It is not enough for children to attend school. We must also ensure they are safe doing so. Violence prevention and response should be integrated into education policy and programming to ensure safe schools for all students.
School-related gender-based violence is a particularly egregious form of gender-based violence because it happens to children who sometimes do not even recognise it as violence.
Violence is preventable. Banning child marriage has been achieved because of contributions from the Violence Against Children and Youth Surveys (VACS). But greater investment is urgently needed to ensure that more data collection and other hard-fought wins continue.
With data from 23 countries we've successfully created evidence-based solutions to reduce violence against young girls, including ending child marriage and other harmful norms. See the VACS in action.
What are the current pathways for youth participation in research? To end gender-based violence issues of intersectionality must be addressed. Critically, all strategies for using data on these intersectional issues must prioritize youth and survivor voices. This is particularly true in both development and humanitarian contexts.
Through collective advocacy messaging and political recommendations on the intersections of gender and violence, we can influence the political stakeholders who can enable efforts to end gender-based violence in, around and through schools.
A recent ECSA-HC resolution prioritizing evidence-based action to stop childhood violence is a milestone for the sector with far-reaching implications for the region.
The “Safe to learn” initiative published a collection of essays that examine and tackle the causes of different forms of violence in and around schools. This essay is authored by Dr. Daniela Ligiero, Executive Director & CEO of Together for Girls.
On May 11-13, 2022, senior government officials and civil society leaders from over 30 African countries gathered at the Pan-African symposium on violence prevention in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Together for Girls is promoting meaningful partnerships amongst local agencies to catalyze full scale support for children.
We have conducted secondary analyses of the Violence Against Children and Youth Surveys (VACS) to understand the prevalence, consequences, and gender-specific experiences of violence in and around schools.
Social norms drive gender inequalities and violence, and even though access to education is a human right, learners across the globe are impacted by school-related gender-based violence.