Violence against children in homes is deep rooted in Ugandan communities, widely spread and rampant. Spare the rod and spoil the child is an often-quoted justification for the continued violence against children.
According to the 2018 National violence Against Children Survey, Parents or adult relatives were the most common perpetrators of violence in childhood.
In Uganda, 7 in 10 boys and 6 in 10 girls have experienced physical violence in childhood. Over 90% of these children experienced multiple incidents of violence. This means that more than half of all children in Uganda have experienced physical abuse. Unfortunately, children most commonly do not seek help because they think it is their fault or do not think it is a problem.
Over the years, institutions and organizations working in the child protection area have tried to find solutions to this continued violence. Previous Positive Parenting approaches focused on changing parents’ behavior, leaving out children in the change cycle. The National Parenting Guide, developed to facilitate best practices to parents is rudimentary and does not tackle root causes of violence in homes.
More than half of all children in Uganda have experienced physical abuse
Alternatives to Corporal Punishment offers different ways to discipling children and favors adults. The Children’s Act bans corporal punishment in schools but does not extend this ban to homes. These all do not comprehensively handle the issue of violence in homes, leaving gaps in the support to parents and protection of children. And perhaps one of the biggest gaps is that children have not been included in interventions ending violence against them.
Parenting without violence
Parenting Without Violence is an approach that was developed by Save the Children to tackle the root cause of Violence Against Children in homes by addressing negative gender norms that support this harmful practice. It is an amalgamation of various Parenting approaches such as the Real Fathers, Youth Resilience, and Positive Parenting among others.
However, core and unique to this program, Fathers, Mothers and Children, should all be involved in nurturing respectful, loving, and non-violent homes. The program recognizes that each person in the family has a part to play in ending violence against children through extended research across different countries. It is a child centered framework that focuses on a child as an active citizen in the context of their family, community, and society.
The program involves 10 sessions for parents, 9 for children and 2 adult and children’s interactive sessions.
Since the beginning of the JOFA Program in Uganda, nearly 1000 parents and caregivers and 1000 children have participated in different stages of carrying out Parenting Without Violence sessions.
The sessions are designed from the issues raised by children. The project teams organize community dialogues to address the concerns they have raised in the sessions responding to their needs. Through children’s participation, the project teams can identify children at risk and refer them to relevant authorities, organizations or enroll them into the next cohort.
These sessions also enable the teams to know which children require psychosocial support. Children at risk are identified during the sessions and they are given further support. In addition, children’s inclusion in Parenting Without Violence has resulted into better relationships between parents and children.
The change is now on both sides and children are more open to discuss those matters which affect them. According to children who have participated in the sessions, now they can openly and freely share their thoughts on matters concerning them and other fellow children with their parents.
Parenting Without Violence sessions have also improved relationships among children, reducing violence among them. We see an opportunity to give vocational skills to children during these sessions to protect them further.