ASIS

ADOLESCENT SAFETY IN ALL SPACES (ASIS) PROJECT 

Background

Every individual, regardless of gender, deserves a nurturing environment that shields them from harm as they grow. However, the persistence of gender-based violence, including its manifestation in online spaces, poses a significant obstacle to the healthy development of many young people, jeopardizing their prospects for a future free from sexually transmitted infections (STIs), HIV, and exposure to violence. This future also hinges on the prevention of unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions, ensuring that both girls and boys are accorded dignity, respect, and equitable treatment. Upholding the rights of young people, irrespective of their identity or orientation, is paramount. Although gender-based violence affects both genders, girls are particularly vulnerable, with statistics indicating that one in three women and girls will endure sexual or physical violence during their lifetime.

The pervasive nature of gender-based violence is especially pronounced among adolescent and young adult women in low- and middle-income countries. Due to societal gender norms, girls often face impediments such as forced school dropout, restricted access to income-generating opportunities, and subsequent social marginalization. This impact intensifies for pregnant girls, who risk becoming ensnared in a cycle of extreme poverty and heightened susceptibility to exploitation. The specific risks faced by youth are contingent upon various factors, including geographical location and age, highlighting the complex interplay between age and environment.

Gender-based violence (GBV) can occur in and around schools – where teenagers spend over half of their waking moments, as well as on the way to or from schools. On the other hand, given the pace at which technology access and utilization is advancing as a catalyzing tool in women’s empowerment and gender equality for a large part of the population, social media, email, and mobile phones are increasingly used to perpetrate violence and other online harms, such as cyber-bullying/stalking, doxing, online grooming, trolling and image-based sexual abuse (IBSA). New Locale for these abuses like online chat rooms, overlap and compound the problem.

Research shows that:

• Violence in and around schools is a global problem. An estimated 246 million girls and boys experience violence in and around schools – on the way to school, on school grounds, and within classrooms.
• In Northern Nigeria, half of all children experience physical violence, 18 % experience emotional abuse or bullying, and 8% experience sexual abuse. 
• With nearly 52% of Nigerians having access to the internet and other mobile technologies, the prevalence of gender-based violence, which led to the 2020 declaration of a GBV pandemic in the country, has also been reflected in virtual spaces.

• Teens are spending more than one-third of their days using media such as online video or music — nearly nine hours on average, according to a new study from the family technology education non-profit group, Common Sense Media. For teens, those between the ages of 8 and 12, the average is nearly six hours per day.

• According to the Economist Intelligence Unit* 85% of women with access to the internet reported witnessing online violence against other women, and 38% experienced it personally. Around 65% of women surveyed have experienced cyber-harassment, hate speech, and defamation, while 57% have experienced video and image-based abuse and ‘astroturfing’, where damaging content is shared concurrently across platforms. Though these are globally referenced, they reflect the situation in Africa as well as Nigeria.

Introduction

GBV perpetrated using digital tools and platforms is not a separate phenomenon from offline violence; it is part of the continuum “of multiple, recurring and interrelated forms of gender-based violence against women and girls” that occur throughout women’s lives. As more women and girls around the world have access to mobile phones and the Internet, more are exposed to violence perpetrated using this technology by a wide range of people – current and former partners, acquaintances, and strangers. Therefore, it is imperative to adopt more innovative and integrated approaches to effectively and efficiently address gender violence against all persons, especially adolescents – who also constitute the majority of online participants and who are exposed to technology and the potential harms that come with it at a particularly vulnerable and impressionable stage in their development. 

In light of the above and building on evidence-based calls for greater attention to intersections among different forms of violence across the lifespan, the “ADOLESCENT SAFETY IN ALL SPACES (ASIS)” Project goal is:

1. To address online and offline violence affecting adolescents in and out of school through an integrated approach of both School-Related & Technology-Facilitated GBV interventions. 

