School-Related Gender-Based Violence: A Whole School Approach Pilot Initiative

The members of the Global Working Group to End SRGBV provided the impetus to develop guidance to strengthen gender responsiveness in school based violence prevention in order to meet the sustainable development goal 4 target of building "safe, inclusive and gender sensitive learning environments." The limitation of robust data collection and monitoring mechanisms for SRGBV prevalence and responses is widely acknowledged. The SRGBV Whole School Minimum Standards and Monitoring approach provides a framework for action to guide policy makers and practitioners to design school violence prevention and response.

The purpose of this tool is to guide programme design and strengthen monitoring of prevention and response actions, contributing to more robust data collection and accountability for SRGBV incidents, at the school, district and national levels. The prevention model is based on eight evidence based standards:

1. school leadership and community engagement to create safe and gender sensitive learning environments; 
2. codes of conduct;
3. teachers and educational staff support; 
4. child rights, participation and gender equality; 
5. reporting, monitoring and accountability; 
6. incident response;
7. safe and secure physical environments in and around schools; and
8. parent engagement.

These standards are accompanied by a monitoring approach and a set of proposed indicators at the school and district or national level to enable implementation strategies to be monitored and adapted.