Deborah Fry*

Improving education quality and raising learning outcomes are central to the post-2015 global education agenda. Still, both within and without schools, significant barriers to learning exist. Among these, violence in childhood is increasingly recognised as a serious problem that has a profound negative impact on educational outcomes. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)^[1] include specific goals to end violence, improve educational outcomes and to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education for all, but there is a lack of information which shows how these aims are interconnected.

We know quite a bit about the impacts of violence – numerous reviews and meta-analyses have been conducted at the global^{[2],[3],[4],[5]}, regional^[6],[7] and national^[8],[9] levels. In every country where it has been measured, violence in childhood has been shown to impact the health of well-being of children. We also know some information about the impact of different programmes which aim to improve educational outcomes such as school attendance and learning outcomes – which are typically measured by test scores in core subjects like reading and maths^{[10],[11],[12]}. Measuring learning and other educational outcomes such as enrolment is important because enrolment does not ensure attendance and attending school does not necessarily mean children will learn^[13].

There is less evidence of the impact of violence on educational outcomes,^{[9],[14],[15]} despite the realization that education goals cannot be met when children live in fear.^[16],[17] Though some research has looked at how specific types of violence affects certain academic outcomes, ^{[18],[19],[20],[21]} there has yet to be comprehensive evidence which shows how the myriad forms of violence in childhood impacts educational outcomes at the global level.

Recent research conducted by the Safe Inclusive Schools Network (SISN) based at the University of Edinburgh sought to fill this evidence gap.^[22] SISN is an interdisciplinary network of colleagues working together to support the achievement of SDG education Target 4a which calls for the provision of safe, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all. SISN members undertook a systematic literature review and meta-analyses to explore how violence in childhood affects children’s outcomes at school globally. The search was broad: several different educational outcomes – such as dropping out of school, school absence and academic achievement (typically measured by standardized test scores) – were included. Multiple types of violence were also searched, including sexual, emotional, physical violence, neglect and bullying. The review also included all articles on violence against children, violence by children toward others and violence to which children are exposed. Locating articles from 21 different countries, the team analysed the data to estimate the magnitude of the association between different types of violence and educational outcomes.

All forms of violence in childhood had a significant impact on educational outcomes. All types of violence negatively affected children’s grades and test scores, and also impacted the likelihood of children graduating from school. Children who had experienced any form of violence were 13% less likely to graduate from high school compared to children who hadn’t experienced violence.Certain types of violence were found to be more significant for specific outcomes. Bullying had a strong influence on school attendance and participation through school engagement and less of an impact on academic achievement compared to other forms of violence. Sexual violence had a substantial impact on standardized test scores: children who experienced some form of sexual violence were more likely to score lower on standardized tests by 29 percentile points. Boys’ and girls’ outcomes also differed. Violence – especially bullying – was more likely to impact boys’ absence from school compared to girls’. When looking at outcomes like having to repeat a grade or to take remedial classes, emotional violence had a larger impact on girls than on boys.

While there are limitations to this research – such as that many of these studies were from high-income countries, and they also differed in how they measured violence and educational outcomes which affects comparability – these results are important to understand how and to what extent different forms of violence in childhood contribute to inequalities in education. The findings support the idea that prevention of violence in childhood can be viewed as a key strategy for raising attainment and improving educational outcomes globally for both boys and girls.

One step in this direction would be to link effective approaches to preventing violence in childhood – including the INSPIRE framework^[23] – more explicitly to SDG 4. For example, complementing the seven strategies from the INSPIRE framework with robust monitoring and evaluation and multi sectorial coordination could be achieved in part by linking to indicators associated with SDG Target 4a where possible. This research confirms that increased investment in violence prevention is an important strategic aim for ending all violence against children, enhancing educational outcomes and ensuring that students are learning in safe, non-violent and inclusive environments.

*Dr Deborah Fry is Senior Lecturer of Child Protection at the Moray House School of Education at the University of Edinburgh where she leads on Preventing Violence in Childhood Research and co-leads the Safe Inclusive Schools Network (SISN). She is was also a member of the East Asia and Pacific Know Violence Learning Group and member of the Asia-Pacific Research Network on Violence in Childhood (APRN) that has just formed out of that initiative.

