PROJECTING FUTURES
Perspectives of teachers, girls and boys in the Anta province of Cusco, Perú
What is expected of us plays an important role in how we see ourselves and our abilities.
This is particularly true for adolescents in schools, where gender-related norms and expectations can either inhibit or serve to empower the lives of boys and girls.
In 2018 the ALIGN Research Fund sponsored Projecting Futures, a research project led by Visionaria Network to assess the impact of the "Visionaria for Schools" programe on certain gender norms held by teachers and students.
This project is made possible with funding from the Advancing Learning and Innovation on Gender Norms (ALIGN), an initiative led by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) as part of a larger project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
About "Visionaria for Schools" (VfS)
The Visionaria for Schools (VfS) program aims to empower secondary school teachers to facilitate agency-based empowerment, leadership, and design-thinking experiences that activate the visions of young people in sustainable development efforts. It is currently being implemented in Cusco, Peru.
About "Projecting Futures"
Projecting Futures explores the gender norms held by teachers and students and how these interact with students’ future aspirations, behavior in class and important life decisions. By including teachers and students participating and not-participating in the program, the project also sought to answer whether and how the Visionaria for Schools impacted these norms during its first year of implementation.
Funding from ALIGN enabled the local Visionaria team and outside researchers to plan and conduct this research in addition to Visionaria Network’s existing monitoring and evaluation activities for VfS.
Through the use of photovoice, Projecting Futures engaged participants in a process of reflection, identification, questioning and discussion as they were tasked to represent their perspectives through photography and group activities. An empowering process for teachers and students in itself.