The Coalition at the 2026 SVRI Forum

The Coalition for Good Schools exists for two simple reasons: to focus attention on the opportunity schools present for preventing violence at scale; and to advocate to ensure the voices and expertise of Global South civil society actors are at the forefront of the conversation.

When the best and brightest minds of the violence prevention field convene once every two years at the Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI) Forum – this year held in Bangkok, Thailand from 5-9 October – co-founders and hub members of the Coalition have always seen opportunity for connection, sharing our latest learning, and ensuring that such dialogues see the opportunity education systems present to shift norms for future generations.

Since we started engaging in the Forum through pre-conference workshops, formal presentations and participant driven events, the movement to prevent violence in and through schools has gained even more momentum. There is now an established Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children that is taking seriously the co-leadership of Global South actors. Additional investments have been made in learning more about what works to prevent VAC at scale through schools. More collaborations and networks have emerged that amplify the possibility of schools as transformative spaces, with a structured and accountable environment and established and financed infrastructure that make them ideal platforms for advancing discussions on violence prevention and engaging the wider community, including parents.

However, we also know this progress faces threats not only from global backsliding and backlash, but also from increasing fragmentation, which could undermine the significant achievements made in transforming education systems—and schools in particular—into spaces that foster safety, justice, and inclusion. As the broader violence prevention field grows, so too does focus on strategic investment opportunities become more scattered, with risks for diluting gains made in strengthening violence prevention in and through schools as a field.

Although structured panel discussions fully focused on schools will not be found at SVRI 2026, the Coalition will host a participant driven event aimed at showcasing the latest evidence and practice-based learning on what works to prevent violence against children in and through schools at scale, highlighting the innovation and learning of civil society practitioners and researchers focused on systemic solutions.

The event will spotlight learnings from collaboration with governments across the Global South, and stress the crucial role that both must play in leading the transformation of education systems to effectively prevent violence. As with other participant driven events throughout SVRI, this event will hold space for partners to go deeper on issues raised in previous forums, share new resources, and build community around our shared interest in preventing VAC in and through schools.

Together we will unpack what is needed to further solidify our understanding of what works at scale and to strengthen resilience and capabilities of the next generation of activists, practitioners and researchers.

We hope to use this space to foster connections across sub-sectors by explicitly examining intersections between both scale and field-building initiatives, encouraging reflection on commonalities and differences, celebrating civil society leadership, and facilitating open discussions about shared strengths and challenges—be it in terms of resources or capacities—in the current evolving context. 

We know what works to prevent violence in and through schools. We know the broad contours on the issue and how to engage governments meaningfully around it. We know a gender transformative approach must be central, and that every effective intervention shares key foundational ideas. We also know that now is a moment of opportunity to shape how these initiatives are taken to scale.