Strengthening system-wide support to safeguard girls in Ethiopia

• In Event: Safe to learn and safe to benefit- innovative approaches to tackle safeguarding and school-based GBV (SRGBV) in challenging contexts

Proposal

Link Education Ethiopia's Supporting the Transition of Adolescent Girls through Enhancing Systems (STAGES) project is an 8-year project working with over 61,000 girls and 127 primary and 17 secondary schools across four woredas of Wolaita Zone in the SNNP Region of Ethiopia. Link worked closely with school leadership and government officials to strengthen school safeguarding processes, such as setting up reporting boxes, developing a Safe Schools Checklist, signposting to referral services, training school staff, and improving safeguarding reporting and case management mechanisms. However, it was clear that to ensure girls were safe outside of school and inside, safeguarding and child protection awareness also needed to be embedded throughout the communities where the girls lived and across all social support structures.

Link Education believes communities are part of the school support and improvement system. Link Education integrated child rights, protection and safeguarding awareness into training sessions for school governance bodies, Mother and Father groups and local government bodies, police, and judiciary. This integration raises awareness, garners support to stop child abuse and strengthens system-wide reporting mechanisms and case management, ultimately embedding support and protection across the community and support structures.

Midline evaluation evidence (2021 and 2022) demonstrates that this diverse range of stakeholders can have a significant impact. Authorities have been actively pursuing leads and saving girls from abduction, trafficking and other acts of violence. Local working groups have been established with representatives from the police, courts, local militia, military, and schools to respond to violence. During Covid-19, a rapid assessment revealed that 72 project girls, many under 18, had been married while schools were closed. The project team, with Mother and Father Group members, District Gender Officers, and Kebele Education and Training Board Chairpersons, visited the girls and their families and convinced 65 of the 72 girls to re-enrol in school. Respondents also noted how girls have started to speak up more as their confidence grows in knowing their rights and how to report any wrongs.

STAGES has influenced district and regional government systems across several sectors to work collaboratively for girls' safety. This presentation will share how the STAGES project supported the development of this system-wide approach, its impact on reducing gender-based violence, and how similar systems can be developed country-wide.

Authors

• Nicolo Di Marzo, Link Education International

• Samantha Ross, Link Education International