PEGE offers online training for teachers around changing gender norms in the classroom.
Research
This online portal was developed based on 10 years of evaluation data from Programs H and M, evaluation studies of other virtual learning tools for teachers, and discussions with key government and education representatives.
Programming
PEGE provides online training for teachers to implement gender equality education with students in Brazilian public schools, with the goal of taking Programs H and M to scale in partnership with the public education sector.
The Portal for Gender Equality in Schools, or PEGE (“Portal Equidade de Gênero nas Escolas” in Portuguese) is an online teacher-training portal that aims to promote gender equality among both teachers and students in Brazil’s public school system. After years of programming and evaluation experiences in schools, Equimundo aimed to scale up its flagship initiatives, Programs H and M, which were designed with partners to promote discussion and critical reflection about gender norms with young men and women. PEGE was launched in 2011 to fulfill a demand for a tool designed for educators that could be used to spread the methodology behind Programs H and M to a larger audience. It has since become the centerpiece of Equimundo’s work in the education sector in Brazil, and is now being adapted for use with teachers in Croatia.
PEGE’s core activity is to increase educators’ and managers’ understanding of how social norms influence attitudes and behaviors around youth sexuality by making the course materials from Programs H and M accessible. Designed with education specialists and long-time group-education facilitators as a strategy for scaling up the programs in schools, PEGE’s training course offers virtual instruction for teachers on both the key concepts and implementation strategies for Programs H and M.
As an online education portal, PEGE allows visitors to combine methodologies to best meet their gender training and sexuality education needs, access sample workshop agendas, select from a menu of corresponding activities, and participate in online chat forums with technical specialists and other educators. The full six-month training program for teachers consists of 29 lessons about gender, sexuality, health and care, pregnancy, fatherhood and motherhood, and violence – and how to use these themes in the classroom. Lessons are offered weekly in the virtual learning environment, and the portal includes online forums for discussion and experience sharing, as well as periodic evaluations.
Equimundo and partners first developed the Program H and M methodologies in 1999 to engage youth in critical reflections on gender and to help them build skills to act in more empowered and equitable ways. The complementary interventions use educational workshops, community outreach strategies, and youth-led campaigns to empower young women to feel a sense of agency and control over their lives, and to sensitize young men to some of the harmful ways they are socialized and introduce them to more gender-equitable attitudes and behaviors.
Related Programs
- Program H: Designed for young men, Program H encourages critical reflection about rigid norms related to manhood and encourages transformation of stereotypical roles associated with gender.
- Program M: Designed for young women, Program M focuses on equitable gender roles, empowerment in interpersonal relationships, and sexual and reproductive health and rights.
- Program D: Designed for use with Program H and Program M, Program D combats homophobia and promotes diversity.