The ABCs of SBC

SBC in Ending Violence in Schools

• UNICEF SBC • Season 2 • Episode 7

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A good school is a place where a child learns one powerful belief: I matter.

When children feel safe, heard, and valued at school, it can change everything - how they see themselves, how they learn, and how they imagine their future. Yet for millions of children around the world, violence remains a routine part of school life, shaping childhoods in ways that are both harmful and deeply normalized.

In this episode of The ABCs of SBC, we explore how social and behavior change approaches are helping to transform schools - and why ending violence in education systems is both possible and essential. Drawing on powerful stories and evidence from Uganda and beyond, we unpack what it truly takes to build a “good school.”

Qali is joined by three leaders working at the forefront of education and child protection:

  • Dipak Naker, Executive Director of the Coalition for Good Schools
  • Gemma Wilson-Clark, Head of Secretariat, Safe to Learn Coalition
  • Hope Wambi, Violence Against Children Prevention Coordinator at Raising Voices

Together, they examine why laws alone are not enough, how deeply held beliefs about discipline and power shape school culture, and what it means to take a whole-school, system-wide approach to change. You’ll hear how shifting social norms, redistributing power, and giving children real voice and agency can dramatically reduce violence — including evidence from the Good School Toolkit, which reduced corporal punishment by over 40% in participating schools.

From classrooms to communities to national policy, this episode shows that when schools change, childhoods change.

Resources:

The views and opinions expressed by the contributors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of UNICEF or any entities they represent. The content here is for information purposes only.

The ABCs of SBC is hosted by Qali Id and produced and developed by Helena Ballester Bon in partnership with Common Thread.

Check out UNICEF’s latest publication on Social and Behaviour Change, Hidden in Plain Sight, a celebration of the everyday heroes on the frontlines of public health outbreaks, or the first publication, Why don’t you just behave! For more information about UNICEF SBC, check out the programme guidance.

We care about what you think — you can share your thoughts on the podcast using this feedback form. For all other inquiries, please contact sbc@unicef.org.

Dipak:

the system that most intimately surrounds children is school. So if we influence how children experience school or the system of education. Then we profoundly change children's childhood.

Hope:

We know there's a legal ban, but when we go to the schools, we don't use that as the entry point. We look at the benefits, what would schools benefit if they prevented violence? What are the good things that would accrue? the issue of culture is a big one that we cannot ignore that, you know, we've been growing up knowing this is the only way to go. This is the only way I can raise children.

Qali:

Okay listeners, cast your mind back to your time at school. Were you excited to join classes? Did you enjoy being there? Did you feel safe to learn and grow? For some of us, those memories are positive, but for millions of children around the world, violence in schools is common. In fact, half a billion children experience violence in and around schools every year. Something is changing in schools and ending violence is possible. I'm Galia Eid, and this is the ABC's of SBCA UNICEF podcast where we explore how social and behavior change can help us confront some of the most urgent and complex issues facing children today. In today's episode, we'll explore what makes a good school and the social systemic and behavioral shifts needed to get there. I spoke to three experts, Deepak Naer, executive Director of the Coalition for Good Schools, Gemma Wilson Clark, head of the Safe to Learn Coalition and Hope Wabe Violence Against Children Prevention Coordinator at Raising Voices. Together, they're working to change how education systems respond to violence from classrooms to communities, to national policy, and to understand what that looks like in practice. We'll spend some time in Uganda. Let's begin with a story

Dipak:

I remember, a child, that I talked with when I was , in Uganda, , one of the ways in which you prevent violence against children is create opportunities for children to exercise leadership in school, right? So this young girl was telling me that, , she was in a school. Where, , her parents were not very supportive of her and she was experiencing violence. She felt very marginal and she was really despondent about whether she should go to school, whether she should be in school, and whether she should remain in school, whether there's anything there for her.. And then she came to this new school where there was this intervention . And she became part of this, what is called children's court, student Court. And then the idea being that whenever there is violence or in infraction, a group of people get together and, , this case is presented. It's the children who get to decide what should happen , and what should be the consequence. And she suddenly started experiencing herself as an agent. Realizing that she mattered, and her participation in her school matters.

