Project profile — Strengthening Support for Child Protection in Education in Senegal – Government of Senegal

The expected outcomes of this project include: (1) the government and local institutions play a more effective role in prevention and child protection, taking into account international standards and gender-specific differences; (2) boys and girls in deprived areas have improved access to a safe, equitable and violence-free school environment, which helps to protect them and promotes their effective participation in school; and (3) local actors in formal and informal protection systems provide increased protection against, and/or prevention of, labour-based abuse and exploitation for boys and girls in the targeted areas.

Results achieved as of the end of the project (December 2021) include: (1) improved well-being of 1,113,979 children aged 3 to 18. Of these direct beneficiaries, 14,719 youth were either out-of-school or not in school. The target of 750,000 children (10,000 of whom were expected to be either out-of-school or not in school) was largely exceeded; (2) establishment of the gender and equity unit of the Ministry of National Education to strengthen the inclusion of child protection, inclusive education and gender equity issues in Senegal's education sector policy; (3) establishment of a digital platform for the reporting, referral and confidential handling of cases of violence against girls and boys in schools; (4) development of a code of conduct for school personnel and students to promote protective behaviors conducive to the prevention, detection, reporting and management of cases of violence in the school environment; (5) conducting a study on gender disparities in schools and a study on violence in schools to support the authorities' decision-making and strengthen their knowledge in the area of child protection; (6) providing material and financial support to all the local child protection structures targeted by the project, i.e., 26 departmental child protection committees. This support enables them to better play their role in preventing, detecting and dealing with cases of violence, exploitation and harmful or discriminatory practices; (7) trained 2,350 people (665 women and 1,685 men) from schools in gender equity, inclusive education and child protection. The completion rate is 261%, far exceeding the initial target of 900 people; (8) built and rehabilitated 471 schools out of the 442 initially planned. The completion rate is therefore 107%. The living conditions of students and their teachers have therefore improved thanks to the construction and rehabilitation of 60 wells, 65 water supply systems, 106 hygiene blocks and 25 fence walls. These works ensure a safe and sanitized school environment for 28,647 students (14,436 girls and 14,211 boys); (9) creation of 1,285 alternative spaces complementary to the classrooms, called "child-friendly", whereas initially only 551 spaces were planned. These spaces, intended to be places of development during recreation hours, include the construction of 25 multipurpose rooms, 235 benches and the planting of 10,776 trees; (10) supported 1,159 schools (354,884 students, including 167,419 girls and 187,465 boys) and a staff of 9,439 (2,273 women and 7,166 men) to strengthen schools and communities in the maintenance of "child-friendly" spaces; (11) 1,732,622 people, almost six times more than the initial target of 30,000 people, were sensitized through communication activities on barrier behaviors against COVID-19, stress management, and prevention of violence against children in times of health crisis; and (12) contributed to the learning of 1,748,577 people (families, children and community actors) in the prevention, reporting, referral and management of child protection cases.