Recrear Gender

for global youthstrategy

Gender ManifestoAt RECREAR, we believe in an expansive gender philosophystimulated by human rights and sustainable development, aset of human values that transcend cultural diversity anduncommon grounds. Our strategy is built specifically toaddress various types of needs and shortcomings in theyouth sector, accepting that education and equalitymainstreaming at an early age can combat gender-gaprelated problems.

As an international platform of young socialinnovators we are committed to foster personalidentity and self-determination, to promote equalityregardless of race, gender, class, religion or anyother factor that might result in a disproportionateaccess to claiming rights, resources andopportunities.

We distinguish gender identity and expression from sexualpreferences and we are devoted to empower young peopleeverywhere to embrace their own personal orientation. Ouractivities and projects will reflect an inclusive open spacewhere young people will gracefully and respectfullychallenge genderism, combat sexism and enhance thegrowth of their communities by advocating for the unity,dignity and respect of all individuals.

Goal

Our goal is to entrust young people to identifytransformative measures that would target theirgender-related needs and to analyze ways totransform public attitudes and behaviors towardsgender stereotypes.

In our workshops and participatory activities we are concerned withyouths' routines, values and personal ambitions and we are eager todiagnose systemic gender barriers that influence the way the younggeneration approaches success and personal development.

In order to achieve our goals we are committed to ensure equalparticipation of young men and women but this task can provedifficult in societies or small groups where women feel lesscomfortable expressing themselves and assuming authoritypositions. This proves the existence of an extensive need forchallenging gender dynamics and encouraging young women toovercome stereotypical assertions.

Gender Gap Agenda

Recrear believes that change is a personalized experience andin order to change our community, we must first work onchanging ourselves. We encourage young people to becomeintrospective and realize the consequences of gender in theirlives. Only after we personalize change, it can becomesustainable and long lasting.

We believe in a self-engagement and inquisitorial approachto change and we are determined to IDENTIFY genderbarriers, BYPASS them through a youth vision and gathercollective personalized ideals that would create a perpetualsocial ADVANCEMENT.

IDENTIFY

BYPASS DEVELOP

By applying this approach in our participatory activities, wewant youth to achieve resilience and self-confidence. Wewant women and men to self-advocate and use proactivetechniques that would positively impact their communities.We believe that resilience is built by giving an adequateanswer to social adversity and by connecting withcommunities that are actively engaged in transformingideals.

In our future participatory gender exercises we will focus on thefollowing questions that we think will help our members understandand revise gender dynamics:

What is gender and how does it affect me?What has been the role of the public and private sector inconstructing my gender identity?What gender implications can I identify in my short and long-termgoals?How can I overcome gender barriers and stereotypes?What does it take for a collective transformation of genderdynamics?What changes might be needed to increase gender balance orsocial inclusion?

PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH FOCUS AREAS

Aside from our direct interaction with young people, we aredetermined to include gender in all our participatoryresearch projects in an attempt to overcome the absence ofsex disaggregated data used by decision makers to measuredevelopment. Our main areas of focus are:

GENDER ROLES IN THE YOUTH SECTORYOUTH EMPOWERMENT AND LEADERSHIPYOUTH + LGBT POLICY ANALYSISGENDER ROLES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIESGENDER IN CONFLICT AND POST-CONFLICTURBAN AND RURAL GENDER DYNAMICS

PRINCIPLESOperating under the same key principles, our gender strategy will reflect:

Inclusiveness:We feel that every person has valuable insight and skills that used toadvance gender equality and dynamics. We work to make sure youths'voices can be articulated and have a channel to be heard beyond socialgender background. We believe that parents and guardians are alsoimportant actors in our gender reform and we are committed to hearingtheir voices.

Diversity:We operate under the premise that genderdiversity is imperative to yielding creativeand powerful initiatives that have thepotential to transform a community andsociety. We encourage diversity inexperience, personality, nationality, andbelief within our networks.

Collaboration:We believe in the importance of bridging the missions of like-mindedindividuals and organizations to work together in fulfilling our sharedvisions. We seek collaborations with all types of private and publicactors that are committed to the same gender ideals.

Community:

We are committed to learning from every interaction with ournetwork. We utilize our community to maximize the effectiveness andimpact of all of our projects.

Reflection:

We don't just do, we think and reflect on every step we take. We striveto be an organization that can contribute critically to the internationaldevelopment discourse. We are an echo chamber for young people'svisions and ideas

ACTORS

We believe that everyone can be an active actor in thetransformation of gender dynamics. Young people are actors in thesense that they are constructing the fundamental ideas of futuregender interactions. Adults are also actors in their roles as models,caregivers and teachers. We will focus on facilitating an honest and productivecommunication between the young generation and their parents,guardians and teachers in order to make them adjust their genderexpectations while providing them with the right tools in order toexpand the gender awareness of their communities.

2014-2015 action plan

Create a set of exercises to study gender dynamics. Gender campaigns and members engagement to ensure the strategyis participatoryIntegrate gender into ongoing projectsMedia outreach should include gender related content Work towards a 50-50 membership alignment after getting a clearpicture of the gender organization in Recrear Developing activities to increase information to women in marginalised groups

Participate in gender networks and agree joint strategies. Activities to link together individuals and groups working for genderequalityEstablish budget allocations for staff capacity-building activitiesgender equality initiativesEstablish a clear implementation and monitoring strategyGender workshop for international members