PAVING THE WAY FOR CHANGE: How Protect Our Youth Clubs Are Helping Students Challenge Norms and Confront School-Related GBV

The qualitative assessment used focus group discussions (FGDs), key informant interviews (KII), and ‘most significant change’ methodology to document changes resulting from students’ participation in co-ed Protect Our Youth Clubs in secondary schools in Malawi. The data suggest that Protect Our Youth Clubs play a catalytic role in empowering students to better respond to and prevent school-related GBV in a way that promotes gender equality and provides an alternative lens through which they can challenge rigid and harmful gender norms. The findings also showed that engaging boys to interrogate and challenge stereotypes about masculinity and power dynamics in their own lives not only sparked a change in their own thinking around traditional gender roles and expectations, but also built their capacity as champions and change agents.

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