project
1001 Nights: Building Children’s Resilience to Violence was a 12-month project in Tunisia run by Search for Common Ground (SFCG). The aim of the project was to build children’s resilience to violence through engaging educational materials and activities conducted in school.
The project was run in 20 different schools in 10 of Tunisia’s 24 governates, reaching nearly 900 children and 40 teachers. Working with the animation company, Big Dad Boo Productions, SFCG developed a multi-media curriculum to encourage students to have discussions around concepts of democracy, human rights, non-violence and empathy.
The project also goes beyond the classroom to engage children outside school. In six different communities, Peace Clubs facilitate skills development around nonviolent communication and provide mentorship opportunities for youth. Since the Peace Clubs are situated within the community, they help to build connections between youth and local political processes.
The success of the project is evident in the extent of parent, school, and community engagement. Schools that were not part of the initial project have independently fundraised to bring the programme to their students. This project highlights the importance of embedding youth work within existing community structures while simultaneously engaging the wider community and system in which children live and develop (Search for Common Ground 2019).
