Pledge United

Today was the last day of the Pledge United program that we ran with our boys in the Juvenile Prison. Pledge United is an experiential football program that uses football to make boys aware of the issues of gender based violence within Indonesia. The hope of Pledge United is to use football to challenge young men to make Indonesia a safe place for all.

The program includes 8 sessions with different but continuous material for each meeting. The curriculum is then divided into two parts; the first part is to increase knowledge and understanding of gender equality issues, so that young men are aware of this problem.

Once they are aware, the second part increases their capacity to become leaders, so that they become winners in gender equality in their families, schools and communities.

At the last session today, the boys had to pledge and promise :
    1. Never to physically beat or injure women.
    2. Never force women sexually.
    3. Not be silent when they see other men harassing women.
    4. Always respect women because this is the right thing to do.

We also would like to say thank you to Inspire Indonesia who created the Pledge United program for young men in Indonesia to be used specifically through football. We believe every young man deserves a second chance to learn how to have a better future for themselves and for the women they will come in contact with every day.