Qali:

That experience didn't just keep her in school. It changed how she saw herself. It showed her that school could be a place where she was safe, heard, and valued, and that ultimately is the power of a good school. That language, good school is intentional.

Dipak:

The reason why we choose to use Words Good schools rather than safe school is that good school is an idea around which everyone can unite. Parents can unite, teachers can unite, community can unite, and who Children are never gonna protest a good school. Because it's a universal aspiration. Yeah. And the aim is to build a universal win-win situation that parents send children to school with huge aspiration. They want something for their children. Parents care about their children. Yeah. And they want better life for their children. So the idea is not to create an adversarial situation. Safe school is something gone wrong, somebody's responsible, not me, somebody else. good school brings people together.

Qali:

But for children around the world, that vision of a good school is still far from reality. And in Uganda, violence is both widespread and deeply normalized.

Hope:

Violence is a real issue in Uganda, and I would start by sharing some of the statistics from our, vaccine survey by the Ministry of Gender 11 and social development that revealed that 62% of the children had experienced some form of violence, and also it revealed that one in four girls had experienced sexual violence, as well as 70 percent of the children had experienced corporal punishment. Now that's a huge problem at the country level. When it comes to a typical Ugandan schools , and in our communities, we find that yes, the issue is there, but unfortunately, many forms of violence have been normalized.

Qali:

For many countries around the world, rooting violence out of schools means directly confronting deeply held cultural beliefs about raising and educating children.

Hope:

Many people feel well in our context, we need to raise children who are hard. The children need to be strong. And so if you talk about emotional violence, it means you want to raise children who are weak. And if children are weak, they won't be able to be resilient. So there's a whole misunderstanding around that. There are times when schools are not receptive on the programs and there've been times when we have actually disengaged with the school until a later time. But the approach that we take in terms of entering the school is again to mobilize everybody to be part of the cause. There has to be buy-in for these ideas to thrive. If, for example, the school administrators do not buy in, they will not even allocate time for teachers to have conversations around violence against children. So it's very important that from onset, all stakeholders come on board.

Qali:

When harmful practices are sustained by social norms and cultural scripts, laws can shift expectations on paper without changing what happens in the classroom. Policy change is just one step towards systemic change. Deepak and Gemma, tell us more.

Dipak:

We realized that what we were doing was not working. So say for example, when we wanted to prevent violence against children, we'll pass laws. And pretty much every country in Sub-Saharan Africa has passed a law that, you can't beat children or many countries have even passed a law that you can't use corporal punishment in schools. But if you go to any school, uh, 90 to 95% of children will tell you I've experienced corporal punishment.

Gemma:

We have to realize that schools don't exist in isolation. They reflect the societies, um, that they are within. And so when we want to try and support schools to become safer places to learn, we have to look at the drivers of violent behavior within schools, and that's multi led. It's complex. So violence isn't just a result of individual choices, it's a reflection of wider social and gender norms, , within the community.

Qali:

Social norms don't change. When we focus on punitive action for a few specific individuals who get caught by the law, it's a step in the right direction. But how can we prevent violence at scale?

Dipak:

We used to think that if we want to improve children's lives, we need to build skills in them. Uh, we need to do direct intervention with the child and help them be better at defending themselves or whatever. And that is important. Children need those skills. But what we are learning that if we want to change things at scale, the more efficient pathway of influencing childhoods of large numbers of children is to change the system that surrounds them and system is nothing, uh, fabulous. It's simply just set of belief systems, policies, procedures, ways of behaving that a community has developed and ways of making decisions about what matters., And systematically organize that around procedures. That's what system is. So the system that most intimately surrounds children is school. So if we influence how children experience school or the system of education. Then we profoundly change children's childhood.

