Objective: To develop and disseminate practical tools that can enable practitioners to prevent violence against children in schools.

More than 60% of the 1400 children consulted in Uganda said they experienced violence at school on a regular basis. In response to this, Raising Voices initiated a program aimed at developing a holistic and a sustainable methodology for creating violence-free schools. This involved developing a Good School Toolkit, establishing partnerships with eight schools to test the ideas in school setting and collaborating with other stakeholders to test the ideas more widely.

 

a) Good School Toolkit

What is a Good School Toolkit?

The Good School Toolkit contains a set of ideas and tools that will help educators explore what a good school is and guide them through a process that will help them create one. It was developed with the help of schools in Uganda and deliberately focuses on ideas and activities that do not require specific financial resources—just commitment and perseverance to create something extraordinary.

Objectives of the Good School Toolkit

The Good School Toolkit has four interrelated objectives that address development of the collective vision, creation of the learning environment, implementation of a more progressive learning methodology and addressing the governance of the school. These are:

1) Form a collective vision for what a Good School is and identify the knowledge and skills needed to create it.

2) Create a healthy psychological and physical environment within which learning can happen efficiently.

3) Create a teaching methodology that will help teachers teach and students learn.

4) Create fair and respectable policies that guide the entire school’s behaviour and actions.

Who is it for?

The Toolkit is for educators (teachers, school administrators, parents, school governance officers) who are involved in the day-to-day running of a school. For more information on who it is aimed at, click here.

Learn more about the Toolkit here.

Order your copy of the Toolkit here.

 

b) Good School Partnership

Presently, the Toolkit has been rolled out to 450 schools in diverse regions of the country. Some schools have partnered directly with Raising Voices while others have been reached through collaborations with other civil society organizations, National Teachers Associations, Volunteers and the Ministry of Education and Sports. 

Raising Voices has partnered directly with seven schools carefully selected from four different regions of the country to serve as model institutions in replicating the toolkit within their localities. Information on these schools can be found here.

 

c) Good School Collaborations

In collaboration with Plan Uganda, Raising Voices has reached out to 250 schools in Kampala, Kamuli, Tororo, Luwero and Lira Districts. Introductory trainings on toolkit use were conducted for selected protagonist teachers from these schools. Following the training, the teachers have continued supporting their schools in developing implementation action plans each academic term.

Besides Plan Uganda, Raising Voices has collaborated with other organizations including Crane Viva, Positive Planet, Makindye Division Education Office, Peace Corps Uganda, LABE, Uganda National Teachers Association and selected core Primary Teachers Training Colleges.

c. 1. Piloting the Good Schools Toolkit in Nairobi.

Raising Voices is collaborating with UN Habitat for Humanity Safer Cities Program and the Nairobi City Council Education Offices to pilot the toolkit in two schools in Korogocho slum in Nairobi.

An introductory training has been conducted for Nairobi City Council Education Officers, teachers and children in Ngunyumu and St John’s Primary schools. Follow up support will be provided to the two schools in the hope of rolling out to 198 other schools over time.
 
In the photo: Raising Voices Program Staff handing over the Good Schools Toolkit to the Mayor of Nairobi City, George Aladwa.

c.2. Good Schools Resource Persons.

Due to an increasing demand for the toolkit, a pool of twelve resource persons has been recruited to support the program team in rolling out the Toolkit.  These are individuals with vast experience in using the Toolkit and have been recruited from pilot schools and core primary teachers colleges. Click here to view their profiles.

c.3. Good Schools Toolkit Study.

The study has been commissioned by Raising Voices in collaboration with London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine to assess the efficacy of the Toolkit in preventing violence against children and promoting better learning outcomes.

More information will be provided once the study has been completed.