International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. November 25 2015

Prevention is the 2015 theme  of the International Day for the Elimination of violence against women  on 25 November and of the UNiTE to End Violence against Women Campaign’s 16 days call for action. You can see more at: www.unwomen.org. The United Nations Secretary-General’s Campaign UNiTE to End Violence against Women invites you to "Orange the world: end violence against women and girls".  We have sixteen days (since November 25th till December 10th) to collaborate by using the toolkit and sharing our photos, messages and videos showing how we can  orange our world at facebook.com using #orangetheworld.

I would  also like to tell you about  www.plan-uk.org,  a webpage with plenty of resources  that you can use to raise students' awareness of the need to fight for a world in which girls and women can live safe from violence, go to school without fear, marry who they want and have their voices heard.

As I  focus my councelling in school contexts and as most of my readers work in school contexts too, I have chosen a resource that fosters reflection on  how violence  against girls can take place  in or around schools. You can find it here. 

The following video can serve as a starting point:

My humble contribution to this campaign of prevention outlined above can very well include a song because I cannot agree more with Hans Christian Andersen when he said that  "where words fail, music speaks".  On this occasion, my choice is "Try", by American singer Colbie Caillat. I consider this is an empowering  song because I believe that the best prevention starts by making young girls understand that they do not have to be someone else in order to make others happy. The lyrics convey this message very effectively. I hope your students will enjoy the song as much as I do. If you wish, you can carry out  an activity on it.