Violence against Children in Schools and Families in Durrës, Elbasan and Berat Districts

Commissioned by the Save the Children Albania Country Office a for a project ending June 2012, this evaluation sought to find out whether the project reached its goal: 'to achieve significant reduction of adult-to-children violence in the targeted schools and kindergartens'. The project worked in 4 schools and 3 kindergartens, where the evaluation methodology comprised both quantitative and qualitative analysis of data collected through focus groups, individual interviews, and surveys with children, teachers, and parents involved, as well as with SC staff and other stakeholders.

The project aimed to reduce violence in school, at home, and among peers by: reducing physical and psychological violence as discipline in schools; engaging parents in reducing violent communication and relationships among children; training specialists for tracking violent incidents and for follow-up; and influencing institutional change in education. Safe reporting procedures were aimed to allow children to report violent incidents. "They included an 'incident tracking form and system', a manual on 'Resolving complaints in the school' and the introduction of a 'box of concerns/opinions', to be administered by children themselves." A 'violence prevention programme' was introduced in the school optional curricula grades 4-9, and a 'conflict resolution programme' was introduced to grades 5-9. Grades 1-4 adopted a 'social and emotional aspects of learning' programme. A 'teacher capacity building programme’ focused on the use of positive discipline. School rules were established with participation of teachers, children, and parents. Parents were engaged in a training on positive parenting and positive discipline.

The independent evaluators used the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development/Development Co-operation Directorate (OECD/DAC) evaluation criteria. "These are: relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability. In order to suit the Evaluation objectives and context, emphasis has been placed on some criteria, while other ones have been applied to a more limited extent. In compliance with a child rights-based approach, the OECD/DAC evaluation criteria have been integrated with child-centered and rights-based criteria."

Conclusions from the "Executive Summary" include the following:

• "Among the main findings, the Evaluation uncovered that, albeit a comprehensive Child Rights Situation Analysis did not inform the Project identification, this phase seems to have been sufficiently based in a thorough understanding of the problems of violence against children in Albania, supported by a certain level of consultation with key-stakeholders and prospective beneficiaries at local level....
• ...the key-tools to monitor progress achieved during implementation were child-centered and participatory, involving also teachers and parents. However, qualitative data collected through in-depth interviews and focus groups with beneficiaries were used primarily to design structured questionnaires to be used in the framework of surveys with samples of the target groups. While this approach has been very useful, qualitative data collection and analysis could have been used to also understand in greater depth children, parents and teachers’ views and the reasons beneath their statements.
• ...[W]here the Project lasted three years, both children and teachers expressed confidence that – albeit with some limitations – they will be able to continue carrying out the Project’s core-activities after SC ends its support. Conversely..., where the Project has been implemented only for one year, the need for further support and continuation of the activities was very evident. This timeframe is considered definitely too short to allow for sustainability and lasting changes.
• ...The Project design strongly reflected a child-rights based approach. Child participation was central in the Project implementation and children were actively involved also in the monitoring and evaluation phases. The mechanisms put in place to track violent incidents occurring at school were considered great tools in fostering the protection of children concerned. Furthermore, children were actively involved in activities aimed at combating discrimination and they clearly absorbed some of the key-practices to be applied in order to involve the most marginalized children in their schools.
• Worries appeared in relation to the big responsibility given to children in charge of handling the ‘box of opinions and concerns’, as they were apparently in charge of analyzing and referring (among others) cases of violence and abuse. In terms of protecting children involved in the Project, not enough accent has apparently been placed on the concrete implementation of policies and practices to safeguard them.
• One of the lessons learnt throughout the Project is that working with children’s parents and communities to raise their awareness requires constant, labor-intensive efforts....”

Recommendations include:

• Further training for teacher to handle the classroom without using different forms of psychological violence against their students.
• Engaging parents further - involve them more systematically in activities aimed to raise their awareness on the negative impact of violence against children and to equip them with tools to use positive discipline at home. Attempts should be made to engage the most progressive parents as active campaigners to ban violence against children in all settings.
• Addressing peer-to-peer violence as a structural element in the model.
• Scaling up of the project.
• More carefully considering protection of children who are actively involved in dealing with complex issues (such as violence and abuse).