The GIAN Project
The Gender and Intercultural Awareness Network is a Grundtvig funded Learning Partnership administered in Ireland by Leargas. This project brought together partners from Ireland, France, Spain and Italy to identify good practice in the field of gender and intercultural education. Our aim is to provide teachers and trainers with tools to assist them in breaking down cultural and gender stereotypes within their classroom settings.
The project designed a training manual which is available for download here. If you need any additional information or would like support on using this document, please contact the Centre on 051 873064 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Also please visit our gallery page to view us at work.
Additional resources regarding this type of work can be found at:
National Youth Council of Ireland: NYCI focuses on issues that impact young people. As part of their programme they have a strong development education and intercultural unit that publish reports, lesson plans and provide training to youth workers. www.youth.ie
Trócaire: Trócaire is an Irish development charity that has an extensive online collection of lesson plans and workshop ideas. Their education resources section is divided by theme and covers both gender and intercultural work. www.trocaire.org
École: This website promotes several issues relating to the education of children and adults with a specific focus on equality, intercultural education and active citizenship and tools for addressing them within educational settings. http://www.ecolenet.it/
Oxfam: Oxfam’s education resources website includes a wide range of lesson plans, for all age groups, including areas such as gender, equality, racism and social justice.http://www.oxfam.org.uk/education/resources/category_topic.htm
Development Education.ie: This site provides links to a number of types of resources including publications, videos, cartoons and statistics covering both gender and intercultural issues. http://www.developmenteducation.ie/resources/
Amnesty International: Amnesty’s resource section provides lesson packs for primary and second level settings focusing on human rights issues in general. http://amnesty.ie/resources/education
Augusto Boal: For additional information on Augusto Boal and his methods, see http://www.theatreoftheoppressed.org/en/index.php?useFlash=0; http://www.ptoweb.org/boal.html; and the following youtube clips of the method in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvbMan2JWqM&feature=related; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VxqT_ZTU38&feature=related
There are a few print resources that are also worth mentioning that relate directly to the type of teaching methods advocated by this project:
Pike, G. & Selby, D. 1988. Global Teacher, Global Learner. London: Hodder &Stoughton.
Hope, A. & Timmel, S. 1999. Training for Transformation: A Handbook for Community Workers. London: ITDG Publishing.
Hill, L. 2001. Connecting Kids: Exploring Diversity Together. Canada: New Society Publishers.
Additional information can be accessed from the following:
Arcoiris: Arcoiris is a television channel accessed free of charge from the internet and includes independently produced material on gender and intercultural issues. Available in English, Italian, and Spanish. http://en.arcoiris.tv/
Africa Centre: The Africa Centre is a voluntary organisation that focuses on community empowerment, development education and influencing policy and is based within the African community in Ireland. Their website provides background information on the situation for immigrants living in Ireland. Available in English. http://www.africacentre.ie/
Banúlacht: Banúlacht is a feminist development education organisation located in Ireland that provides briefing papers and reports relating to gender and development. Available in English. http://www.banulacht.ie/
Demography in Figures: This website focuses on demographic data from Italy, broken down by year and category. Available in both Italian and English. http://www.demo.istat.it/index_e.html
Genrimages: This website focuses on the portrayal of gender in film and provides exercises to accompany many films that examine the portrayal of men and women. Available in French. http://www.genrimages.org/
Mix-Cité: Mix-Cité is a coeducational, feminist movement with the aim of equality between sexes. Their website provides background information and lesson plans that focus on equality between men and women, boys and girls. Available in French. http://www.mix-cite.org/
National Women’s Strategy,: This document was prepared by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform in Ireland and outlines the Irish government’s plan for mainstreaming gender equality throughout Ireland from 2007—2016. Available in English. http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/National%20Womens%20Strategy%20PDF.pdf/Files/National%20Womens%20Strategy%20PDF.pdf
Power and Gender: This website provides news, links, articles, meetings and services for women. Available in Italian. http://www.power-gender.org/
Psychological and Social Definitions: This website provides easily understood background information about psychological and social theories. Available in French. http://www.psychologie-sociale.com/index.php?
Racism in Italy: This website provides background information on racism in Italy including statistics, articles and links. Available in Italian. http://www.italiarazzismo.it/