Peaces of Burkina Faso: How to GLOW

This last week, I participated as a counselor at camp G2LOW!

Inspired by the enormous success of Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) in other countries, Peace Corps Burkina Faso decided to host its first Camp GLOW in August of 2011. Camp GLOW is a week-long leadership training geared toward school-aged female students across the world. While not only becoming the 23^rd Peace Corps country to host a Camp GLOW, we made our camp more unique becoming Camp G²LOW (Girls and Guys Leading Our World). There is no denying that in Burkina Faso’s patriarchal system the need to empower women is of the utmost importance; however, it is our belief that the only true path to women’s empowerment is to also educate young men. Our goal through the camps is to teach male youth the value of working with women as equals.

Camp Themes:

The Camp G²LOW objective focuses on three themes:

Promoting Healthy lifestyles: Camp participants will be encouraged and taught how to practice daily hygiene, prevent malaria, apply and promote HIV/AIDS/STI prevention methods and how to practice family planning.
Empowering Students: Camp participants will gain personal goal setting skills and the tools to make a SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-sensitive) decision.
Promoting Gender Equality: Camp participants will gain a better understanding of gender, sex and the spectrum of violence. They will gain the skills needed to form healthy relationships and work as equals, and they will be taught the importance of their roles, rights and responsibilities regarding gender equality.

In order to encourage healthy lifestyles, during the camp, Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) and host country nationals (HCNs) lead educational sessions focused on proper hygiene and safe sex practices, as to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and lower the rate of unwanted pregnancy. Activities focused on critical thinking and decision-making are used to develop the camp participants’ leadership skills. PCVs and HCNs promote gender equality in sessions that focus on ending domestic violence, as well as working with people of both genders as equal partners.