Regional project: Non-violent Education in Family and School

Project Title: Transfer of good practices between Mali, Ghana, Benin and Cameroon for promoting non-violent education and responsible parenting.

Project areas: 13 zones in Mali, Ghana, Benin, Cameroon

Duration: 01 October 2022 - 30 September 2025

Local project partners: CIPCRE Cameroon, ESGB Benin, GRADEM Mali, PAORP-VWC Ghana

In our project countries, many children experience severe violence, whether at home, at school, in health facilities, on the streets, or in exploitative working conditions. One example is violent educational methods, such as the use of the whipping belt at school. This causes psychological and physical wounds, teaches children to solve problems with violence, and does not improve children's learning outcomes.

Current laws that criminalize violence against children are largely unknown among parents, teachers, and others, neither are good practices of positive parenting or positive education methods. Parents rather rely on their instincts and experiences from their own childhood. Instincts, however, are very often poorly thought-through emotional responses, and it is not uncommon for these parents' childhood experiences to have been negative or even violent. Thus, many parents believe that parenting consists primarily of scolding and hitting. Consequently, although the family should normally be the ideal place to protect a child, it is often also a place of violence.

Our partners in Mali, Ghana, Benin and Cameroon are working to curb violence against children in a variety of ways. They have developed various approaches to this and successfully implemented them in their project areas. The project now promotes an international exchange among the partners on their common issues. The focus is on joint learning as well as on spreading and further developing best practices.

Overall objective:

Positive parenting and non-violent education are increasingly becoming a reality in families and schools in Mali, Ghana, Benin and Cameroon.

Project objective:

Parents and children in Mali, Ghana, Benin and Cameroon are applying the good practices they have learned to prevent or respond to child abuse.

Sub-objectives:

1. Leaders in the 13 project zones are able to implement locally adapted mechanisms to promote positive parenting and non-violent education.
2. 8,700 children and adolescents in the project countries have life skills that enable them to promote positive behavior at school, in the family and in the community.
3. Internationally transferable approaches to promoting positive parenting and non-violent education have been tested and disseminated in Mali, Benin, Ghana and Cameroon.

• Training 210 parent representatives on positive parenting and their accompaniment for spreading knowledge in their communities.
• Training 390 traditional and religious leaders on traditional mechanisms to promote positive parenting
• Strengthening NGO coalitions/networks for the promotion of non-violent education and parenting and the accompaniment of families and children
• Training 97 representatives of decentralized government services on good practices
• Producing and broadcasting a radio series with parent representatives on “Parenting Differently”
• Training 290 student representatives in secondary schools on core competencies, violence prevention initiatives, and counseling.
• Organizing 24 awareness-raising activities for children on children's rights
• Conducting a creative competition for children and young people “My local action against beating in school and family”.
• Conducting 14 school and community events against gender-based violence in schools
• Facilitating 126 student-teacher exchange forums on positive behaviors
• Conducting 3 regional conferences between the partners in Cameroon, Benin, and Ghana to share proven approaches
• Training the 4 project partners on positive parenting, non-violent education, and protection from gender-based violence
• Collecting and documenting best practices in a reference manual.

Project costs: 592,900 €

Funding partner:

• German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
• Kinderrechte Afrika e. V. and our local partners (donations)
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Cover photo: Girls who work in households are often exploited and also severely abused. © GRADEM