This will leverage the important role formative institutions play in contributing to creating the values, attitudes, and behavior’s of individuals and societies, transforming the root causes of GBV, and equipping young people with the skills to avoid and reduce violence in the wider community and their own lives in the future. 

Addressing physical and digital violence against adolescents and youths is a major part of UNFPA’s core mission of delivering a world where every young person’s potential is fulfilled and contributing to the three transformative results of Ending GBV and All Harmful Practices.

Specific Objectives

• Raise awareness of the incidence of online & school-related violence and build the capacity of guidance counselors, teachers, and principals for an integrated prevention and response mechanism;
• Serve to develop/test the effectiveness of an integrated strategy in preventing and responding to  both technology-facilitated & school-related gender-based violence as emerging problems and as part of the wider GBV in development (GBViD) efforts; 
• Develop a training curriculum for ASIS to standardize training in pilot locations.
• Provide support to Guidance Counselors/schools in the setting up of the reporting mechanisms and establishment of Guidance Counselors Network (GCN) to strengthen local-stepdown capacity/strategy and encourage sharing of best practices;
• Generate social media content that emphasizes the importance of a safe and violent-free learning and socializing environment for all adolescents for a well-adjusted transition to adulthood and mobilizing adolescents beyond the participating schools to proactively contribute to the efforts to end school-related and online sexual exploitation and abuse.

Project Information

Project Start Date: 28th August 2023

Project End Date: 31st October 2024

Project location and Number of schools: FCT & 23 Schools

Project target audience: 

• G/Cs, 
• PTA Chairpersons, 
• Adolescents in Public Secondary Schools  

Project Stakeholders: UNFPA, ICF, FCT-SEB, and UBEB

Project facilitators:

• UNFPA Gender Specialist Team
• 2 consultants ( School Safety Expert, Confidence and Self-Esteem Building Expert) 

Activities Timeline

MONITORING & EVALUATION FRAMEWORK

Sustainability Plan

The sustainability of the project will be achieved  through step-down training across participating schools, thereby significantly increasing the number of teachers and parents reached. In each school, the establishment of  School Gender Clubs will empower students to exchange ideas and self-educate about GBV. By actively advocating against GBV within their communities, these students become agents of change.

Expected Outcome/Impact

This project aims to reduce both online and offline violence affecting adolescents, both inside and outside of schools, through a comprehensive approach that combines interventions addressing School-Related and Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence. We anticipate heightened awareness of GBV/TFGBV/SRGBV among adolescents and the creation of safer environments conducive to their well-being and development.

Rationale for selection

The ASIS Project selected schools after consulting with the Universal Basic Education Board and the FCT-Secondary Education Board. Recommendations were sought from these boards to ensure a comprehensive assessment. Working together, the foundation and the boards took into account factors such as including schools from all six area councils in the FCT, the balance of boys and girls in the student population, how many teachers there were for each student, and how close the schools were to the town center for easier logistics during training sessions. These factors were important to make sure that the selection process for schools participating in the ASIS Project was fair, inclusive, and balanced.

List of schools

1. Model Junior Secondary School Maitama
2. Model Senior Secondary School Maitama
3. Junior Secondary School Wuse Zone 3
4. Government Secondary School Wuse Zone 3
5. Junior Secondary School Tudun Wada
6. Government Secondary School TudunWada
7. Junior Secondary School Garki Area 10
8. Government Secondary School Garki Area 10
9. Junior Secondary School Lugbe (FHA)
10. Army Day Junior Secondary School Asokoro
11. Army Day Senior Secondary School Asokoro
12. Army Day Secondary School Maitama
13. Junior Secondary School Gwagwa
14. Government Secondary School Gwagwa
15. Junior Secondary School Zuba
16. Government Secondary School Zuba
17. Junior Secondary School Dukpa
18. Junior Secondary School Gwagwalada
19. Junior Secondary School Kuje
20. Junior Secondary School Kayarda Kuje
21. Junior Secondary School Bwari
22. Junior Secondary School Kwali
23. Junior Secondary School Tungan Maje