Social and Behaviour Change to Address Violence Against Children Technical Guidance: Schools Edition

"As schools are defined environments with the unified purpose of teaching and learning, they are one place where we may truly have the power to #ENDviolence. Education is key to this process; it allows for critical reflection which can transform attitudes and beliefs towards equity, peace, and social cohesion."

This technical guidance document is aimed to help programme designers plan, monitor, and evaluate social and behaviour change (SBC) programmes to address violence against children (VAC) in and around schools. It is grounded in communication for development (C4D), which construes communication as a two-way process that enables community stakeholders to be involved in decisions relating to them and enabling solutions and messages to be locally contextualised and culturally relevant. The document is a school-centred extension of an earlier guide (second item under Related Summaries, below) emerging from a research study by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and Drexel University.

The document opens with an introduction as to what C4D is and its role in addressing VAC and VAC in schools, emphasising the importance of participation throughout the process. It then looks at each of the three phases in the C4D programming approach - Plan, Design and Deliver, and Evaluate. For each phase in turn, the resource offers examples of innovative or evidence-based interventions from diverse contexts, as well as the authors' own experiences across the world, to illustrate good practices in C4D efforts addressing violence. The end of each chapter addresses various myths and commonly held misconceptions about evidence-based C4D planning and offers a set of key recommendations. School-specific considerations, tools, and recommendations have been incorporated in each section.

By working through this document, programmers involved in child protection, education, communications, C4D, and monitoring and evaluation (M&E), may build their capacity to:

1. Design evidence-based C4D interventions using formative research, applying SBC theories, and defining measurable objectives and indicators for C4D programmes to address VAC in and around schools. In particular, readers will find guidance on:
   • Sources of formative research data for VAC in and around schools;
   • Populations to focus on when conducting formative research for programmes focusing on VAC in and around schools;
   • Inclusion of social development and social norms activities in VAC in and around schools programming;
   • Formulation of a theory of change to target VAC in and around schools; and
   • Design and measurement of indicators for programmes targeting VAC in and around schools.
2. Build on global best practices on C4D programmes targeting VAC in and around schools worldwide. Specifically, readers will find guidance on:
   • Effective models and approaches for programmes targeting VAC in and around schools;
   • Populations to include in school-based programmes;
   • Design of targeted VAC in and around schools programme components for diverse groups and special and hidden populations; and
   • Channel selection and message content for different types of VAC in and around schools.
3. Measure progress using process and behavioural monitoring:
   • Ways to collect data when working in schools;
   • How to select among monitoring tools commonly used for programmes targeting VAC in schools; and
   • Ideas to incorporate participatory research within the process evaluation.
4. Assess change by conducting outcome evaluations. Readers will specifically find information on:
   • Importance of using multiple sources of information to measure change;
   • Incorporation of participatory research methods in evaluation design;
   • Appropriate and ethical evaluation design;
   • Ways to overcome common evaluation challenges when working in school contexts; and
   • Scales from the literature measuring key outcome variables.
5. Engage participants, including students, teachers, school staff, caregivers, and community members, in all stages of the programme by developing and utilising community advisory boards.

Several final considerations in the context of planning, designing and delivering, and evaluating VAC programming using C4D round out the guidance: the humanitarian context, human rights, gender, disability research, and research ethics. At the end of the document is a roadmap to guide readers in applying the guidance in their own contexts. It has been used in two separate face-to-face five-day workshops for UNICEF communications, C4D, and child protection staff in the Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECARO) and in the Latin America and Caribbean Regional Office (LACRO).

The document is part of a package of evidence and tools that includes a systematic review of C4D programmes addressing VAC, an evidence review of randomised controlled trials, this technical guidance, and training materials related to the guidance. (See Related Summaries, below.)