The Fi We Children Foundation (FWCF) has moved its Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) programme into Jamaican high schools, aiming to give students the tools to calm confrontations and settle disagreements without violence, the Jamaica Observer reports.
The push follows what the foundation describes as a rise in violent encounters between students, including stabbings and fights. The Jamaica Observer reported that a 17-year-old boy was arrested after allegedly fatally stabbing another student during a dispute in Manchester on Monday.
Jordaina Denton, a member of FWCF's youth policy committee, said the problem spans both the capital and rural areas. Speaking at a Jamaica Observer Press Club meeting at the newspaper's main building in St Andrew, she said students in Kingston and elsewhere have been clashing violently, with children stabbing and beating one another, according to the Observer.
Why it matters
Schools are where many young Jamaicans spend most of their waking hours, and the foundation argues that teaching them to handle conflict early can shape how they respond to disputes later in life. FWCF says it has been tracking the increase in altercations on school grounds and wants to reach as many students as possible with non-violent methods of resolving differences.
The organisation frames the ADR work as part of a broader, project-based approach to children's rights that also includes food policy and, in future, support for children living with HIV.
How the programme works in schools
Denton said the foundation decided to respond directly to the incidents by going into high schools to educate and sensitise students on alternative ways to deal with disputes, with the goal of encouraging non-violent settlement of conflicts generally.
Fellow committee member Darrell Scott told Observer editors and reporters that the outreach has so far covered between 10 and 15 schools. The foundation works alongside guidance counsellors, he said, to strengthen conflict-resolution efforts schools already have in place.
Scott explained that FWCF gauges whether the lessons are sticking through feedback from schools and from young people within the student population. Report writing is one measure of success, he said, along with follow-up to see whether incidents have fallen.
He was careful about what such follow-up can show. The foundation cannot measure violence across Jamaica as a whole to claim a national decrease, he said. Instead, it relies on its general membership — most of whom are still in high school — to report back. Those young leaders, he said, tell the foundation that students who have been more sensitised have become more careful about how they handle conflicts.
Scott added that some of the methods the foundation promotes are ones guidance counsellors have already been trying to implement. Partnering with schools and keeping dialogue open about progress since the foundation's visits is another way the organisation tracks results, he said.
A wider children's rights agenda
The ADR initiative sits within FWCF's broader advocacy work. The foundation has campaigned for a school nutrition policy and has joined UNICEF Jamaica, the Jamaica Youth Advocacy Network and BiteBack 2030 to launch the "Fix My Food Jamaica" campaign, which targets high rates of childhood obesity and non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension.
That campaign calls for front-of-package warning labels. It points to a recent Jamaican study by the Ministry of Health and Wellness, the University of Technology, Jamaica and the Pan American Health Organization, conducted across nine parishes, which found that black octagonal warning labels helped consumers more easily identify less healthy products.
Scott praised the Government's commitment to the National School Nutrition Policy and said he hopes for more initiatives that put food safety in schools first.
On future plans, Scott said the organisation is building partnerships for initiatives to support children living with HIV. He described the foundation's current work as running alongside Government and civil society to protect children's rights, with continued efforts in schools and communities to come.
The Jamaica Observer reported the remarks from the press club meeting, held at its St Andrew headquarters, where foundation representatives outlined the school programme and its measurement methods.
What to watch: whether FWCF extends the ADR programme beyond the 10 to 15 schools it has reached so far, and how its planned HIV support work takes shape as partnerships develop.