Qali:

This is called a whole school approach, a system-wide strategy that engages all parts of the school community, students, teachers, leaders, and families to embed positive behaviors, supportive environments, and shared practices across policy, culture, and day-to-day life, rather than treating violence or safety as isolated issues.

Gemma:

So I think at the heart of what works is looking at, , the social and gender norms that underpin school culture. So we know that there's many everyday norms that are out there, which are actually harmful when it comes to creating a safe school environment. So, for example, parent or teachers' belief that corporal punishment, , is a good thing for children in terms of supporting their learning, or that, , boys should always be dominant or, you know, show their power. So if we're going to create safe spaces, , then we need to unpack why, , individuals in society and and the wider community hold those beliefs and then look at questioning them and thinking about reflecting on those, uh, those beliefs, , at a school level with children, with teachers, with communities. And that's what we call a whole school approach. And to do that, we need to give agency, , to students, but also to teachers, , to be able to go through that process of reflection. And to engage with the wider, parents, and community so that the conversations that are happening don't stop at the school gate, but really manage to engage, you know, the wider, , school community., So what works is often around, you know, thinking about how to create those spaces, set those expectations, reflect on the impact of behavior., So we might see school clubs or school parliaments codes of conduct for teachers that have been developed with the input of students. Or it might be about sort of positive development for young people.

Qali:

This is where things get exciting because while taking on an entire education system all at once may seem daunting, there's already lots of evidence that what Deepak Hope and Gemma have been working on actually works.

Hope:

We have a lived experience, , that has demonstrated that violence against children is preventable. When raising voices developed a good school toolkit. We tested it in a randomized controlled trial in 44 schools in Luo district in Uganda, and along the way, even before we did the end line, we realized that there were some. Positive results that were coming through, that we were seeing, , good relationships amongst peers. We are seeing better relationships between teachers and learners. Teachers were using positive discipline. Children had voice and agency. There was a distribution of power and. Respect among the peers and, and adults and children. And we could see that even before the intervention was complete, other schools were reaching out, you know, for support. They were reaching out for raising voices to go and implement the good school toolkit in their schools. But finally, when we did the end line in the schools. After 18 months, we learned that actually the good school toolkit reduced the use of physical violence corporal punishment by 42%. It also reduced the approval of the use of corporal punishment by 50%. And that is what convinced us that actually it is possible to prevent violence against children in schools.

Qali:

If the whole school approach is the theory, the good school toolkit is the way to put it into action. It's about addressing all the possible levers of influence that impact the school environment and in school behavior from the individual behaviors that cause violence to the culture and social fabric of the. All the way up to the policies, processes, and school programs that underpin the operations. These three layers, the individual social and environmental make up the socio environmental model As SBC practitioners, it must be incredibly satisfying to be addressing all these crucial levers at once through one intervention. But how do you bring all the schools in a country together and unite the national systems that dictate so much of how a system like education functions, that's where the Safe to Learn coalition comes in.

Gemma:

There's lots and lots of examples of individual projects that have had a big impact on reducing violence in schools. But we don't want to just bring about that change in five, 10, or a hundred schools. So the only way. School systems will really become safe and inclusive Places for children to learn is if we can bring about that change at a national level. And there's many ministries of education that are trying to make that change., But they need support to do so. So the Safe to Learn coalition,, kind of crowdsource what works. So we look at the research and the evidence globally. And then we enable that or we broker that evidence to the national level. So if we look for example, at the work that's happening, say in a Ministry of education at a national level, , if a country has endorsed the Safe to Learn call to action, then they've made a political commitment to try and end violence in and around schools. But it's the how. That's often so challenging because we need to look at what works, but also what's affordable, , within a context where resources are often constrained. So the call to action has five areas, and within each area there are a number of interventions that governments can take either at the level of laws and policies or at the school level or in terms of social and behavior change. And that's really the, , the big win when looking at Safe to learn because it, it looks comprehensively at how governments can bring about change, and then it provides access to the technical resources and expertise to do so.

