A/HRC/44/3 E/CN.6/2020/8 43. An evidence brief was developed about the work of civil society organizations in educational settings to address and end violence against women and girls. Such enabling settings can play a crucial role in prevention, as well as providing appropriate responses when violence does occur. The importance of this area of work is reflected in the trust fund’s investment in projects which include a prevention component (124 of the 141 projects in the past five years) and the work of grantees around schools. For example, as a result of the work of 34 grantees in the past five years, 816 schools have improved their curricula or implemented policies, practices or services to prevent and respond to violence against women (including extracurricular school activities). However, while the importance of school-based interventions is well understood, little is known about the work done on the ground by civil society in moving this agenda forward. The developers of this knowledge product drew on the work of 51 organizations carrying out projects funded by the trust fund in 42 countries. They looked at entry points for civil society organizations, in particular small and women-led organizations, in terms of enabling schools and communities around schools to reduce violence against girls. 44. As found in the analysis, grantees have worked on the entire range of prevention and response activities relating to sexual and gender-based violence in and around schools. They have not only engaged girls and survivors directl y, but have also engaged their parents, the community, schoolteachers, administrations, service providers and policymakers. They have not only worked from within schools, but have also identified girls who are most affected or most at risk of school -based violence – for example, girls who have dropped out of school due to violence and out-of-school girls – and have worked incrementally to support their readmission into education. 45. All the projects focusing on girls or girls and boys have primarily measur ed outcomes in terms of changes in attitudes and norms. Another key outcome in many of the projects was an increase in knowledge about gender-based violence, women’s rights and new laws on domestic violence. Also in the analysis, the importance was noted of increased cohesion and social support through mutual solidarity, access to the wider community and confidence in the power of group action. This was especially the case with out-of-school girls in cases where interventions had helped to create a social network where none existed before. Stakeholders also highlighted young people’s increased confidence and ability to articulate, debate and advocate for themselves. 46. In the evidence brief, the developers point to several overarching lessons that have been learned from the work under the projects and that can inform future initiatives. There are processes and mechanisms that make certain activities and projects more effective than others and that cut across various project types. They have a number of features in common. Among those is the fact that, while awarenessraising is crucial, shared awareness is more powerful and the peer-to-peer model is most effective in increasing community engagement and awareness. Under most projects, the organizers have worked towards getting buy-in from ministries of education and local authorities, which is particularly important for projects led by civil society organizations. For the projects that were the most effective, they worked to creatively involve the community; they balanced school-based interventions with community-based interventions and interventions that addressed the drivers of non-school-related gender-based violence. The skills and gender of frontline facilitators who were able to tailor their approach to th e context by carefully co-creating a discourse with girls and survivors through careful groundwork and creative improvisation and thus bringing them into the centre of the project design, had a very significant impact on the successful outcomes of projects. Finally, agility and the ability to make mid-course adaptations to the project were important factors 19-21597 13/15