Perspectives of children and young people from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina on their role in challenging perceived social and gender norms impacting school related gender-based violence

Child protection and safeguarding has historically tried to ‘save’ children from difficult or harmful circumstances and has often failed to recognise children’s agency or respect their participation rights. Given the particular socio-historical development of many South and Eastern European countries, the move to more transformative child protection and child safeguarding has been slow in moving away from the reliance on institutional care (Zouev & Unicef, 1999; Anghel, Herczog, Dima, 2013). This article introduces the methodology and empirical findings from an 8-country South and Eastern Europe research study focusing on Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. These two post-communist countries share cultural and political history. The aim was to explore how social and gender norms impact school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV) and the potential role of children in challenging these social norms. Out of this mixed methodology study, with a participatory qualitative approach, researchers used a variety of research instruments with groups of children (aged 13 to 18). This research connects with social norms theory based on Cislaghi and Heise's (2019) dynamic framework that explores social norms as an adaptation of the socio-ecological model (Bronfenbrenner, 1992).