Gender transformative whole school approaches to SRGBV

• In Event: Gender (in)equality and norms in digital spaces

Proposal

Schools are supposed to be a safe and inclusive place for children where they can learn, play and socialize. However, for many students across the world, schools are a place of violence and fear and many students are victims of physical, sexual, psychological and online abuse in schools perpetrated by their peers or teachers. Violence against children affects over 50% of children globally every year and it is also linked to experiences of and perpetration of violence against women later in life. Pakistani society is strongly patriarchal and unfortunately, Violence Against Women and Violence Against Children are widespread in Pakistan. According to Pakistan’s 2017-18 Demographic and Health Survey, 28% of women (aged 15-49) had experienced lifetime physical or sexual violence.

This presentation focuses on the work of an international non-profit organization which has been working in schools mostly in Sindh and the federal capital in Pakistan for more than a decade to challenge acceptability of violence. This paper will analyze the methodology used which is based on the hypothesis that play and sports-based experiential, holistic and whole school approaches will bring positive attitudinal and behavioural changes among girls and boys that will shift social norms and lead towards reductions in VAC and improve children’s mental health and educational outcomes. It will take on evidence and successful lessons learned for school-based violence prevention programming from a previous project conducted in Hyderabad, Pakistan in 2019 which saw positive results in terms of reduction of peer violence, corporal punishment due to their whole-school approach.

Authors

• Maham Khan, Right To Play International

• Ali Khayam, Right To Play International