‘What’s Up?!’ is a group-based approach, developed by Help a Child, focusing on different community groups, such as parents, teachers, community leaders, children and youth. Led by a facilitator, the group members engage in discussions around relevant topics, such as protection and cultural values. Through exercises like debate, role play, and group work, participants reflect on the topic and analyze their behavior. Through home assignments, they practice new behavioral skills. Important aspects are: exchange of knowledge and experiences, mutual support, open-mindedness and learning by doing.
The ‘What’s Up!?’ method consists of practical and step-by-step manuals for facilitators. The introductory package is called ‘What’s Up, People!?’ and starts with a community mapping about protection risks and opportunities. Follow-up packages for various target groups are available. Each manual contains multiple modules on a certain theme, such as emotions (children), professional code of conduct (teachers) or sexual violence (women). These modules can be used together or separately, depending on the thematic focus, context and planning of the program.