References

1. UN General Assembly. Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, 2015

2. Barth J et al. The current prevalence of child sexual abuse worldwide: a systematic review and meta-analysis, International Journal of Public Health, 2013,58(3): 469–483

3. Hillis S et al. Global prevalence of past-year violence against children: a systematic review and minimum estimates,Pediatrics, 2016,137(3): 1–13

4. Pereda N et al. The international epidemiology of child sexual abuse: A continuation of Finkelhor (1994), Child Abuse & Neglect, 2009, 33(6): 331–342

5. Stoltenborgh M et al. A global perspective on child sexual abuse: meta-analysis of prevalence around the world, Child Maltreatment, 2001, 16(2): 79–101

6. Fry D et al. The consequences of maltreatment on children’s lives: a systematic review of data from the East Asia and Pacific Region, Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 2012, 209–233

7. UNICEF.Child maltreatment prevalence, incidence and consequences in East Asia and the Pacific: A systematic review of research, 2012

8. Ji K et al. Child sexual abuse in China: A meta-analysis of 27 studies, Child Abuse & Neglect, 2013, 37(9): 613–622

9. Fang X et al. The burden of child maltreatment in China: a systematic review,Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 2015, 93(3): 176–185

10.Cuesta A et al. School infrastructure and educational outcomes: A literature review, with special reference to Latin America, Economía, 2016, 17(1): 95–130

11. Glewwe P et al. School resources and educational outcomes in developing countries: A review of the literature from 1990 to 2010, 2011, No. w17554, National Bureau of Economic Research

12. Snilstveit B et al. Interventions for improving learning outcomes and access to education in low-and middle-income countries: a systematic review,2015, International Initiative for Impact Evaluation, London

13. Rose P & Alcott B. How can education systems become equitable by 2030? DFID think pieces–learning and equity, 2015,DFID

14. Gilbert Ret al. Burden and consequences of child maltreatment in high-income countries,The Lancet, 2009, 373(9657): 68–81

15. Fry D. Preventing violence against children and how this contributes to building stronger economies. Thematic research paper for the 3rd high-level meeting on cooperation for child rights in the Asia-Pacific region, 7–9 November, 2016, 2016,Government of Malaysia & UNICEF

16. UNESCO. School violence and bullying: Global status report, 2017

17. UN Secretary General. Protecting children from bullying: Report of the Secretary-General, A/71/213, 2016

18. Espelage DL et al. Associations between peer victimization and academic performance,Theory into Practice, 2013, 52(4): 233–240

19. Basch CE. Aggression and violence and the achievement gap among urban minority youth, Journal of School Health, 2011, 81(10): 619–625

20. Romano E et al. Childhood maltreatment and educational outcomes, Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 2015, 16(4), 418–437

21. Nakamoto J & Schwartz D. Is peer victimization associated with academic achievement? A Meta-analytic review, Social Development, 2010, 19(2): 221–242.

22. Fry D et al. The Relationships between Violence in Childhood and Educational Outcomes: A Global Systematic Review and Meta-analysis, Child Abuse and Neglect, 2017

23. WHO et al. INSPIRE: Seven strategies for ending violence against children, 2016

1. You were previously Coordinating Minister of Social Development for the Government of Ecuador.  Could you elaborate and cite some of the policies that you have helped shape towards a better and safer childhood?

As Coordinating Minister of Social Development, I was able to oversee the branch of government that works to meet social development goals for the country. During the three years of my tenure, I was able to contribute to the creation, evaluation, review and innovation of policies in vital areas of social development, promising better living for all Ecuadorians, especially for children. Among the most important policies that I was able to help promote and enforce, were the early childhood national strategy, educational reforms, healthcare reforms, social security reforms and the poverty alleviation national strategy. In the last nine years, the Government of Ecuador achieved important social indicators. As a result, more than 1.5 million people overcame poverty, and extreme poverty dropped by nine percent. Ecuador was ranked the top country in the region for reducing inequality according to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. These results did not happen suddenly; strong political will and adequate design were required in order to sustain Ecuador’s high public investment − 15% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) − dedicated to ensuring not only conditions for efficiency and competitiveness of our economic growth, but also for the welfare of people through access to more services, roads, hospitals, health centres and schools as a tangible expression of a development approach that is not centred in capital but in human beings. Poverty and inequality in Ecuador are the result of many structural problems that cannot be solved simply by redistributing money to the most marginalized.In Ecuador, all elements of our society—public and private—seek to work together by putting our citizens first. (INEC 2015)

2. The Bernard van Leer Foundation (BvLF), where you are now based, is promoting Urban95 design principles as part of “designing cities that support healthy child development”.  These take into consideration city planning from the vantage point of a toddler. Could you please share with us how you plan to implement this and is there any evidence of success?

