Table 5: Regional Frameworks that address SRGBV specifically in Africa

Causes of SRGBV and contributing factors

Children, adolescents and young people spend most of their waking hours in pre-school and school. When children are exposed to violence at school, they are not only denied of their rights to protection but to education .There are several factors that contribute to SRGBV, some are outlined in Table 2 below.

Table 2 Factors contributing to SRGBV

NDIVIDUAL

(Biological, personal history and demographic characteristics) Lack of awareness of individual and collective rights. Sex, age, ethnicity, disability. Gender identity. Low level of education. Low economic status. Geographic location. Living with or affected by HIV & AIDS. Previous experience of violence (witness, victim, perpetrator etc.). Conflict, emergency or post-conflict situation. social relationships) Low value accorded to the girl child in family settings. Lack of parental care. Alcohol/ substance abuse in family settings. Food insecurity. Inter-generational violence and tolerance of sexual, emotional and physical violence in the family. Lack of awareness of SRGBV and the rights of children and adolescents (School-level factors) Lack of knowledge and awareness around SRGBV. Lack of school level capacity to prevent, identify and address. Teachers / school staff able to perpetrate violence or abuse with impunity. Lack of safe, secure and welcoming physical spaces. Teaching, learning and disciplinary methods that reinforce violence. Lack of teaching strategies for life skills and preventing and responding to SRGBV. Lack of culturally appropriate and accessible services to report and respond to SRGBV. Tolerance of emotional, sexual, economic and physical violence in the community. Persisting patriarchal values that support gender inequalities. Social norms, which discourage reporting of SRGBV and even accept it. Politicisation and opposition to girls’ education. SRGBV perpetrators not held accountable. Weak laws and enforcement of the law.

FAMILY SCHOOL COMMUNITY

Scenarios for causes of SRGBV Scenario 1:

My name is Rahim, I am 16 years old and in year four of high school. Two weeks ago after school I was walking to the football field with three boys in year six, and one asked us to take a different route than usual. When we got behind the shops near some old buildings, one of the boys lit a cigarette. He took a few puffs and started passing it around. When it came to my turn, I refused to take the cigarette. The boy who had lit the cigarette was very angry and out of nowhere, he punched me hard and knocked me to the ground. He did not beat me again but told me to never to tell anyone that he and his friends smoke cigarettes. I am so frightened that someone else might see and report them and they shall think it was me. I avoid them at school and walk to and from school alone. I am scared of telling anybody about my fears

Scenario 2: My name is Amina, I am 17. I walk the same way to school every day. It is the only way I can walk to school safely, because if I pass through the ghetto, there are idle youths and petty thieves. On my route, each day I walk past the bar and restaurant owned by my father’s friend, uncle Bill. He sometimes gives me a drink and something to eat. He told me I can approach him whatever I want some money and that he is happy to help me any time. Last week, he touched my breast and asked me to go with him inside the room he uses as his office at the restaurant. I said no, but every day he asks me the same thing, and he is getting more and more persistent. Sometimes my parents send me to buy food from his restaurant and he gets close to me, and touches me. I am afraid my parents will not believe me when I tell them what uncle Bill does.

ACTIVITY 1: DEFINITION OF SRGBV (10 MINUTES)

1) Ask the participants to come up with definitions of

SRGBV. Take two to three responses and note them down on flipcharts, slides or online whiteboard as DEFINTIONS OF SRGBV -UNIT TWO. Share the definitions with participants so that everyone can see them, then share the definition in the facilitator’s notes.

ACTIVITY 2: SRGBV CAUSES AND CONTRIBUTING FACTORS (50 MINUTES)

1) Divide the participants into 2 groups or online breakout rooms and give each group one scenario each of SRGBV. Ask each group to write and name the type/s of SRGBV in their scenario and: i) the causes; and ii) the contributing factors of the violence in this scenario.

2) Ask them to design a 5 minutes role play around their scenario.

3) Groups present their role plays and the other group guesses the type of violence, the causes and the contributing factors. At the end of each discussion, the group will share its summary of type, causes and contributing factors that they wrote down.

4) Ask for the five most prevalent forms of violence in their school and write them down.

WRAP UP: Thank participants and let them know that SRGBV can affect both girls and boys of any age, religion or culture. It has many causes and happens within and around schools. A lot of it goes unreported because victims are afraid or are not sure who to talk to. Sometimes teachers and education practitioners accept it because we are a part of these gender norms.

