GBV information in schools through a peer education programme

The GBV in schools programme is part of a larger peer education programme that was founded by Super Buddies in 2006. The programme is run in schools through a peer to peer approach. initially peer educators were trained in school to give life skills information to their peer, but it was revised to include out of school youth as support for the in-school peer educators. a radio programme was also established and broadcasted through Voice of the Church FM but has moved to the English Channel of the Swaziland Broadcasting Iand Information Services, and airs every Saturdays at 10 a.m to 11 a.m. the radio programme is part of the peer education programme within super buddies, two youth mentors were trained on live broadcasting and different issues of life skills as well as gender based violence. on the 16 days of Activism against GBV the shows address GBV at length and also have experts and victims in studio to share their experiences live on radio.

The approach that Super Buddies has adapted to is the training of out of school mentors to support trained youth school mentors to disseminate information in schools about GBV, amongst other topics related to HIV prevention methods. Raising awareness about GBV to school attending pupils makes them aware of the trends of GBV and the ability to identify when Gender Based Violence has occurred. A majority of the mentors are male, we see this as a success because when younger males see older males speak against violence, the tendency is to listen and not segregate the information to a vulnerable female.
Intergenerational dialogues are held on a quarterly bases, depending on the availability of funds, in which reporting structures are explored and advocated for.

The aim is to give awareness and build reporting structures in the schools and in the communities so that GBV does not go unreported.

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