GLOW / TOBE Program

What is a GLOW/TOBE? History It began as Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) in Romania in Three Volunteers and four Romanian teachers took 80 young women to a mountain campsite for a weeklong leadership camp. The purpose of this camp was to encourage young women to become active citizens by building their self-esteem and confidence, increasing their self-awareness, and developing their skills in goal setting, assertiveness, and career and life planning. TOBE (Teaching Our Boys to Excel) was developed shortly after as the equivalent for young men. Since 1995 thousands of young men and women in Romania have attended GLOW and TOBE clubs and camps. In fact, 162 Romanian youth attended 6 GLOW and TOBE camps in the summer of 2011.

Why GLOW and TOBE? We feel that both young women and young men need to be equally involved in addressing and finding solutions for gender inequalities. Empowering and encouraging behavior change in both genders is necessary to transform society and create an environment in which all individuals can reach their full potential.

What is GLOW/TOBE now? The GLOW and TOBE program is a flexible curriculum that can be used by organizations and individuals working with youth. GLOW and TOBE materials can be easily integrated into other youth development programs to supplement existing programs. The philosophy of the GLOW/TOBE program is to use a variety of non-formal educational methods to empower young women and men to become healthy, responsible and active citizens capable of making a difference in her or his local community and in the world.

EXPERIENTIAL EDUCATION Experiential Education is a philosophy and methodology in which educators purposefully engage with learners in direct experience and focused reflection in order to increase knowledge, develop skills and clarify values. SERVICE LEARNING Service learning is a teaching method that combines academic instruction, meaningful service, and critical reflective thinking to enhance learning and civic responsibility. CREATIVE ARTS IN LEARNING Creative Arts in Learning is a educational philosophy that promotes the integration of hands-on arts activities such as music, visual and applied art, poetry, story-telling, and movement into daily life and learning. The philosophy aims to raise personal and collective awareness, to uncover creativity and strengths, to increase personal reflection, and to promote knowledge acquisition. Non-Formal Education Methods

LIFE SKILLS/ PROFESSIONAL SKILLS Develop life skills-leadership, teamwork, communication, conflict resolution, presentation skills, project management skills, goal setting, assertiveness, and career and life planning, etc. SELF Increase self awareness and build self-esteem/confidence GENDER AND BEYOND Increase understanding and awareness of gender roles/relationships as well as discrimination and stereotypes in general HEALTH Increase awareness about health-related behaviors-which can include drug/alcohol use, smoking, exercise, nutrition, body image/eating disorders, sexual health, sexuality, STIs including HIV/AIDS, etc. COMMUNITY SERVICE Increase awareness and develop skills for community involvement and volunteerism Main Themes

What Next? TTT = Train the Trainers for GLOW & TOBE As Peace Corps prepares for its last year of collaboration in Romania we are reaching out to organizations working with youth to share the resources and best practices that have been developed and refined over the past fifteen years. Participate in the 2-Days conference: Train the Trainers for members of organizations working with youth in July of We hope that this training event will inspire and empower organizations to develop their own GLOW and TOBE projects to continue far into the future.

What do youth participants think? “GLOW camp was a wonderful experience for me and I hope that other girls will have the chance to enjoy a similar camp in the future. In a short period of time, I didn’t only feel great, but I had the chance to help the community, to learn more about others and myself. I was impressed at how close we all became in only one week. It was hard for all of us to say “good-bye”. I really miss the girls now. They were wonderful, friendly and they helped me whenever I was in need. The American volunteers and Romanian trainers made everything interesting for us, worry free, really perfect.” GLOW camper Cristina Savulescu

“The main skills on which Camp GLOW emphasized were working in a team and being good leaders. That is something very useful and important for modern life and work. Besides, all the time we were learning something new—we did community service, we played lots of funny games and we also talked about problems from real life, like healthy nutrition, stereotypes, communication, gender roles, AIDS and others. These are themes that excite each young girl and all of them developed our creativity. I am extremely grateful that I participated to Camp GLOW, because of the significant impact over my life. After going back home, I received a lot of learning resources from counselors, which continued to inspire me to achieve my goals. This is how I was elected as the President of Student Council in my high school and started to coordinate projects for local community.” GLOW camper Marcela Gianina Gavrila

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