Session 2: The consequences of SRGBV TIME: 30 MINUTES

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

1. By the end of this session, participants should be able to name the educational, reproductive health and health consequences of SRGBV.

METHODS USED:

1) Brainstorming. 2) Small group discussions. 3) Discussion.

MATERIALS NEEDED:

• Flipchart or chalkboard; slides and/ or short videos. • Masking tape. • Markers or chalk.

PREPARATION NOTES FOR THE FACILITATOR:

1) Be familiar with the educational, reproductive health and health consequences of SRGBV.

SUPPORT NOTES FOR THE FACILITATOR:

There are many negative educational, reproductive health and health consequences of SRGBV. Some of these are given below. SRGBV at times leads to victims becoming perpetrators in the short, mid or long term. Victims are also likely to have problems with other people and the law. SRGBV costs the families and state as they try to treat and rehabilitate victims in both the short and long term, and through loss of people who could have become very useful citizens. That is why identifying and preventing SRGBV is very important.

Educational consequences- These could include: absenteeism, lack of concentration, loss of interest in school, disruption in class, non-school attendance, lower academic achievement, school dropout, desensitized to suffering and using violence as a legitimate means to achieve their own aims.

Reproductive health and health include: These include: child and early/forced marriages, infant and maternal mortality, diseases due to early pregnancy and delivery (e.g. fistula), STIs, HIV/AIDS, mental disorders (anxiety, depression, loss of memory, anger or hostility, low selfesteem, shame, suicidal tendencies- attempts and actual suicide), substance misuse, risky (sexual) behaviour, eating disorders and physical wounds or deformity.

Financial Consequences-These include: Costs of treatment and legal costs.

Challenges in addressing SRGBV

There are challenges while addressing SRGBV, often compounded by lack of a common conceptualization of SRGBV. Additionally, some types of violence are more visible and easier to identify and track than others (e.g. physical and corporal violence vs. psychological and sexual violence). Often, the most vulnerable children (e.g. children with disabilities, refugees, victims of abuse) also have the least support and links to report abuse. Most violence goes unreported or unrecognized, particularly where social and gender norms make it hard for children, adolescents and young people to report or recognize certain behaviors and actions as violence. Reporting systems are at times not user-friendly, e.g. victims have to relive the abuse several times; the systems make the victims feel guilty and traumatized; there is lack of privacy; there are no specialized technical persons such as counsellors and sign language interpreters etc. Data on violence are rarely disaggregated by sex or by location of the incident, with data analysis and tracking systems usually at their lowest capacity in areas (including schools and communities) and countries where children are most vulnerable.

ACTIVITY 1: CONSEQUENCES OF SRGBV (30 MINUTES)

1) Divide participants into three groups or online breakout rooms. 2) Ask each of the groups to discuss the following question: “What are the educational, reproductive health and health consequences of SRGBV?”

3) Each of the groups should note their responses on the flip chart or slides.

4) Ask each of the groups to present group work in the plenary session.

5) Summarize the presentations, add any consequences participants may have missed out and share the summary.

WRAP UP: Thank participants and wrap up by telling them because of these consequences, it is very important to identify, prevent and respond to SRGBV. Ask them to write the summarized consequences in their notebooks as CONSEQUENCES OF SRGBV-UNIT TWO.

Session 3: Identifying, preventing and responding to SRGBV TIME: 60 MINUTES

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

1. By the end of this session, participants should be able to define how to identify, prevent and respond to SRGBV.

METHODS USED:

1) Brainstorming. 2) Small group discussions. 3) Discussion.

MATERIALS NEEDED:

• Flipcharts or chalkboard. • Masking tape. • Markers or chalk. • Sticky notes or • Manila pieces (15 by 10 centimetres). • Slides • Applications e.g. Zoom (virtual training)

PREPARATION NOTES FOR THE FACILITATOR:

1) Be familiar with the key principles for planning to identify, prevent and respond to SRGBV. 2) Define what can be done to expand each of these principles into practical actions. 3) Draw on the participants’ experience to come up with the practical actions.

SUPPORT NOTES FOR THE FACILITATOR:

The following principles should guide you when you are developing school interventions to identify, prevent and respond to SRGBV.