Final Evaluation: Combating gender-based violence in schools through the promotion of positive masculinity in the Marrakech Safi region (Morocco)

Location: Morocco 

Grantee: Association Ennakhil 

Grant period: 1 September 2018 – 31 August 2021 

Grant amount: USD 294,700 

Authors/editors: Mustapha Boujrad, Khadija Jaafri 

Publication year: 2022 

Association Ennakhil implemented the three-year project “Combating gender-based violence in schools through the promotion of positive masculinity in Marrakech Safi region” in Morocco with the support of the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women from 2018 to 2021. The project aimed to: 

• engage boys, girls, community members and media to improveattitudes and behaviours related to positive masculinity and gender equality, in an effort to prevent gender-based violence in schools; 
• collaborate with parents, local women’s rights and human rights organizations, and justice and government officials on gender mainstreaming in schools; and 
• facilitate multisectoral dialogue and public engagement to eliminate unequal gender stereotypes that perpetuate gender-based violence and social gaps, particularly in education.  

The final evaluation revealed that the project successfully contributed to a positive shift in attitudes about gender equality among students at local schools and among key communications, legal, medical and government actors at the institutional level.  

Main findings of the evaluation:  

• The project reached 46,200 people, including 10,500 students and 35,700 men, women and youth, through comprehensive communication campaigns across the region, including the dissemination of information on human rights and development and a roll-out of a resource website, and training for media personnel on gender sensitivity.  
• A core programme, the Ennakhil Listening Centre, welcomed 3,483 women and girls, of whom 564 survivors of violence benefied from the centre’s legal and psychological support services.  
• The project developed six integrated school projects to promote gender equality and positive masculinity across eight provinces in the Marrakech Safi region, where they mobilized and trained 90 student leaders to become agents of change and peer educators. Incidents of violence decreased by 70% in schools reached by the programme, according to school principals.