El Salvador shares experience of the School Violence Warning System

In the framework of the InfoSegura Regional Project, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) facilitated an online DatAction meeting, with senior authorities from the El Salvador Ministry of Education and the Belize Ministries of the Interior and of Education exchanged experiences of the School Violence Warning System (SALVE 4.0), designed to strengthen information management, in terms of warnings of acts of violence in schools.

The SALVE 4.0 platform allows for early identification of different forms of violence in the educational community, and to provide victims with timely response. It also informs the design of violence prevention strategies, contributing to the improvement of citizen security.

Meeting attendees from El Salvador included Minister of Education of Mauricio Pineda, National Director of Educational Counselling and Student Development Janet López, and UNDP El Salvador Governance Officer Laura Rivera. On behalf of Belize were Minister of Home Affairs and New Growth Industries Kareem Musa, Executive Director of the Ministry of Home Affairs and New Growth Industries Kevin Arthurs, Deputy Commissioner of Police, National Crime and Operations Commander Anthony Rosado, and Director of Behavioural Modification and Conflict Management Services William Dawson.

In her opening remarks, the UNDP governance officer emphasized that violence and insecurity obstruct peaceful and just societies, and what is required is formulating innovative, evidence-based strategies that are at the forefront of the region's security challenges.

One of the goals of the 2030 Agenda, specifically within Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16, is to end all forms of violence against children. In this regard, "UNDP El Salvador reaffirms its commitment to the Ministry of Education of El Salvador for these and other initiatives that benefit the student population that is the future of the country," said the official.

Peaceful coexistence in schools is a basic condition for education to become an engine of development and a goal of personal fulfilment for each student and teacher.

The Minister of Education of El Salvador thanked the UNDP for its unconditional support in developing this digital tool. He noted that "we cannot talk about citizen security if we have no (data) accounting for, or an inventory of what is going on in our educational system."

SALVE contains records of total student enrolment in the public and private sector, data on age, gender, catalogue of possible violations in the school setting, developments in socio-emotional care, responses provided in the educational community by department, challenges, as well as other relevant data.

For their part, the Belizean authorities expressed interest in implementing a similar initiative, leveraging technical support by the Salvadoran authorities and the InfoSegura Project.

"We know that much of the violence begins at an early age and it is important to have relevant data to put into action and implement the pertinent measures to prevent violence in schools," said Minister Kareem Musa.

InfoSegura is a regional project that specializes in evidence-based information management to strengthen citizen security policymaking and monitoring its implementation. Supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Project endeavours to improve the quality of information on citizen security in the region, promoting information analysis and use, in order to inform public policy and increase coordination and collaboration among governments in the region on strategies for citizen security.

This article was originally published on the UNDP El Salvador website.