploitation; relationships in the family and domestic violence; and alcohol and drug use.
  
• To encourage young people to reflect critically upon the world in which they live and their own experiences and to apply that learning to their life and relationships.
  
• To help young people acquire some of the knowledge and skills they need to protect themselves and make the transition from childhood to adulthood easier to negotiate.
  
• To help young people build self-confidence.
  
• To encourage young people to become informal advocates of positive, non-violent relationships with family, friends, and sexual partners.
  

The toolkit contains:

• The toolkit manual (available online).
  
• “Our Strength Is Not For Hurting” - a series of posters advocating that men and boys can take action against sexual abuse.
  
• A booklet of energetic and fun games.
  
• A disc of audio recordings of songs and interviews to accompany sessions in chapter 6 of the manual, “Real People, Real Lives”.
  
• "Please Stop & Think”- a DVD on child self-protection from sexual abuse and exploitation.
  
• A disc of the "Young People’s Toolkit" (YPT) manual and materials.
  
• Moun Mara’s song on drug addiction for session 8, chapter 5.
  

The toolkit manual is divided into: 1) an Introduction and 2) Monitoring and Evaluation plus six different chapters:

1. Foundation;
   
2. Culture & Gender;
   
3. Families & Relationships;
   
4. Sexual Relationships;
   
5. Alcohol & Drugs;
   
6. Real People, Real Lives.
   

Each chapter starts with an introduction explaining what topics the chapter covers and the main aims of that chapter. Each chapter contains sessions that take between one and two hours to facilitate. The toolkit manual contains 56 sessions in total. Sessions contain information for the facilitators on:

• The purpose of the session.
• The resources needed to facilitate that session.
  
• The time needed to facilitate the session.
  
• Notes to help facilitators work more effectively.
  
• A step by step description of what to do in each session.
  
• Resource sheets of which there are two different kinds: some can be photocopied and handed out to participants or used as materials in the session and others provide more detailed information on one aspect of the session to help guide the facilitator.
  
• “Ideas Into Action”: some sessions include activities related to the sessions that participants can do with their families or communities after the workshop.