Clubs

Last edited: January 03, 2012

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A club is a type of community group that brings together community members around particular fields of interest or activities. One may propose to integrate campaign action into the activities of existing clubs, or stimulate the emergence of new clubs dedicated to supporting an existing campaign. Activists’ kits or special kits for clubs can suggest specific activities and help promote a coherent message. In reading / book clubs, members discuss texts they have read (or they read to illiterate members).

Examples:

A popular example is the Soul Buddyz Club, a platform initiated by Soul City in South Africa, where children interact to be proactive, responsible agents of change within their communities. Some 2.000 schools and libraries are affiliated to the Soul Buddyz movement.

In Orissa State (India), the We Can campaign co-operates with a State-wide network of women’s self-help groups, which exist even in the most remote communities, to animate discussion on gender equality and violence against women.

Case Study: “My Strength Is Not for Hurting” campaign

The original campaign was launched in February 2001 by Men Can Stop Rape, a US organization, to prevent rape and other forms of dating violence among youth. The primary target audience was male youth in public high schools in Washington, DC. Secondary target audiences were their female counterparts and school administrators, nurses, teachers, and coaches.

The campaign model has been adopted in various communities in the USA and South Africa. In 2005, the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CALCASA) launched the My Strength Campaign in California to engage high school-age males (14-18 years) as allies in preventing sexual violence. The campaign consisted of two main components: a state-wide media component and Men of Strength (MOST) Clubs in high schools at six “pilot sites”. The key purpose of MOST clubs was to build participants’ capacity to recognize dominant images of masculinity, challenge their harmful aspects and develop masculine “counter stories” to prevent violence.

The campaign ran for one academic year. An evaluation survey comparing students in high schools with and without MOST clubs found that exposure to the campaign was consistently associated with small but positive differences in social climate and attitudes at schools. This effect was stronger where the state-wide media component was complemented by MOST clubs.

Visit the campaign website in English and Spanish.

Read the evaluation of the campaign.