Justice Secretary announces further funding for violence prevention programme

Justice Secretary Michael Matheson has announced a further £450,000 of funding to provide extra training staff for the Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) Scotland programme.

Mr Matheson made the announcement today as he visited Tynecastle High School to meet with the programme’s American founder Jackson Katz and some of the young people benefitting from the scheme.

Mr Katz is recognized for his work in the field of “gender violence prevention” and created MVP to raise awareness and challenge thinking around gender, sex and violence.

The programme has been running in Scotland since its launch at Portobello High School in 2011.

The project involves training staff working with senior pupils, in their fourth, fifth and sixth years at the school to become “peer mentors” who then go on to deliver the program to their younger counterparts in a safe and informal environment.

Mr Matheson said: “The MVP programme is already doing fantastic work to educate young people about anti-violence prevention methods and encourage them to feel confident about speaking out against all forms of violent behaviour.

“It discusses a range of issues targeted at different age groups including bullying, domestic abuse, sexual harassment and sexual assault and has already shown effectiveness in empowering young people to support and even challenge friends.

“This additional £450,000 of funding will be used to employ more full time dedicated training staff to build on the progress already made and extend the scheme to even more schools and communities throughout Scotland.”

Mr Katz said: “The Scottish government’s decision to support an expansion of MVP is a very exciting development.

“I’ve always maintained that young people are eager to address the problems of harassment, abuse and bullying proactively, if those of us in educational leadership provide them with the tools and opportunity to do so.

“With this support from the Justice Secretary and an impressive group of committed students and educators, Scotland stands poised not only to reduce violence, but potentially to set a really positive example for the rest of us.”

Chief Inspector Graham Goulden, coordinator of the MVP Scotland programme added: “The provision of this new funding is crucial to allow MVP to continue to be developed in schools currently using the programme as well as reaching into new schools and local authority areas in 2016.

“Violence isn’t inevitable, it is preventable and together we can make Scotland safer for all.”