Today, more than half of the world is living in cities, including more than 1 billion children – a number that is increasing as more families are drawn to cities in search of a better future. Along with new opportunities, however, cities also pose new challenges for families, such as inequality, poor housing, limited access to health, transport and childcare services, and limited public spaces for play. The challenges are compounded by under-resourced cities that are struggling to design and implement new solutions. In addition, early childhood development is not yet a recognized priority within the urban agenda.

The Bernard van Leer Foundation (BvLF) is interested in working with leading cities to incorporate an early childhood development lens across sectors and throughout their planning, design and performance measurement activities. The vision of Urban95 is that all the world’s cities are liveable, inclusive cities that enable families to thrive. BvLF believes that a city, planned and designed for young children aged 0-5 years is not only good for them, but for the urban population as a whole.

In order to do this, we will work with municipalities, private sector, civil society and knowledge creating partners in 10 pioneering cities across the globe on innovative initiatives that have a potential for replication and scale. This will then allow us to increase the number of cities globally that use effective planning and design innovations to improve child health, well-being and development outcomes thereby improving the ability of cities to deliver better support for children and families.

3. The Habitat III conference in Quito offers a potential opportunity for the international community at all levels to harmonise its understanding of the challenges and opportunities posed by current trends in urbanisation. In addition, there is a growing body of evidence-based data that supports community violence prevention to make cities safer for children. Please share your thoughts on how this furthers Agenda 2030?

BvLF welcomes the paragraphs in the draft New Urban Agenda referring to promoting age and gender responsive planning and investment. We also support the mention of specific groups such as elderly, women and children, disabled people, etc. However, we are concerned that the specific mention of ‘young children’ or ‘families with young children’ is totally absent in the New Urban Agenda. Similar to the existing paragraph on elderly, we recommended, through a position paper, to add a paragraph on the commitment to address the social, health, economic and spatial implications of young children (0-5 years) and families with young children, and harness the crucial early childhood age factor.

BvLF is also part of the Children and Youth Partner Constituent Group (PCG) of the General Assembly of Partners (GAP), which is the main vehicle for civil society and other stakeholders to share experiences and issues of children living in cities, and propose solutions that contribute to making cities and human settlements more inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. BvLF has been present at Habitat III preparatory events and will be part of Habitat III to disseminate the message that including young children is crucial and we will share best practices from our experiences in India. We believe, Habitat III represents an opportunity to present Urban95 as an important urban challenge. We hope that by sharing this idea, we will have a better understanding of the strategic possibilities involved in committing large cities to grasp on the local urban policy priorities and how these could be linked to our perspective.

4. Can you cite some best practices or success stories in the Americas or elsewhere in the world where lessons can be learned with regards to encouraging the creation of inclusive cities particularly as it relates to the prevention of violence in childhood?

Repeated exposure to violence, either as victims or as witnesses, has lifelong effects on young children’s health, well-being and ability to learn. This is the main reason that made us support two partners to do research on why violence happens, raising the profile of this issue on the public agenda, testing solutions through demonstration projects and building partnerships with policymakers with a view to scaling-up evidence based approaches.

One successful approach to combatting violence both domestically, as well as on the street, was “La Familia Policial Libre de Violencia” (Police Family Free of Violence). This initiative was developed by our partner IPROMIF in a community in Perú where a third of police officers, both male and female, indicated they did not intervene if a couple was fighting in public. A series of workshops and individual counselling for 110 police families aimed to change attitudes and behaviours, instead of focusing on tactical procedures and protocols. Police officers were guided to better understand the rights and risks associated with domestic violence – not as police officers, but as fathers and mothers, aunts and uncles, and friends. Half of the police officers who attended the workshops, indicated that they understand the harm that authoritarian parenting can cause.

“It would be great to replicate this programme around the world. Imagine if all police officers were prepared psychologically and emotionally to deal with violence. The impact would be really big.”– Yuselin Ramos (Police Officer, Huancavelica, Peru)

Another successful experience I would like to share, is in Recife, Brazil, where extreme levels of social and economic inequality, invisibility and social exclusion, and a system of values based on moral debt are the root causes of the high levels of violence. To overcome these challenges, our partner Shine a Light, first mapped the social actors in eight of the most at-risk favelas or slums. This information was then compiled and geo-referenced into Google Maps and served as the basis for Favela News. Favela News is an online news platform, designed for young men and women in favelas to gain peaceful recognition and respect from their community as an alternative to previous methods, such as the use of violence, arms, and drug trafficking. Since Favela News started in 2012, the homicide rate has dropped and police brutality has decreased in the communities in which Favela News works.

