13,000 children in Siem Reap and Preah Vihear will be free from violence in and around schools

Phnom Penh, 29 January 2021: Save the Children and its partners, including World Vision and Plan International, will hold an official ceremony to launch the "Ending Violence Against Children in and around Schools in Cambodia" (ENDVAC) project, funded through the End Violence Fund and its associated donors. The ceremony will be held on 29 January 2021 at Sunwag hotel. Around 50 participants will attend the event, including representatives from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, the Ministry of Women's Affairs and the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veteran and Youth Rehabilitation. Delegations from NGOs working to end violence against children, Development partners, local authorities, and children and youth will also attend.

The "Ending Violence Against Children in and around Schools in Cambodia" project will support nearly 1 3,000 children, including non-binary children and children with disabilities, in the provinces of Siem Reap and Preah Vihear. The project will aim to reduce violence against children in and through schools using evidence-based tools and approaches. Save the Children will lead overall project implementation, ensure quality results, and national collaboration. At the same time, World Vision will implement the project in Preah Vihear, and Plan International will implement it in Siem Reap.

Experiencing violence has long-lasting negative consequences on children's development. According to the 2013 Cambodia Violence Against Children Survey, over half of both females (52.7%) and males (54.2%) aged 18-24 years reported at least one experience of physical violence prior to the age of 18. The survey further highlights that although violence in schools often occurs between children of the same age, teachers are the most common perpetrators of violence against children outside their homes.

Mrs. Elizabeth Pearce, Country Director of Save the Children in Cambodia, explained that violence against children, especially gender-based violence and bullying, contributes significantly to school dropout among children with disabilities. Mrs. Pearce also noted that children face different vulnerabilities based on their gender. Girls are more likely to experience psychological bullying, cyberbullying, sexual violence and harassment, while bogs are more likely to experience physical violence and corporal punishment. Child protection practices need to respond appropriately based on these patterns.

"Through this project, Save the Children and partners will strengthen the Cambodian Child Protection Policy Framework through the development, endorsement and dissemination of the Implementation Guidelines for the Child Protection in Schools Policy (IGCPSP)," said Mrs. Pearce. "We will also suPÞort the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport in the piloting of the IGCPSP in target primary schools, by establishing a functioning school based child protection mechanism and ensuring its coordination with community-based child protection mechanisms."

Ms. Gwynneth Wong, Country Director of Plan International said that the project will also support target schools in developing systems to monitor data related to violence against children and enforcing codes of conduct. "These systems will help schools track violence against children and enable timely response to prevent children from dropping out of school," explained Ms. Gwynneth.

The Ending Violence Against Children project will seek to empower school- and community-based actors most directly affected by violence in schools. "We will empower vulnerable children, girls, boys, non-binary students, children with disabilities and community-based child protection actors to speak up and take positive action against violence in schools," said Mr. Daniel Selvanayagam, National Director of World Vision.

Finally, Save the Children, World Vision and Plan International will support national child protection efforts by contributing evidence and learning for costed options to scale up implementation of successful child protection models, approaches and strategies.

For media inquiries, please contact:

1.  Mrs. Say Sokpheap, Communications Manager, Save the Children via her email: sokpheap.say@savethechildren.org or her phone: 012 682 770
2. Mr. Kuch Phearun, Strategic Communications Manager, Plan International
   Email: Phearun.kuch@plan-international.org Tel: +855 17 563 520
3. Mrs. Lay Ratana, Communications and Public Engagement Manager, World Vision
   Email: ratana_lay@wvi.org, Phone: +855 86 915 925