Strategy
At the Global Education Summit in July 2021, Safe to Learn launched two new contributions to accelerate progress to ending all forms of violence against children in and through schools.
At the Global Education Summit in July 2021, Safe to Learn launched two new contributions to accelerate progress to ending all forms of violence against children in and through schools: a new investment case, drafted by the World Bank, and a new Safe to Learn Strategy (2021-24).
The Investment Case
By assessing the multi-pronged negative impacts of violence in and around schools, the investment case drafted by the World Bank has provided critical data and cost estimates on the extent to which violence negatively impacts schooling, learning, earnings, health, and long-term productivity.
For the first time ever, we can put a monetary value on the impacts of violence in and around schools – we now know that cost is estimated at $11 trillion in lost lifetime earnings.
The investment case also highlights a sample of programmes that have been proven to reduce violence in and through schools, including those that focus on early childhood, socio-emotional skills, anti-bullying, and life skills development. The study shows that these programmes do not just work – and have multiple benefits – but that their costs are also often small when compared to their benefits. It demonstrates that scaling-up evidence-based interventions at different levels of the education system is a smart investment with high cost-benefit ratios. The investments made for education are better spent, with better results, when schools are safer for children.
Read the investment case in full by clicking here. You can also explore select findings through this brief.
The 2021-2024 Safe to Learn Strategy
To address the multidimensional impacts of violence identified by the investment case, Safe to Learn partners renewed their commitment for collective action through the new Safe to Learn Strategy (2021-24).
Safe to Learn is a coalition of 14 powerful partners from the education, violence prevention, child protection, and health fields that joined forces in 2018 to ensure that all children have access to safe learning environments. Following the global pandemic that has heightened two pre-existing crises – the learning crisis and the children’s rights crisis – partners decided to respond with renewed energy and commitment through an ambitious and operational strategy to accelerate progress and take change to scale.
The new Safe to Learn Strategy was endorsed by the 14 partners’ senior officials in May 2021.
The Strategy leverages the diverse expertise of partners to accelerate progress towards at-scale change and embed violence prevention mechanisms in education systems worldwide so that every girl and boy in every country across the world can learn safely, wherever their learning experience happens – at home, in school, or online. Its two strategic pillars – country engagement and global advocacy – complement and reinforce each other to strengthen an ecosystem of safe learning and build foundations for at-scale change.
You can explore the 2021-2024 Strategy In addition, you can access annexes to the strategy, which include a technical note focused on gender and a results framework about accelerating progress for all children to be Safe to Learn.