About the project

A three year collaborative research project (2014-2017) undertaken by a team of researchers at IOE.

The project forms part of the End Gender Violence in Schools (EGVS) initiative led by the United Nations’ International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) with support from the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) and the UN’s Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI), in partnership with IOE.

EGVS combines research, capacity building and knowledge exchange, working closely with governments and national partners in Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Togo, and Zambia.

Aims and methodology

The initiative aimed to:

  • generate robust evidence needed to foster effective policies and actions around school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV)
  • build evidence to better understand, inform and strengthen the process of policy enactment on SRGBV in Zambia, Ethiopia, Togo and Côte d’Ivoire.

The team at IOE led the action research for the initiative, including:

  • a rigorous review of global evidence (Parkes et al., 2016)
  • a scoping study in each of the four participating countries
  • action plans developed and implemented by country teams build evidence and address SRGBV in each national setting. 

Publications and outputs

Code of conduct study

The code of conduct on prevention of school-related gender-based violence: A study of policy enactment in Ethiopia  - Jo Heslop, Jenny Parkes, Freya Johnson Ross, Firehiwot Alito, Ellen Turner (2019) 

Executive Summary 

There has been very little research globally on the implementation of national policy interventions to address School-Related Gender-Based Violence (SRGBV). SRGBV describes physical, sexual and psychological acts of violence in and around schools, underpinned by unequal access to resources and power, and inequitable norms and stereotypes based on gender. A key intervention of governments around the world has been to develop Codes of Conduct for school communities, that set professional standards and hold staff and students accountable for SRGBV and other forms of misconduct. Yet there are few studies that look in depth at how these codes have been implemented in schools.

In Ethiopia, a Code of Conduct on Prevention of SRGBV in Schools was introduced in 2014 and has been rolled out in all regions across Ethiopia. In addition, a Violence Reporting Tool (VRT) was developed to gather data on incidents of violence in schools. In 2017, the Ministry of Education (MoE) and UNICEF Ethiopia prioritised a study to look in depth at how the Code was understood and used at national, regional, district and in particular at school levels.

The findings from the study will help to inform the MoE’s review of the Code and the reporting tools, thus having potential to make an important contribution to improving the safety of girls and boys in and around schools in Ethiopia. The study will also help to build knowledge globally about the challenges and potential for Codes of Conduct, and related work to prevent and respond to violence in schools.

Rigorous review of global research

[English] A rigorous review of global research evidence on policy and practice on school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV) 

[French] Analyse méthodique des données issues de la recherche mondiale sur les politiques et les pratiques de lutte contre la violence liée au genre en milieu scolaire (VLGMS)

Jenny Parkes, Jo Heslop, Freya Johnson Ross, Rosie Westerveld, Elaine Unterhalter | 2016

Approaches to addressing SRGBV

The review showcases the latest research evidence on approaches to addressing SRGBV. Research efforts around SRGBV to date have tended to focus on short-term, local level interventions with limited attention to policies and policy implementation processes.

The most promising interventions are multi-layered and address the links between violence, identities, social and cultural norms and intersecting structural inequalities. However, how to sustain and institutionalise work on gender and violence in schools and communities is less known.

Findings

The review found that a focus on resources and efforts is needed to build a robust evidence base that supports policy, practice, monitoring and evaluation at all levels.

Scoping studies

Scoping studies were conducted in Côte d’Ivoire, Togo, Ethiopia and Zambia outlining existing research, policies and practices in each of the four participating countries to inform the next phase of the End Gender Violence in Schools initiative.

Ethiopia

Zambia

Côte d’Ivoire

Togo

  • [English] Addressing School Related Gender Based Violence in Togo: A Scoping Study
  • [French] Lutter contre les violences basées sur le genre en milieu scolaire au Togo : étude préliminaire - Freya Johnson Ross, Rosie Westerveld, Jenny Parkes, Elaine Unterhalter, Jo Heslop (2017)
  • [French] Lutter contre les violences basées sur le genre en milieu scolaire au Togo: étude préliminaire (document de synthèse) - Freya Johnson Ross, Rosie Westerveld, Jenny Parkes, Elaine Unterhalter, Jo Heslop, Dr Kossi Sénamé Dodzi (2017)

Findings

The findings from these studies have identified the major gaps and critical opportunities for better preventing and responding to SRGBV in the respective countries, and based on the findings, the most promising interventions will be promoted for action both at policy and programmatic levels.

Cross-country report

[English] Addressing School-Related Gender-Based Violence in Côte d’Ivoire, Togo, Zambia and Ethiopia: A Cross-country Report. (pdf)

Jenny Parkes, Freya Johnson Ross, Jo Heslop, Rosie Westerveld, Elaine Unterhalter (2017).

