Youth Fighting Gender-Based Violence in DRC, Ghana and Guyana

Through Summits and continuing support for its delegates, Man Up aims to activate youth to stop violence against women and girls. In July 2010, the Man Up campaign brought 85 young men and women from 25 countries together in South Africa for a one-week Young Leaders’ Summit. They received training on how to lead and implement successful programs in their communities. Programs would engage youth for the purpose of ending gender-based violence. By training Man Up Delegates, the global campaign was born. The goal was not only to train young community leaders in how to make their initiatives successful, but also to help maintain these youth leaders’ activities through constant support following the Summit.

In December 2011, a team of SIPA students was formed to strengthen Man Up's campaign. At that time, its delegate training Summit was 18 months out, and Man Up was questioning its momentum. Indeed, the framework for supporting delegates was weak, and Man Up was looking to improve its next Summit. After preliminary research and meetings with the client, the team narrowed the scope down to tackling three main problems: a lack of delegate support, a weak communication network, and a Summit structure with room for improvement.