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Over the last decade Tanzania has become recognized as a regional leader in addressing issues of violence affecting children. Despite global partnerships and national initiatives, physical punishments remain legally sanctioned and broadly socially supported as part of responsible childrearing. This research aimed to gain insights into community perspectives and experiences of physical punishments in children's upbringings and how community derived meaning and measurement of particular acts relate with global rights-based conceptualizations of physical violence against children. Fourteen months of ethnographic research was conducted primarily in and around a peri-urban community in northwest Tanzania. Interviews with national- and global-level children's rights and safety representatives were conducted in Dar-es-Salaam. Twenty-four, school-going girls and boys (ages 8–12) and 53 adults directly participated in study activities. Data collection methods included participant observation, participatory workshops (9), semi-structured interviews (36) and document reviews. Thematic analysis was used to analyze data. Data revealed ongoing debate regarding the use of physical punishments in children's upbringings and their association with violence. Resistance to the global children's rights promoted discourse of complete elimination of physical punishment of children manifested as avoidance, negotiation and rejection. Corporal punishment proved a particularly problematic term. Child protection and children's rights are dynamic systems, vernacularized based on unique regional histories and ongoing social change. Prioritization of contextualized and dynamic constructions of children's wellbeing and safety can support the development of sustainable protection systems that support the safety and development of children and families in local communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: National violence against children (VAC) surveys in Tanzania and Kenya reported that approximately three-quarters of children in Tanzania experienced physical violence while 45.9% of women and 56.1% of men experienced childhood violence in Kenya. In response to VAC, Investing in Children and their Societies-Strengthening Families & Protecting Children (ICS-SP) developed the whole school approach (WSA) for reducing VAC in and around schools. Objectives of this evaluation are to: (1) determine intervention's feasibility and (2) the extent to which the WSA reduces prevalence and incidence of VAC in and around schools in Kenya and Tanzania; (3) gain insights into changes in stakeholders' knowledge, attitudes and practices in relation to VAC following intervention implementation and (4) provide evidence-based recommendations for refining intervention content, delivery and theory of change (ToC)., Methods and Analysis: The study is a mixed-methods, controlled before-and-after, quasi experimental pilot designed to assess the delivery and potential changes in knowledge, attitudes, behaviours and VAC prevalence and incidence in and around schools following the WSA intervention implementation in Kenya and Tanzania. The preintervention phase will entail stakeholder enhancement of the WSA ToC and baseline cross-sectional surveys of teaching and non-teaching staff and parents (knowledge, attitude and practices), pupils (VAC incidents and school climate) and school safety audits. The WSA intervention implementation phase will include an intervention delivery process assessment and random school visits. In the postintervention phase, end-line surveys will be conducted similarly to baseline. Focus group discussions and in-depth interviews will be held with ICS-SP staff, training facilitators, teachers, parents and pupils to gain insights into acceptability, delivery and potential intervention effects. Quantitative and qualitative data will be analysed using SPSS V.25 and NVIVO V.12, respectively., Ethics and Dissemination: Ethics approvals were received from Amref Health Africa in Kenya (AMREF-ESRC P910/2020) and National Health Research Ethics Committee (NatHREC) in Tanzania (NIMR/HQ/R.8a/Vol.IX/3655). Dissemination will be through research reports., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)