Why do children and young people need Safe Behaviours?

Peer on peer violence is one of the most common ways that children and young people experience violence: in Europe, almost 1 in 3 students report being bullied at school (30,1% of boys; 28,2% of girls). For children and young people from vulnerable backgrounds, the risk of experiencing peer on peer violence is higher than that of the general population.

Unfortunately, despite the prevalence of peer violence amongst children and young people, the adults and professionals who care for and work with them often experience challenges in responding effectively. As part of the scoping exercise that was conducted in the initial project, professionals reported that they were missing guidance on how to support children and young people affected by peer violence, and that there was a need for more training on the topic. Young people stated that more education is needed for adults, children, and young people to understand peer violence and how to better prevent and respond to it, and that there should be safe spaces where it can be discussed.

The Applying Safe Behaviours methodology focuses on children’s right to feel safe at all times, the development of self-confidence and resilience, as well as the importance of acceptance and understanding. By training and informing children, young people, and professionals on peer violence, and through the advocacy and awareness-raising actions aimed at the wider community and public authorities, the project aims to provide them with the knowledge, skills, and tools needed to understand the issue and act against it. Children and young people will be able to apply a Safe Behaviours approach in their lives, resulting in a safer environment for them and their peers, and professionals who care for and work with them will have an improved capacity to prevent, identify and respond appropriately to peer violence.

 

Building on previous learnings

In this project, the methodology, materials and experience of the initial Applying Safe Behaviours project will be scaled up and built upon to incorporate key learnings and reach further groups of children, young people and professionals. Additionally, new activities will be implemented, such as awareness-raising workshops, local change projects by children, and further advocacy interventions at both national and EU-level. More focus on the ways children experience peer violence differently depending on their gender will also be integrated, with the development of a new module within the peer-to-peer workshop programme for children on the prevention of gender-based peer violence.

 

The International Young Expert Group of the initial Applying Safe Behaviours project (2021-2023)

 

Project beneficiaries

Through the project actions, children and young people from vulnerable backgrounds and the adults and professionals who care for and work with them will be reached in Bulgaria, Italy, Kosovo, Romania, and Sweden. Advocacy and awareness-raising activities at both national and EU-level will also reach a wider audience, including further children, young people, professionals who care for and work with children and young people, policymakers, public authorities, as well as the general population.

 

Key project activities

1. Delivery of peer-to-peer workshops for children aged 11-15 years old to learn more about what peer on peer violence is, why it happens, ways it might be prevented, and what they can do to help protect themselves and their peers. The workshops are led by young people aged 17-24 who are trained as Peer Trainers.

2. Design and implementation of change projects by children in each of the peer-to-peer workshop groups, to bring what they have learned to others in their community to help raise awareness and contribute to the better prevention and response to peer violence.

3. Delivery of face-to-face trainings for professionals who care for and work with children and young people to equip and empower them to prevent, identify, and respond to peer violence amongst children in a balanced, safe, and caring manner, ensuring the best interest of every child.

4. Roll out of awareness-raising workshops for children, young people, and adults, on what peer on peer violence is, how it can be prevented, and how to support children and young people who have been affected by it.

5. Development of practice-based guidelines for local, regional and national social services on how to better identify, prevent and respond to peer on peer violence.

6. Dissemination of national and EU-level policy recommendations on what needs to be changed in the legal framework as well as in practice to ensure that an informed, preventative, combative and responsive approach to peer violence amongst children is embedded into the child protection system.

 

Child and youth participation

Safe, active, and meaningful participation of children and young people, with a particular focus on those from vulnerable backgrounds, is central to all aspects of the project. In addition to the children and young people reached with the capacity-building and awareness-raising activities, National Child and Young Expert Groups have been formed in each country, as well as an International Young Expert Group at EU-level.

 

Project partners

• SOS Children’s Villages International
• SOS Children’s Villages Bulgaria
• SOS Children’s Villages Italy
• SOS Children’s Villages Romania
• SOS Children’s Villages Sweden
• Terre des hommes Lausanne in Kosovo
• Terre des hommes Hungary – Regional Hub for Europe

 

Associated partners

• European Social Network (ESN)
• International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse & Neglect (ISPCAN)
• SOS Children’s Villages Kosovo
• SOS Kinderdörfer weltweit – Hermann-Gmeiner-Fonds Deutschland