“Having Favela News making films of the community shows that there are people that believe in the community, in change. And they know that the community has important things to offer when they film and show our reality.” –Jonas, a favela resident

5. How does the partnership with Know Violence align with BvLF’s strategic plan?

The BvLF’s 2010-2015 strategic plan pursued three programme goals: reducing violence in young children’s lives, taking quality early education to scale, and improving young children’s physical environments. Violence is not only an important global problem facing young children, but also an under-addressed one. In comparison to other aspects of young children’s lives, data on violence is scarce; while according to UNICEF, experiencing violence, even witnessing violence in early childhood, is one of the best predictors of being a victim or perpetrator of violence in later life.

The Know Violence in Childhood initiative aims to develop a ‘state of art’ knowledge base on violence in childhood and the most effective ways to prevent it across different regions of the world. It will thus be useful for all of BvLF’s violence-related work, for example, to help partners think about implementation of evidence-based family support solutions at scale. Know Violence will both catalogue and communicate solutions specifically with respect to BvLF’s goal to reduce violence in young children’s lives and is complemented by other ongoing global BVLF projects with similar goals including the National Academy of Sciences’ Forum on Investing in Young Children, the Violence and Children Evaluation Challenge Fund and Without Violence.

It is also important to mention that currently the BvLF is investing in its new strategy where we are primarily interested in developing knowledge resources that can allow us to take early childhood policies and programmes to scale effectively.

*Cecilia Vaca Jones has over 15 years of experience managing social development policies and programmes. She holds a Master’s degree in Social Policies for Sustainable Development from the University of Bologna, Italy, and a BA in International Relations from the Pontifical Catholic University in Ecuador. She also held policy-making roles in various other Ecuadorian governmental ministries, including the Ministry of Labour, the Ministry of Social Inclusion and the Ministry of Education. In these roles, she was responsible for developing public policy goals and initiatives designed to safeguard human rights.

Additionally, she worked for a number of civil society and international organisations, including CESTAS, Fundación Esquel, the Organization of American States and UNDP. She also served as a part-time professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador in Quito, and as a language scholar at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, USA.

Robert Muggah, Renata Giannini, and Natalie Hanna*

Violence against children is a global problem. Homicides alone claims the lives of close to 100,000 children a year. To put the scale of the impact in perspective, the Ebola virus killed 11,315 people in almost two years. About 1 in 4 of all child-related homicides occurs in Latin America. Boys are 6 times more likely to be a victim than girls (19 per 100,000 compared to 3 per 100,000).

While sadly widespread, violence is also unevenly concentrated. Violence – not accidents or disease – is the leading cause of death for children and adolescents aged 10-19 in Brazil. More than11,000 young people were killed last year in Brazil. The country only trails Nigeria in the murder of young people, and is ahead of India, Congo, Mexico, Pakistan, Colombia, Venezuela and the U.S.

Of course lethal violence is just the tip of the iceberg. There is also physical and psychological abuse. About one quarter of all girls aged 15-19 are victims of some form of physical violence, whether unwanted touching or sexual violence. And there are many others forms of abuse and victimisation that go unrecorded.

We are learning how violence ravages families and communities, leaving physical and psychological scars and trauma in its wake. In countries such as Brazil, epidemic levels of violence are widely tolerated and often naturalised. Generations of families have been affected, with many somehow believing that it is “normal”.

In our last blog post, we discussed some of these impacts, but also how new technologies are helping document where kids are most at risk. We introduced a new digital platform – the Child Security Index (CSI)– originally designed to fill a gap in our knowledge. In this post, we will drill down on some of the preliminary findings from ongoing studies using the CSI in over a dozen cities spread across Brazil.

Before turning to these findings, a word about how the CSI works. We developed the CSI – a survey and dashboard that runs on smart phones – to better understand how children perceive their security environment at home, in schools and in public spaces. The platform consists of 30 multiple choice questions vetted by some of the world’s top child protection experts.

