Dr. Ravi Verma - Regional Director, ICRW Asia Regional Office - DFID Girl Summit 2014

"Gender attitudes and norms, such as those around the roles and responsibilities of women and men, are learned at a young age." - International Center for Research on Women (ICRW)

Spotlight A7 - "The Role of Health, Education & Social Care Professionals in Creating Change"

Context: This presentation is from one of the 14 "Spotlights on Progress" video-recorded sessions from the Girl Summit 2014, London, United Kingdom (UK). The sessions were organised to share best practice between practitioners, grassroots activists, and government ministers across the issues of female genital mutilation (FGM) (also FGM/C - female genital mutilation/cutting) and child, early, and forced marriage (CEFM). The Girl Summit is a project of the Department for International Development (DFID), UK. This particular spotlight shares stories about inspiring teachers and committed health workers, as well as evidence from around the world showing how health and education systems and services can connect with communities.

Profile of speaker: As Regional Director for the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW)'s Asia Regional Office in New Delhi, India, Dr. Ravi Verma leads ICRW's local and regional efforts to conduct research, provide technical support, build capacity, and partake in policy dialogue on an array of issues, including reproductive health, family planning, preventing domestic violence, child marriage, engaging men and boys to empower women, HIV/AIDS, and economic development. He has significant experience and background in social sciences and social demography, which informs his work in examining norms that are deeply embedded in human behaviour and social phenomena. Amongst his endeavours, he mentors a team of young aspiring researchers.

Strategy overview: In his presentation "Gender Equality Movement in Schools, India", which can be viewed in the video below, Dr. Verma presented lessons from ICRW's Gender Equity Movement in Schools (GEMS) programme. GEMS included a curriculum to engage young girls and boys, aged 12-14 years, to discuss and critically reflect on the issues related to inequitable gender norms and violence. This was layered with the existing school curriculum and also used extracurricular activities, role-playing, and games. The programme focused on working with girls and boys, breaking down gender hierarchies and teaching that power is not about control - it is about respect. [Details about this endeavour and associated resources are available at the Related Summaries section, below.]

Dr. Verma explained that going into schools to work with children helped create lasting norm changes with the expectation that, as they grow up, they can pass on the norm change to their communities and their own children. Teachers were trained to be less "top down" and more inclusive in their teaching style; according to Dr. Verma, this meant, in turn, that they better engaged with the children they were teaching. This also ensured that children absorbed much better messages about tackling harmful gender norms.

Dr. Verma said that GEMS has demonstrated results in Mumbai of lasting attitudinal change to support equitable norms. The programme has since been adapted and implemented in other areas of India, Bangladesh, and Vietnam.

Overview of this Summit session: "Change is underway. Health, education and social care systems and those within them can make it go faster and further. This spotlight will share exciting stories and evidence from around the world: stories of inspiring teachers and committed health workers - and evidence for how health and education systems and services can connect with communities." Following an introduction by Edward Timpson MP Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Children & Families in the Department for Education, England, the Chair of this session, Jane Ellison, MP Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Public Health at the Department of Health, moderated the panel of speakers. In order of appearance, they are:

• Dr. Guyo Jaldesa, Senior Lecturer, University of Nairobi, and Coordinator of the Africa Coordinating Centre for the Abandonment of FGM
• Astrid Fairclough, Female Genital Mutilation Prevention - Programme Manager, Department of Health, Government of the United Kingdom
• Saria Khalifa, Youth Programme Lead, FORWARD
• Dr. Ravi Verma, Regional Director, ICRW Asia Regional Office
• Sonia Aziz Malik, Senior Lecturer, Regional Institute of Gender, Diversity, Peace and Rights, Ahfad University for Women

Footage of this (available below) presentation and others are available on DFID’s YouTube channel.

The Girl Summit is a project of DFID. Click here and scroll down to see the full list of individuals and organisations committed to working on girls' issues, as well as a list of Girl Summit Charter signatories.