Young people don’t just want to be sources for data sets or people who need protection. We also deserve agency over our own data and experience and want to be an active part of global efforts to end SRGBV.
A billion children spend a significant proportion of their time in school every day, making school settings a key factor in interventions to save more children from violence.
Schools have a responsibility to empower students to prevent school-related gender-based violence.
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.
Investing in ending childhood sexual violence is the right thing to do, and we must protect kids and support those who have experienced this horrible trauma. Globally, policy and decision makers can save billions investing in preventing child sexual abuse. The returns on investment would cut across physical and mental health, labor, judicial, and other sectors.
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.
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.
While school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV) is prevalent, it is also preventable, and there are evidence-based solutions that show that teachers and school personnel can be significant changemakers when they take active roles in preventing, addressing, and responding to violence.
Together for Girls and partners held a session highlighting the power of education to prevent conflict-related sexual violence.
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.