Saba organisations launch We Can Young campaign

Body, Mind and Spirit has partnered up with Saba Comprehensive School (SCS), Centre for Youth and Family and the Public Health Department to reach Saba’s adolescent youth with the new “We Can Young” campaign about how respect and personal boundaries work.

We Can Young is a spin-off campaign from the global We Can campaign, which strives for equal rights across genders everywhere, and started in Southeast Asia in 2004.

We Can Young is aimed at enhancing the resilience of boys and girls concerning sex and relationships. It aims to achieve that both genders treat each other with respect and are conscious of boundaries.

Stakeholders in the new We Can Young campaign.

For example, We Can Young uses six “sex rules” to get a grip on these issues. These guiding rules are: Is there consent-do you both want it? Is it voluntary-there is no pressure involved? Are you equal-is no one dominating? Is it age appropriate-what is in line with your age? Is it context appropriate-what you do does not bother, insult or shock anyone? Self-respectwhat you do does not damage yourself or someone else?

Another element of the campaign is to go beyond education. Of course, it starts with sharing the values of the campaign with the youth, but after this first step, the goal is to have the youth activate and mobilize their peers.

SCS welcomes the campaign as a pilot with its academic students. The school feels these important values should be a part of the everyday lives of Saba’s youth. The intention is to make the values of the campaign part of the curriculum in the coming years.

The We Can Young campaign is an initiative that started in the Netherlands and was brought to the Caribbean Netherlands through the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, and the public entities Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba.

The Daily Herald.