HerBoundaries - European Project to prevent and address gender-based violence.
Her Boundaries is an Erasmus+ project under the KA210-ADU programme for small-scale partnerships in the adult education sector. The initiative is dedicated to developing innovative educational materials aimed at individuals and organisations committed to preventing and addressing gender-based violence. The project runs for 18 months, starting on December 1, 2023, and concluding on May 31, 2025, and it is led by Fundacja Inna Fundacja from Poland, in collaboration with Le Tre Ghinee from Italy.
Through Her Boundaries, the project partners aim to confront issues such as gender inequality, social exclusion, and the under-representation of women in the public sphere. Its core mission is to empower participants by enhancing their linguistic, intercultural, and practical skills. At the same time, it seeks to strengthen the capacity of the partner organisations through the sharing of experiences and the adoption of new educational tools. Key topics include combatting gender-based violence and microaggressions, as well as fostering multicultural understanding. These themes are explored through training materials and practical workshops designed to be both educational and empowering.
Throughout the duration of the project, the partners will carry out a variety of interconnected activities. One of the major outcomes will be an e-book for educators, offering recommendations and methodological guidelines for working with groups of women from diverse backgrounds and experiences, including references to legal frameworks such as the Istanbul Convention.
In addition, through Her Boundaries a number of local workshops will also be organised, covering topics such as consent, unconscious bias, negative stereotypes, microaggressions, setting and defending personal boundaries in various contexts (such as the workplace or school), the use of inclusive language, and the promotion of gender equality. Specific self-defence workshops for women will further equip participants with practical tools to feel safer and more empowered, and a series of ten short video clips will be produced, offering practical advice on how to respond to microaggressions and introducing WenDo self-defence techniques.
The videos addressing microaggressions show five everyday situations in which such dynamics may occur: gender-based microaggressions, those targeting women in social settings, microaggressions against racialised women, against members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and within intimate relationships. Each video begins with a brief introduction to the topic, followed by an example of a real-life problem or common situation. A possible and effective response is then presented, and the video concludes with a call to action aimed at fostering collective responsibility and agency.
With the same intention of showcasing best and most effective practices, the videos on WenDo demonstrate how these techniques can provide women with tools to navigate situations they encounter in everyday life. The origins and key approaches of WenDo are briefly explained, followed by a focus on its practical and concrete applications in daily contexts—emphasising the assertiveness of one’s response and the use of one’s voice as a form of self-defence.
The whole project will then conclude with a final conference and a range of dissemination activities, designed to share the results and promote the adoption of these educational tools across other communities and contexts.
