Young people are significantly impacted by gender-based violence (GBV) in Canada. Sexual health education that is early, ongoing, and comprehensive is key to providing youth with the information and skills needed to understand and prevent gender-based violence. SIECCAN’s GBV Prevention within Sexual Health Education Project is funded by Women and Gender Equality Canada’s Feminist Response and Recovery Fund. Over the course of the project, SIECCAN is conducting a literature review of GBV prevention best practices, creating Guidelines and Benchmarks for Integrating GBV Prevention within School-Based Comprehensive Sexual Health Education and developing educator tools to increase the capacity of the education sector to effectively integrate GBV prevention within sexual health education.

The Guidelines for Integrating Gender-Based Violence Prevention within School-Based Comprehensive Sexual Health Education aim to offer educators, program planners, and policy and decision makers a clear understanding of the key components, research, frameworks, topics, principles, and recommendations to deliver comprehensive sexual health education, with a focus on gender-based violence (GBV) awareness, reduction, and prevention.

The specific goals are to:

1. Support educators (and other school staff), program planners, and policy and decision makers to integrate effective GBV prevention within school-based sexual health education programs in Canada.
2. Offer educators (and other school staff), program planners, and policy and decision makers a clear understanding of the guiding principles, frameworks, and key recommendations for integrating GBV prevention within sexual health education.