Qali:

Let's zoom back into the classroom here. Behavior change starts with deeply held beliefs, especially beliefs about discipline. So how do you work with teachers who genuinely believe physical punishment is good for children?

Hope:

It's a culture. We grew up being beaten. You know, the teachers, the parents grew up being beaten in some of the spaces actually they say it is those canes that made them who they are today. Then we, we help them to reflect on could they have been better If they weren't beaten, maybe they would've been in better places. So the issue of culture is a big one that we cannot ignore that, you know, we've been growing up knowing this is the only way to go. This is the only way I can raise children. But when we introduce the program, we also let teachers know that you're not alone. We know your struggles. We understand, but the intervention is coming with a solution. For example, over time teachers, we are saying, you're telling us not to use corporal punishment, but what can we use?

Qali:

So changing behavior isn't about telling people they're wrong. It's about creating space for reflection, and importantly offering alternatives. If not corporal punishment, then what? A core part of the good School toolkit is positive discipline, replacing punishment with respect, connection, and clear alternatives. And in Uganda, this shift has shown just how quickly behavior can change even in classrooms where violence once defined the culture

Hope:

I'll share an example of one of the teachers in one of the schools in Western Uganda, and that teacher was well known for using corporal punishment. Like he would always cane, he was so aggressive and from his words, he even said students had nicknamed him Mr. Lion. And when raising voices , and a partner organization reached out to that school to start the implementation, the head teacher said, I'm going to give you the hardest. If you think this thing works, try to work with so and so. So he was recruited as a teacher protagonist, and initially, of course, he had so many reservations around the issue of positive discipline and around the issue of creating a culture of non-violence because he believed that children need to be coerced. Students need to be coerced, for them to do what you want them to do. When he attended the training. In his own words, he said he went back and tried out. Of course, everybody else was surprised and wondering whether it would really work or he was doing it for something else. As time went by, he says he continued seeing that the learners warming up to him. They looked forward to attending his classes and himself also, he was enjoying school and having a good relationship with his learners. As we speak now he Is one of the protagonist, the regional resource persons who is supporting raising voices to, to scale the good school toolkit in his districts. Regional resource persons are educationists or teachers or education officers who have experienced the good school toolkit. Have lived it and have the capacity to support other schools. So beyond his school, he's supporting 16 other schools to do the implementation of the Good School toolkit, and we know behind include positive discipline.

Qali:

If a teacher once known as Mr. Lion can change it challenges the idea that violence in schools is inevitable. When teachers are supported rather than blamed and given real alternatives, instead of rules alone, behavior change becomes. Possible and the benefits of this change ripple out attendance improves children stay in school longer and learning environments become places where they can truly thrive.

Hope:

I'm seeing schools where there's more completion rates. Because there is retention, because we know that many children drop out of school as a result of violence. The environment allows them to thrive. So there'll be more innovation. And when it comes to the cognitive development of the learners, I think it'll be at a higher level then, but then it'll translate into schools that are violent free, where all boys and girls feel free to thrive and can move towards their full potential.

Qali:

At the beginning of this episode, Deepak told us a story about a girl who thrived at school. After joining a school council, Deepak reflects on what he hopes we can take away from this story and the importance of improving schools.

Dipak:

Helping a child independently come to a belief that I matter. What I do, what I say, what I think matters, and that the world around me cares what I do. That is such a delicate and powerful belief to fertilize in a child. If we are able to do that, then in some ways that will change everything for that child.

Qali:

That is the true power of a good school. Thank you to our speakers, Deepak Naka Hope Wabi and Gemma Wilson Clark for joining me on today's episode. If you'd like to learn more about the Safe to Learn initiative, the Good School Toolkit, or the organizations represented, all of the information is in the show notes, please do share this episode with teachers, education practitioners, and anyone else interested in improving schools. Until next time, I'm Gali Reed.