Our hope is that the CSI can contribute to the growing edifice of knowledge on violence against children. Some national census partly captures the objective experience of violence against children, albeit with varying degrees of confidence. Very few studies shed light on the ways in which young people themselves experience fear and anxiety. Their voices are often excluded.

Working with our partners at World Vision International, Google Brasil, Oi Futuro and Bernard van Leer Foundation, we’ve tested the CSI in a wide range of settings. Cities where the CSI was fielded include Dix-Sept Rosado and Mossoró (RN); Catolé do Rocha (PB), Fortaleza (CE), Recife (PE) and Manacapuru (AM); and Canapi, Inhapi and Maceió (AL), Salvador (BA), Itinga (MG), Rio de Janeiro and Nova Iguaçu (RJ), and São Paulo (SP).

Our teams interviewed a total of 3,500 children and care-givers in 14 cities. A number of striking findings emerged. Perhaps the most surprising was that just a tiny proportion of child respondents – around 1% – describe their surroundings as “very dangerous”. This is surprising in a country where at least 80% of the population believes that they could be a victim of homicide.

We think the findings of this study will be of interest to a wider range of policy makers, practitioners, activists and lay people in Brazil and outside. So what kinds of insights does the CSI reveal in the Brazilian context?

• First, the older the child, the more likely they report a higher sense of insecurity. Teens are more anxious than young children.
• Second, there is not a statistically significant difference between sexes on how young children perceive insecurity, but this changes as they get older.
• Third, and not surprisingly, children and adolescents report feeling safest in their homes. At least 40% of respondents reported feeling unsafe in their schools and communities.
• Fourth, despite this, there is a comparatively high rate of reported victimisation in homes: 25% reported some form of physical abuse and 63% reported corporal punishment when they did something wrong.
• Fifth, there is comparatively high sense of insecurity in schools – 30% reported bullying or some form of physical or verbal violence, 40% reported feeling insecure, 40% reported cancellation of school because of shooting/incident in the street and 80% reported fights.
• Sixth, in communities, 40% of respondents reported feeling some kind of insecurity. Another 58% reported sometimes or always being afraid of cars in the street and just 56% believe that children have a decent chance of having a good life.
• Seventh, when asked who makes them always feel safe, 89% reported their family, 40% reported police, 34% reported neighbors and 7% reported people involved in prohibited/illegal activities.
• Eighth, despite their apparent vulnerability, children appear to be optimistic about their future, though hope dissipates with age. For example, 96% of child respondents in Rio de Janeiro reported they believe they will have a good future. That drops to 82% when they become teenagers.

Perhaps not surprisingly, attitudes toward the police vary. This is not surprising given the poor reputation of law enforcement in Brazil. Levels of trust in police have decreased among older respondents. In Rio de Janeiro, around a quarter of respondents do not feel protected by the police. Among mothers, the rate increased to 41%. Just 18% of girl respondents said they felt protected by police in contrast to 35% of boys in São Paulo.

To coincide with the Olympics and highlight some of these issues, the Igarapé Institute and its partners launched a social media campaign in August and September 2016. Our goal was to make violence against children more visible and enable tech-driven solutions to protect children. We’ve made some headway – more than 1 million people have been reached with our material and 10 countries were actively engaged across the Americas, Africa, Europe and Asia.

Starting in 2017, the CSI will start being tested outside of Brazil, including North America, Central America and the Caribbean. We’ll also continue supporting our allies in Brazil, including Luta Pela Paz, Quebrando o Tabu, Just Real Moms, RISO- Resgate da Infância Social, Know Violence in Childhood, Instituto Bola pra Frente, World Vision International, Instituto da Criança, Criança Pequena em Foco, Terre des Hommes, Children Win, Bernard van Leer, Global Campaign for Violence Prevention and Plug ConectandoVidas. We look forward to bringing more partners on board in the coming year.

For more information on the CSI, visit: https://igarape.org.br/en/apps/child-security-index/. For access to the latest results of a 12-city assessment, go to: https://igarape.org.br/en/what-do-children-say/

*Robert Muggah is the Research Director of the Igarapé Institute and the SecDev Foundation. He also co-chairs one of the learning groups at Know Violence in Childhood. Rob was recently appointed to serve as an expert on a UN Security Council-mandated review of the Youth, Peace and Security Agenda. At Igarapé Institute, Renata Giannini is senior researcher while Natalie Hanna is a researcher. Both Renata and Natalie conducted research related to the CSI.