IMAGINE is an international project initiated by Emancipator in cooperation with MÄN (Sweden) and The Good Lad Initiative (UK) in 2016. Under the banner of the IMAGINE project, a large number of workshops were given to young people in the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The results of the project were presented at an international conference on engaging boys and men in preventing sexual harassment and violence against women.

33% of all European women over 15 years of age have experienced physical and/or sexual violence. The figures also show that most perpetrators are boys and men – but most boys and men are not perpetrators. It is precisely the potential of this group that is important to stop the violence. Interventions and workshops aimed at boys and men appear to reduce the risk of sexual intimidation and violence against women. IMAGINE is aimed at boys and men, given their position in society and the positive role they can have in stopping this violence.

Read here an interview conducted by the European Commission with our project coördinators en a blog about the IMAGINE-workshop (Dutch).

The IMAGINE workshops are run and facilitated by enthusiastic young men, who were trained as peer educators by Emancipator. Since 2018, the Toolkit is ready, we have had a successful international conference, and a training weekend with the new peer educators. Ready to get continue the work.

On 13 June 2018 the toolkit and other results of the IMAGINE project were presented at the international conference ‘Working with boys and men in the #MeToo era’ in Amsterdam. About 200 participants from all over Europe attended.

Transman Robert Witte was our reporter on the spot and wrote this impression (in Dutch). Justine van de Beek wrote this report for OneWorld/Harlot.

IMAGINE is part of the Dutch White Ribbon Campaign: Stop Violence Against Women. During this campaign men take a stand against violence against women, as ambassadors, bloggers, by giving or following workshops, by attending meetings or by endorsing the statement on the website.

White Ribbon is a global movement of men and boys working to end violence against women. It was founded in 1991 in Canada and Emancipator brought the campaign to the Netherlands in 2016. Meanwhile, the White Ribbon Campaign has been running for 25 years in more than sixty countries and, since 2019, continues under the name Deltaplan.

The Graphic Story and Alex Skim made a comic and a clip about over IMAGINE and the White Ribbon Campaign 2017 .

IMAGINE is funded by the Citizens, Rights and Justice-programme of the European Commission, by the City of Amsterdam, and from Emancipator’s White Ribbon Campaign, with funding from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. In addition, IMAGINE would not have been possible without the, often unpaid, cooperation of a large number of individuals and organisations who find it important to work towards a future without violence and inequality.