At Children’s Rights and Violence Prevention Fund (CRVPF), we believe that violence against children is preventable. Violence occurs in three settings: homes, schools, and in the community. This is typically due to multiple factors, including harmful social norms, poor parenting, low household income, corporal punishment in schools, among several other factors. CRVPF through the Prevention of Violence against Children program (PVAC) program, collaborates with 69 Community development partners across Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Tanzania. Our goal is to address and eliminate the root causes of violence against children by actively engaging in cluster partnerships. We encourage and support 2-3 community organizations to form a cluster and work within a specific geographic region, where they implement effective strategies and interventions to prevent violence against children.
One intervention to prevent violence in schools is the “good schools’ manual, which aims to ensure that schools are safe and free of violence. This is done by imparting life skills and other crucial knowledge about violence against children to students and teachers separately, through weekly sessions and clubs. This effort is made to ensure that children can begin, progress, and successfully complete their education without encountering violence. Recently, the Mabatini Cluster (Oasis Mathare, Dime Youth Camps Association and Wanawake Mashinani Initiative), funded by CRVPF’s PVAC grant, organized a training session at Mathare Vocational Training Center in Nairobi, Kenya.
The training aimed to strengthen the skills of club leaders as mobilizers, facilitators and leaders of child lead activities, to create safe school environments. The day entailed interactive sessions and discussions involving two student leaders from each school. The sessions covered critical topics such as bullying, sexual harassment, abuse, healthy relationship building, recognizing a trusted adult, and several other issues that are often overlooked in standard curricula.
Concurrently, 10 focal teachers were carefully selected for their own training. The sessions revolved around the significance of their well-being, that of non-teaching staff, and other topics like alternative disciplinary methods, promoting positive behavior, and more. The objective was to equip teachers with a deeper understanding of these subjects as they wield significant influence within school environments and greatly impact students’ quality of life.