Milwaukee to Morocco: Innovative Projects Decrease School Violence

SFCG and U.S. schools use common, creative tools to address youth

By Sarah Schwarz

Zachary was excited about joining the Cub Scouts. In his school lunch bag, the 6-year-old proudly packed a new multi-purpose camping utensil which could be used as a fork, knife or spoon. Zachary’s enthusiasm was short-lived, however, as he was promptly suspended for possession of a “weapon” and recommended for reform school.

The controversy surrounding Zachary and the Delaware school’s zero-tolerance policy was detailed in a recent New York Times article.  In school districts across the U.S., such policies take a strict black and white approach to school violence, often disregarding circumstance and intent in favor of swift punishment. During the 2006-2007 school year, approximately 10,000 students were suspended in Baltimore while in Milwaukee, 40 percent of ninth graders were suspended at least once.

Critics of zero-tolerance policies argue that this approach may cause students more harm than good as suspended or expelled kids are pushed out of a safe environment and onto the street, where their behavior may only worsen.

School violence has decreased in recent years, but education experts say little credit should be given to zero-tolerance policies. Instead, they point to programs such as peer mediation and student support groups as the primary cause of the decline.

Ukraine: Youth mediators have fun at training

SFCG’s Children & Youth staff can attest to the power of such programs; in Morocco and Ukraine peer mediation projects have been highly successful at curbing school violence and transforming conflict in local communities.

Search staff recognized the desperate need for a new approach to quelling violence in Ukraine, where a majority of youth committed a misdemeanor crime before entering secondary school. The Ukrainian Centre for Common Ground (UCCG), SFCG’s local arm, has trained more than 600 students as peer mediators and educated more than 150 school psychologists.

Program trainers report overwhelmingly positive results: peer mediators are restoring calm in schools where there was once a constant police force and overall violence in Ukrainian schools is declining. Even more, the program has allowed students to envision new career opportunities as they become facilitators of among their peers.

In Morocco, a nearly two-year long project trained youth mediators and taught entrepreneurial skills, covering topics from negotiation and facilitation to human rights, education and advocacy. Read a previous blog about the mediation centers here.

Case studies, group exercises and role-playing were used to build the youth trainees’ skills and self-esteem, all with the ultimate goal of creating autonomous and enthusiastic mediators able to constructively tackle conflicts in their own neighborhoods.

Morocco: Youth rally outside of training center

The program has been successful and the proof is in the participants. A Moroccan youth mediator said it best, “Before, it seemed that power and authority were the best mechanism for resolving disputes. […] With mediation, youths have the capacity and tools to resolve conflict without the ‘old people.’ It’s not owned by anyone – anyone can practice it.”

Learn more about SFCG Children and Youth programs: http://www.sfcg.org/programmes/children/whatwedo.html

Download the latest Children and Youth newsletter featuring Morocco and Ukraine intiatives

Read the NY Times article “It’s a Fork, It’s a Spoon, It’s a…Weapon?”