What you can do

(see further down for special actions for younger and older members and co-educative settings)

Design a  Poster!  – Start the debate and show your support by creating and putting up a poster on the theme in your school, meeting place, home or your car. Use the Unifem overview and facts and figures and logos as basis for your poster and include the WAGGGS logo too. We are collecting posters at WAGGGS as well. You can email your entries to Katharine@wagggsworld.org
Shine a light – light a candle to raise awareness of the fact that up to 70 per cent of women experience violence from men in their lifetime.
Update your status – put ‘say no to violence against women and girls’ on your facebook, twitter, Unite4Climate or other social network account and tell all your friends to do it as well.
Install website banner – download the say no website banner and display it on your personal, group or national association website to inform others about the campaign.
Watch Nicole Kidman – watch and share the video messages from Nicole Kidman, Unifem Goodwill Ambassador and other interesting videos about fighting violence.
Collect signatures – download the signup sheet and collect supporting signatures in your group, school, family and community.
Defend yourself – offer, organize or attend a self defence class for girls and women. Self defence is a very effective way to prevent violence against girls and women
Hold a fundraiser – raise funds through a fun activity and donate the money to a local organization supporting victims of violence against women.
Play – this empowerment game is a great way to raise awareness with young and old:
Form two rows facing each other and forming a narrow corridor. Ask for a volunteer to stand at the beginning of the corridor. Explain that this volunteer is a young woman feeling vulnerable and scared; she doesn’t know what lies ahead and fears for her safety. Then the young woman walks along the corridor and the people lined up at each side whisper encouraging and friendly messages to her. Ask the volunteer how her feelings changed due to the support of her surroundings and discuss the outcomes with the whole group.

FOR YOUNGER MEMBERS (up to 10 years old)

Picture a strong woman – ask the children to make a drawing or sketch of a strong woman. How does it demonstrate that the woman is strong? What is she holding in her hands, how is she dressed, what might be her job, how many children has she got, what are her hobbies?

FOR OLDER MEMBERS (16 years and older)

Learning by doing: support and prevention – visit a home or support organization for women who fell victim to violence and find out what you can do to support their work. Also find out how to protect yourself from violence and what you can do if you or somebody close to you is affected.

FOR CO-EDUCATIVE SETTINGS

Combat violence together – Most of the above actions are easily adaptable for a co-educative sessions. However, the voice of boys and men is key in the debate on violence against women and the issue should be addressed especially in a co-educative setting to enable young people to grow into responsible adults. Try this role play to stimulate discussion:
Split the group in groups of three and outline the start of the story: a boy’s friend is bragging about how he slapped his girlfriend for flirting with another boy. Let each group play their own version how the story continues. Discuss why people get angry, what would justify somebody slapping somebody else. Also discuss how this scenario might have unfolded if it were two a girl being upset about her boyfriend flirting with another girl. Use recent high profile violence cases – such as Rhianna and Chris Brown – as examples.