This report synthesises findings from four scoping studies of policy, practice and evidence on SRGBV in Zambia, Togo, Ethiopia and Côte d’Ivoire carried out in 2016 to 2017, with insights of relevance for any country seeking to strengthen their work to address SRGBV.

The research design offers a valuable framework through which to evaluate and strengthen national action on SRGBV through collecting evidence on: prevalence and patterns of SRGBV; laws, policies and plans; structures and partnerships; responses in and around schools; prevention through teaching and learning; and systems for data collection.

UNGEI technical brief

Engaging communities in dialogue on gender norms to tackle sexual violence in and around schools - Jo Heslop (2016)

This technical note was prepared by Jo Heslop for UNGEI. The document looks at how gender norms shape sexual violence, and why it is critical to incorporate dialogue and action on gender norms in SRGBV interventions. It also identifies promising approaches to addressing gender norms within programs aimed at ending SRGBV, and sexual violence in particular.

It aims to be a resource for organisations who work in, or are planning to implement programmes on SRGBV primarily at the district and sub-national level. Some of the learning can also be applied to inform national education policy around gender and violence.

Journal articles

Other key global publications

Papers and presentations

UKFIET 2017 presentation and paper

Mainstreaming school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV) within the education sector in Togo, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia and Zambia.
Jenny Parkes, Freya Johnson Ross, Rosie Westerveld and Jo Heslop (2017).

This presentation was delivered by Dr Jenny Parkes during the UKFIET conference on Learning and Teaching for Sustainable Development: Curriculum, Cognition and Context, as part of the Panel “The politics of teaching on gender, sexuality and violence in Africa”, held on 5-7 September 2017 in Oxford (UK).

CIES 2017 presentation

Evidence-based policy and practice on school-related gender-based violence: findings from action-research in Togo, Côte d’Ivoire, Zambia and Ethiopia.
Jenny Parkes, Sena Lee, Rosie Westerveld, Freya Johnson Ross, Jo Heslop and Elaine Unterhalter (2017).

This presentation was delivered by Dr Jenny Parkes during the CIES conference on Problematizing (In)Equality: The Promise of Comparative and International Education, as part of the Panel “Pathways to Gender Equality and Preventing Cycles of violence in and through Education”, held on 5-9 March 2017 in Atlanta (US).

CIES 2017 presentation

Actors and shapers of policy enactment - Evidence from a four country study on school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV).
Freya Johnson-Ross, Jenny Parkes, Rosie Westerveld and Jo Heslop (2017).

This presentation was delivered by Dr Freya Johnson Ross during the CIES conference on Problematizing (In)Equality: The Promise of Comparative and International Education, as part of the Panel “Making policy work in gender and education”, held on 5-9 March 2017 in Atlanta (US).

Blog article

Ending gender violence in schools: what works and what does research tell us?
Jenny Parkes (2016)

Young Lives 2016 presentation

Reviewing the Evidence on Policy Enactments on School-Related Gender-Based Violence.
Jo Heslop, Rosie Westerveld, Jenny Parkes, Freya Johnson Ross and Elaine Unterhalter (2016)

This presentation was delivered by Jo Heslop and Rosie Westerveld during the Young Lives conference on Adolescence, Youth and Gender: Building Knowledge for Change held on 8-9 September 2016 in Oxford (UK).

CIES 2016 presentation

Policy and practice to end gender-based violence in schools: A global review of evidence.
Jenny Parkes, Changu Mannathoko (UNICEF), Jo Heslop, Elaine Unterhalter, Rosie Westerveld and Freya Johnson Ross (2016).

This presentation was delivered by Dr Jenny Parkes during the CIES conference on Six Decades of Comparative and International Education: Taking Stock and Looking Forward, as part of the Panel “Envisioning schools free from gender-based violence: Using evidence for action”, held on 6-10 March 2016 in Vancouver (CA). 

Research team

  • Jenny Parkes, Project Principal Investigator, Reader in Education
  • Elaine Unterhalter, Professor of Education and International Development
  • Jo Heslop, Lecturer in Education and International Development
  • Freya Johnson Ross, Research Associate
  • Rosie Westerveld, Research Associate
  • William Nicholas, Research Project Officer 

Related links

Contact us

Centre for Education and International Development (CEID)
Department of Education, Practice and Society
UCL Institute of Education
University College London
20 Bedford Way
London WC1H 0AL

IOE faculty building front
Professor Jenny Parkes Click to email. jenny.parkes@ucl.ac.uk

Header image credit: United Nations Mission in South Sudan via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).