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Violence against children occurs in all countries, affecting children of all ages, genders, race and socio-economic strata. A multiplicity of factors contributes to children's experience of violence. Social and gender norms can act as risk and protective factors exposing children to violence or preventing them from having well-being and healthy development. This Special Symposium was conceived of during the first International Viable and Operable Ideas for Child Equality (VOICE) Conference in 2018 in Bali, Indonesia. The four manuscripts in this Special Symposium illustrate with evidence the importance of social norms to preventing violence against children and the importance of understanding norms in context. The authors find that understanding how geographic location, social cohesion, group roles and identities, age and gendered expectations inform whether, when and which children experience violence, who perpetrates it, and how individuals and communities respond to it. The global COVID-19 pandemic has illustrated how rapidly behaviours can shift towards caregiving and health, as well as against it. If we are to prevent violence against children, and ensure the safety, well-being, and opportunity to thrive for all children, advancing our understanding of norms in relation to violence against children is critical to effective programming and learning.

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Chapter 3 investigates how local, national, and international events intertwine in influencing people’s life, so that it makes little sense to look at development as if it were happening in a vacuum. In particular, it briefly looks at the wider social, political and cultural context of the community where the intervention took place. The chapter looks at the emergence of the human rights discourse in Senegal, examines relevant features of Senegalese culture, explains the structure of NGO Tostan and its educational programme in Senegal, and describes the ethnic group that was studied in the research (the Fulbe), with its moral values and code of conduct.

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