Three Terre des hommes delegations (Romania, Moldova and Ukraine) will collaborate on a unique project to bring positive changes to gender-based violence in schools in terms of children's attitudes and behaviours, and strategies to prevent and combat violence by teachers.
In the three countries, 250 students and 375 teachers will become agents of change: teachers will transform the school climate into an environment that promotes respect, non-discrimination, equal opportunities and treatment; and pupils will better understand the phenomenon, the causes, the ways to prevent GBV, and will carry out campaigns to combat gender-based violence in schools.
The communities involved in the project have limited access to quality services, such as education and health. Schools will be chosen to participate by taking into account the dropout rate, the number of cases of violence, differences in school results between students, participation and involvement of parents in the educational process, and the ability of teachers to use non-formal educational methods.
Romania is among the top five countries in Europe in terms of school violence against children. According to MEN statistics for 2016–2017, the percentage of cases of school violence reached up to 57% (for children aged 11–15 years old). In Moldova, UNICEF reports that 76% of children between the ages of 2 and 14 have been victim of disciplinary methods, and almost every second teenager knows a colleague who suffers from bullying at school. According to UNICEF Ukraine, in 2017, 24% of children were victims of violence in schools.
The project is implemented by Terre des hommes Foundation in Romania, in partnership with Terre des hommes Moldova and Terre des hommes Ukraine, and benefits from a grant of 194,067 euros from Active Citizens Fund Romania, a programme funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA Grants 2014–2021. The content of this article does not necessarily reflect the official position of the EEA and Norway Grants 2014–2021. For more information visit www.eeagrants.org. More details about Active Citizens Fund Romania can be found at www.activecitizensfund.ro.
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