“Boys don’t cry….?” was a training which aimed at mainstreaming gender education in youth work. Organized by AHEAD, the Association of Human Rights Educators, the event took place in Spain, from April 24^th to May 2^nd. “Boys don’t cry…?” was funded through Youth in Action/European Commission and it brought together twenty youth workers from various countries, such as Lithuania, Romania, Spain, Georgia, Belarus, Armenia.  The course was 8 days long and it was part of the “Eastern Youth Window” program. Peace Agent Anca Gliga attended the training course as a participant on behalf of Peace Revolution

Focusing on subjects such as human rights, stereotypes, intercultural aspects, gender, the training aimed at encouraging participants to challenge their understanding of ‘normality’. Bringing together people with various cultural, educational and social backgrounds made the participants understand that what they perceived as ‘normal’ is not also other people’s ‘normal’. Thus, who defines normality and how is it defined?

Non formal education, experiential learning, theatre of the oppressed, role plays turned out to be, once again, extremely powerful methods for breaking barriers of understanding and stereotypes, for challenging opinions and for encouraging new mind sets. 

The training aimed not only at challenging the idea of ‘normality’, but also at creating strong follow up projects, that would represent solid initiatives for mainstreaming gender education in youth work.