Repository of Practices
Primary GCM Objectives
GCM Guiding Principles*
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Dates
Type of practice
Summary
The increasing population of migrants/refugees in Turkey and the emergence of the Covid-19 Pandemic, which resulted in alienation of children from the environment of friendship and rising negative feelings and behaviours, caused an increase in peer bullying both outside and inside home. The fact that bullying is a major obstacle to social cohesion, and is one of the reasons for the academic failure of migrant and refugee children -even for dropping out of school - has shown that the current single activities aiming to reduce bullying do not have enough positive effects.
Based on that reasons, Peer Relations Improvement Program was created to be applied to migrant/refugee and host children at 6-9, 10-13 and 14-17 age groups. Since the program is implemented to beneficiaries with different skills and opportunities and is implemented in many different areas - including schools, Child Friendly Spaces in the activity areas of Child Program, urban or rural areas, seasonal agricultural areas and camps - the program is divided into two Sets, each of which consisting of 7 activities for each aforementioned age groups. From those Sets, Set-1 has been prepared with less materials and easy techniques to be applied in areas which have limited space and material such as school classrooms or tents. SET-2, on the other hand, is more detailed in terms of content and the activities in this Set consist of several stages. It includes activities that are more suitable for implementation in the Child Friendly Spaces with a variety of materials and large areas. With the idea that bullying prevention necessitates a collaboration with care givers and teachers, a seminar is prepared for the caregivers, and some brochures are prepared to be distributed to the teachers at schools.
The central objective of the program is to strengthen social cohesion among migrant and host children, to reduce negative effects of peer bullying on adaptation and education process of migrant and refugee children, to prevent dropouts, to contribute to the school/academic success of the children and lastly to reduce negative effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on disadvantaged children. The program has been being implemented at the field since the midst of the 2021.
Organizations
Main Implementing Organization(s)
Benefit and Impact
According to the Youth Workers implementing the program, the program enables children to develop good thoughts about themselves and their friends who have similar or different characteristics, to recognize types of peer bullying –including cyber bullying-, and to learn how to deal with peer bullying. It also helps children to see if some of their attitudes could be regarded as bullying or not, and if so, to know how to realize this behaviour and to apologise. It also teaches bystanders of the peer bullying the way not to involve and the way to support the person who is bullied. The feedback received from the teachers and school managers is also so affirmative that Child Program Teams receive lots of requests from teachers for the program to be implemented in their schools.
Last but not least, many non-governmental organizations who heard about the program from other NGOs or directly from the field and beneficiaries express their demands for the content of the program to be shared with them and implemented by their own employees. The program has been shared with various national and international NGOs for implementation.
Key Lessons
On the other hand, implementation always shows that there are still something to do better. Initially, the program was not divided into different Sets. There were again several activities for each age group that supported each other and tangled with different sides of peer bullying. However, the feedback received from the field showed that the needs and cognitive development of children living in different areas are different, and there was a need for some activities which were easier to implement in terms of physical conditions and the material needed. For instance, while conducting the program in the seasonal agricultural settlements, it was observed that children do not have access to technological devices and they do not use social media. So it was not effective to conduct the activity related to cyber bullying with them. Receiving this feedback, new activities with similar or different outcomes designed and the number of the activities were increased. After that the program was divided into two for each age group; one is less complicated and applicable in simple settings, and the other is more detailed and applicable in the settings with more material.
Recommendations(if the practice is to be replicated)
Another important point is that, since the parents play a crucial role in both emergence and prevention of the peer bullying, the seminar that is prepared for parents/care givers shouldn’t be underestimated. In Turkey, Psychological Counselling and Guidance Teachers conduct some activities to raise awareness of other teachers at schools in order to prevent peer bullying. For that reason, there is no specific seminars in this (TRC’s) program aiming at teachers, just brochures are prepared. In the country in which this program is to be implemented, if there is no such a practice, a seminar aiming at teachers should be prepared and added to the program.
Innovation
The program is set in a structured way which means that each child is expected to join at least 70% of the activities of Set-1 or Set-2. Activities are designed in an interactive way and they necessitate active participation in different ways, such as role playing, drawing, preparing apology cards, team works etc. Thus, being structured and having interactive methods will get the program to have a sustainable impact. Although it has not been measured yet, this is thought to lead children to interiorize good feelings and beliefs about him/herself and the others and to avoid harming his/her friends. Once a notion is interiorized, the change in the attitudes will follow.
The program can be adapted to different contexts and has already had alternative activities for different conditions. It can be developed and extended with changing situations and needs according to the implementer's needs.
Date submitted:
*References to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of United Nations Security Council resolution 1244 (1999).