Beating Teaches Nothing

Duration: 2025 – 2026 

Donor: 8X1000 funds of the Waldesian Church Beating

Teaches Nothing is a project focused on preventing corporal punishment and challenging the
normalization of violence as a form of discipline.
A major part of the project consisted of extensive community sensitization activities carried out across
Kanyama compound. ULEMU conducted numerous awareness sessions and workshops with parents,
caregivers, teachers, community leaders, police officers, church leaders, community volunteers, and other
community members. These activities focused on the consequences of beating children, the rights of
children, and the importance of using non violent approaches to discipline. The project also worked with
the Kanyama Drama Group to bring these messages to wider audiences through drama performances and
public discussions. The performances addressed everyday situations in which children were beaten or
physically punished and encouraged communities to question the idea that violence was an acceptable way
of disciplining children.
Particular emphasis was placed on Section 22 of Zambia’s Children’s Code Act, which prohibits corporal
punishment and provides for criminal consequences for those who subject children to corporal
punishment. Community sensitization activities highlighted that beating a child is not simply a disciplinary
matter, but an act of violence that can have legal consequences.
The importance of reporting sexual abuse within 72 hours was also emphasized throughout the project.
Communities were informed that prompt reporting could help children access immediate medical care,
psychosocial support, and legal protection, while allowing cases to be addressed without unnecessary
delays.
Selected children who had been exposed to particularly serious or ongoing abuse at home were also
supported through boarding school sponsorship. This provided them with a safer environment and allowed
them to continue their education away from harmful circumstances.