BREAKAWAY, PMC’s innovative video game, addressed harmful social norms for all players. To extend the impact, youth camps began in June 2012 in the city of Hebron in the West Bank. Over the years, a variety of camps and gameplay in 150 countries increased participants’ awareness, knowledge, and attitudes regarding gender inequity and gender-based violence.
Building global sustainability for today and for tomorrow all begins with the rights of women and girls. The right to go to school, enjoy activities, and to live a violence-free life are human right initiatives addressed in BREAKAWAY.
In addition to the free mobile game, a premium and packaged facilitators guide was available. Intended for educators, coaches, and others who worked with youth aged 8-15 in both school and non-school settings to navigate the game in a group environment allowing youth to reflect on their experiences. The facilitator’s guide included: group physical activities, discussion questions, activity sheets ranging from word searches to creating rap lyrics to comic strips, and game screenshots that identified both positive and negative moments in the game related to the issues.
Originally developed by Population Media Center and Champlain College’s Emergent Media Center with support from UNFPA, BREAKAWAY and its supplemental learning curriculum successfully reached youth around the world, from El Salvador to South Africa, since 2010.
BREAKAWAY Summer Camps began in June 2012 when a small international team of undergraduate students organized and conducted BREAKAWAY sessions at three youth summer camps in the city of Hebron in the West Bank. The BREAKAWAY game, matched with the BREAKAWAY Facilitator’s Guide and culturally appropriate activities developed by local facilitators, positively impacted over 300 children.
Building on the success of the first camp experience, Champlain College put together a team of students, faculty, staff, and college alumna and led the second BREAKAWAY camp in El Salvador in November 2013. Most recently, PMC has conducted trainings and pilot programs in Guatemala.
