Hosted by World Vision, this event is designed to inspire and equip with new ideas and tools to help us accomplish SDG 16.2.
Thoughtful presentations will include:

• Research by Queen Margaret University/Columbia University and World Vision on the contribution of faith communities to EVAC, as well as World Vision illustrated stories evidence and key resources.
• Arigatou International will share key principles and examples how faith leaders and faith communities can open spaces for child participation to strengthen the protective environment around children.

This will be a vibrant discussion with children, faith leaders, academics, experts in ending violence against children, government representatives, decision makers, and donors that will upgrade the discussion around the evidence of the role of faith leaders in child protection.

Photo credit: UNICEF/UN0157603/Seng           

This is the first Outreach Event for Project DRAGON-S – Developing Resistance Against Online Grooming – where expert speakers share insights about the scale of the challenge of Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (OCSAE). The event is supported by the Safe Online - End Violence Against Children Fund.

The Outreach Event will connect approaches in Wales with developments at the international level. This includes keynote speeches from decision-makers and leading experts, DRAGON-S project updates and a roundtable discussion to share strategies on preventing OCSAE.

We all want children to be safe to learn. The Safe to Learn strategy and Call to Action provide a roadmap for collective action. But where do we begin? Under the technical leadership of UNICEF, the Safe to Learn partners developed a diagnostic tool that aims to facilitate the prioritization of safe learning environments at the national, decentralised, and school level.

This event will provide an opportunity for the audience to learn about the tool and hear from the experiences of three countries: Jordan, South Sudan and Uganda.

The desired outcome of the event is the wide dissemination of the Safe to Learn diagnostic tool - and of the Safe to Learn Programmatic Framework and Benchmarking tool - as a public good and a shared understanding of the benefits of undertaking the Safe to Learn diagnostics to support educational programming and policymaking in a way that ensures all children are safe to learn. 

Speakers: 

• Dr. Chloë Fèvre, Director, Safe to Learn
• Stephen Blight, Senior Advisor, Child Protection, UNICEF New York Headquarters
• Dr. Joan Mwende, founder Beacon Teachers Africa
• Mr. Bassam Alhabahbeh, Head of the Counseling Section, Ministry of Education, Jordan, together with Suzan Kasht, Child Protection Specialist, UNICEF Jordan
• Ms. Rosette Nanyanzi, Gender Technical Advisor and Equity Budgeting Unit, Ministry of Education and Sports, Uganda
• Ms. Esther Akumu, Director General, Gender Equity and Inclusive Education, Ministry of General Education and Instruction, South Sudan
• Ms. Vibeke Jensen, Director of the Division for Education for Peace and Sustainable Development, UNESCO

This session is a part of a World Summit organized by our partner ISPCAN. Two-day program of the Summit includes six inspiring keynote speakers and interactive workshops facilitated by leaders in International Child Protection, brought together in one place to discuss the critical topics. French and Spanish interpretation is available throughout the whole Summit.

Across the world, more than 2 in 3 children experience corporal – or violent – discipline at the hands of those meant to love them most: their caregivers. This is the most common type of violence experienced by children, with many experiencing violent punishment in their homes, classrooms, child care and juvenile justice centres.

Now, 63 states have prohibited corporal punishment, as well as additional nations such as Scotland and Wales (The Welsh prohibition comes into force in March 2022). Whilst continuing to urge remaining states to enact laws, attention must now also focus on ensuring that prohibition is well implemented, in order to reduce levels of violent punishment and make a real difference for children.

During this session, we will talk about how legislation can and must be translated into action. We will also describe the five key steps to implementation, and speakers from Costa Rica, Wales and South Africa will present examples of good practice in three of the key areas, discussing their experiences and lessons learned in putting a prohibition into effect. We will also present the Implementation Guidance, soon to be available in seven new languages.

Dates: 1 - 5 November 2021

The purpose of this virtual conference is to share new data and emerging evidence on promising practices, as well as increase visibility for Ending Violence against Children (EVAC) on the COVID-19 recovery agenda. The virtual conference will focus on the role of education, health and social welfare specifically, and take the opportunity to place EVAC centrally in key areas including Back to School, Mental Health and Parenting.

The Regional Conference, co hosted by UNICEF and WHO, will bring together representatives and experts from governments from more than 20 countries in East Asia and the Pacific, as well as from regional bodies, civil society, youth networks, academia, UN and donors to:

• Explore the impact of COVID-19 on prevention and response to violence against children;
• Consider the implications of the latest global, regional and country research and developments of what works in implementing the INSPIRE strategies during COVID-19 and beyond;
• Identify adaptations and innovative solutions to tackle violence against children in the face of COVID-19 and global economic downturn;
• Promote and share good and promising practice on sectoral and multi-sectoral action to prevent and respond to violence against children with a focus on health, social welfare and education sectors;
• Promote and share good and promising practice on, among others: strengthening generation of data, research and evidence; ensuring well being and protection of children through Back to School; promoting parenting for violence reduction; ensuring linkages between mental health and violence against children in prevention and response; and effectively addressing the intersections between violence against children and violence against women; and
• Inspire accelerated action to end violence against children and achieve SDG Target 16.2.

Intended outcomes of the event:

• Ending violence against children is recognised as critical to the COVID-19 recovery agenda across the East Asia and Pacific Region.
• Enhanced political commitment to accelerate action to end violence towards the achievement of SDG 16.2.
• Strengthened multi sectoral engagement on EVAC with a focus on the role of health, social welfare and education.
• Increased integration of EVAC and mental health and wellbeing in the learning recovery agenda