By Brian Stevens | Donor Engagement Director
You Are Building a Movement to Prevent Violence Against Women & Girls With Disabilities
Thank you for your faithful support for Beyond Borders’ ‘Free, Educate, and Empower Girls in Haiti’ project on GlobalGiving. I am grateful for your generosity and solidarity!
You Make the Work of 500 Volunteer Activists Reaching 20,000 Community Members Possible
You are helping to build a movement led by more than 500 volunteer activists who have already reached 20,000 community members in the last year with messages about dignity and equality for all -- including women and girls living with disabilities.
As in-person, community-level programming resumed in full after a pause due to COVID-19 -- with personal protective practices in place -- Beyond Borders’ staff -- supported by your generosity -- worked with activism network members to achieve several mobilization campaigns.
As in-person activities resumed, the team conducted refresher trainings and in-person technical support with activism network members as they restarted in-person work to mobilize communities. More than 20 workshops were held with activists. Girls’ groups resumed regular programming, implementing more than 300 activities, and mentors conducted special outreach with parents to strengthen their engagement.
Using Safe and Capable* posters and quick chats, the team engaged more than 3,000 local residents this past quarter in conversations to promote community support for women and girls living with disabilities and actions to prevent and respond to acts of violence against them. When adding community gatherings, local radio broadcasts, door-to-door visits, parent outreach and other girls’ group activities, and the popular theatre performances held by a partner organization, an estimated 8,000 people were reached through Safe and Capable programming during the period.
Communities Act to Include Women & Girls Living with Disabilities in Local Activities
Community residents observed during community mobilization activities demonstrated increased knowledge and transformed beliefs about the inclusion of women and girls living with disabilities and the violence they face, and locals are taking steps to facilitate the participation of women and girls living with disabilities at community activities.
In addition, recent advocacy efforts conducted by a local women’s leadership group and community activists are evidence of both their capacity and the effectiveness of Safe and Capable at instigating local initiatives to drive relevant, sustainable change. These activists are urging local governments to ensure accessibility to public spaces for women and girls living with disabilities.
Your Support is Training People From All Walks of Life to Prevent Violence
Your gift is also supporting work with 166 community leaders, professionals, and service providers, equipping them with new skills, tools, and strategies to increase the inclusion of women and girls living with disabilities in socio-professional circles and in communities too. Here’s a look at who your generosity has helped to train:
- 16 Health Workers
- 30 Religious Leaders
- 25 Community Leaders
- 27 Domestic Violence Response Organization Members
- 16 Radio Personnel
- 27 Model Couples (54 individuals)
- 25 Advocacy Committee Members
Your Generosity is Helping to Train Teachers to Use Safe and Capable
Your generosity is also helping to organize workshops during monthly School Focal Point meetings to continue building the capacity of educators to use Safe and Capable materials within their ongoing Power to Girls implementation. Workshop sessions provided strategies for educators to promote Safe and Capable themes both in school and in their communities.
These workshops were also supportive in addressing the challenges caused by turnover in school personnel as well as this year’s unorthodox school calendar due to COVID-19. Project staff were able to repeat many sessions covered earlier in the project period to reinforce Safe and Capable concepts. At future monthly meetings with School Focal Points, additional sessions will be held to strengthen capacity through facilitation practice.
*Safe and Capable seeks to prevent violence against women and girls with disabilities, and to promote the rights and autonomy of women and girls with disabilities. Safe and Capable is supported by the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UN Trust Fund), the only global grant-making mechanism dedicated exclusively to addressing all forms of violence against women and girls at the local and national levels. The funds raised support initiatives that have a specific and sustainable impact.
Your Support is Expanding the Network of Girls Clubs, Adding 18 New Clubs
You are also helping to expand Beyond Borders’ network of Girls Clubs, with plans to add 18 new clubs this year. Each Girls Club is a place where girls know they belong, where they are respected, and can be heard. Your generosity also mobilizes the community to protect girls from abuse and exploitation. That’s because the Girls Clubs are at the center of a broader community-wide initiative to transform how girls are seen and to end the violence and discrimination they face.
You Are Equipping Girls To Be a Force for Positive Change in Their Communities
So, inside and outside Girls Glubs, you are helping girls discover that they are of equal value and you are equipping girls to be a force for positive change in their communities. Your support surrounds girls with mentors who are working tirelessly to end violence against women and girls and create a more equal path for them to walk. Too few people see the critical role girls can play in transforming Haiti. Your generosity shows that you realize what a powerful force for positive change that girls can be in Haiti -- and that you are committed to helping them tear down the barriers they face. Thank you!
The George Washington University’s Global Women's Institute Releases a Baseline Report on the Work You Make Possible
Thanks to you and so many supporters like you who have invested deeply in this movement-building work, our team is continuing its multi-year collaboration with the Global Women's Institute (GWI) at the George Washington University -- first launched in 2016 -- to measure the impact and effectiveness of Beyond Borders' programs to prevent violence against women and girls (VAWG).
Beyond Borders is proud to share one product of this collaboration: a just-released baseline report from the GWI that presents "an in-depth diagnosis of the situation of different types of VAWG in this part of Haiti," and " ... attempts to be the most comprehensive diagnosis done on VAWG in this area."
While the GWI final report won't be complete until next year, this baseline study will be useful in both improving Beyond Borders’ current programs to prevent VAWG and will contribute to the evidence base for future programs and policies to prevent gender-based violence throughout Haiti. You can find the link to the full report in the links section at the end of this report.
What Girls Are Saying About Girls Clubs
One of the best ways to share the impact of your support is for you to hear directly from those whose lives you’ve touched. Here are testimonials from three girls who are members of Girls Clubs that you help make possible though your generosity:
“Long ago when I had a little money, I would buy things with it, more than I needed. Because of the girls’ group, now I’ve learned how to manage my money. During the period of Coronavirus, schools were closed. I stayed at home, and I asked my mother to help me create a small business baking bread. I started out with a tin can of flour, but thanks to the education I received at my girls’ group about how to manage money, today my business has grown, and I purchase a sack of flour and other ingredients, as well as other products that I re-sell for profit.”
- Sherly, girls’ group participant with an intellectual disability
“Before coming to the girls’ group, I really lacked confidence. Sometimes I was ashamed to ask for support because I didn’t want other people to judge me. Now, thanks to the education I’ve received at my girls’ group, I’ve come to understand that I am a person just like everyone else, and the disability doesn’t remove any of my value as a human being. I’m no longer ashamed to request support.”
- Uclide, girls’ group participant with a physical disability
“My Power to Girls girls’ group has a lot of importance in my life. The Safe and Capable module has helped me have so much more confidence in myself, because I have learned so much. I learned that I am living with a health condition rather than a disability. I have the same power as everyone else, and I can do all the same things others can do, it’s just I do it with a physical health condition. I’ve accepted how I am. Now, it’s the people in my community and the people in my home who need to adjust around me in a way so that [my health condition doesn’t become a disability].”
- Yveline, girls group participant
Thank You Again
Thank you again for all that you are making possible through your generous support for Beyond Borders' ‘Free, Educate, and Empower Girls in Haiti’ project on GlobalGiving. We are deeply grateful for your solidarity in these challenging times.
You are building the movement to prevent violence against women and girls and ensure that every day more and more girls and women in Haiti are living free from violence, discrimination, and inequality. If you have any questions about what you read in this report, please contact Brian Stevens, Beyond Borders’ Donor Engagement Director, at (305) 450-2561 or b.stevens@beyondborders.net.
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
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