Child-Friendly Schooling for Peacebuilding

Over the past decade, the child-friendly schools (CFS) model has emerged as UNICEF’s signature means to advocate for and promote quality education for every girl and boy, particularly in fragile contexts. In 2013, UNICEF commissioned research into how child friendly schools might contribute, in practice as well as in theory, to the development of values of democratic participation in children and youth; as well as to their harmonious relationships at the intrapsychic, interpersonal and intergroup level. The report reviews the fields of child-friendly education, and reviews the CFS approach through a peacebuilding lens, identifying elements in CFS theory and practice that are ‘peacebuilding resonant’ (already making a contribution to peacebuilding), ‘peacebuilding latent’ (having unrealized peacebuilding potential), and ‘peacebuilding gaps’ in CFS thinking and provision that need to be filled. The report also identifies and reviews noteworthy low-cost practices in education for peacebuilding developed within but also independent of the CFS framework.