Development of an intervention to prevent violence in Catholic primary schools in Zimbabwe: Innovation from within the Church

• Main Authors: Emily Eldred (Author), Ellen Turner (Author), Camilla Fabbri (Author), Sister Annah Theresa Nyadombo (Author), Dorcas Mgugu (Author), Charles Muchemwa Nherera (Author), Robert Nyakuwa (Author), Tendai Nhenga-Chakarisa (Author), Sarah Rank (Author), Karen Devries (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: Health for All Nations, 2023-10-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.

Summary

Schools have enormous potential to prevent and respond to violence against children. In this paper, we describe a new intervention to protect children from violence in Zimbabwe's Catholic primary schools, initiated and developed by the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference (ZCBC). ZCBC and academic institutions in Zimbabwe and the UK are partnering to conduct formative research to understand the school context, barriers, and facilitators to intervention implementation. Semi-structured qualitative interviews with teachers and other stakeholders [n=18] suggest that this intervention will be well received. Perceived facilitators include utilising existing structures within the Church, the intervention being viewed as in alignment with Catholic values, and the use of familiar structures within Catholic schools to deliver intervention activities. Challenges will include perceptions of "child protection" among parents and teachers. ZCBC is refining the intervention model, which will be evaluated for effectiveness in reducing violence against children in a randomised controlled trial.

Item Description

2167-2415
10.15566/cjgh.v10i2.701