Anti-domestic violence computer game rolls out in St Lucian schools

Following the success of its educational computer game, JESSE, in Barbados and Grenada, None in 3, is delighted to announce that commencing in October 2018, JESSE will be implemented in the south of St Lucia, in seven schools.

JESSE was the first pro-social game developed by the None in 3 Centre (Ni3).

Ni3 is a global Research Centre at the University of Huddersfield, UK, which creates evidence-based prosocial games to address gender-based violence.

It created Jesse in a two-year project (2016-18) funded by the European Union with support from the Sweetwater Foundation.

Though Jesse’s story is sadly familiar, he is actually unique, for he is the main character in a computer game designed to teach children about domestic violence, tackling the negative gender attitudes that feed gender-based violence, helping children to make positive choices and building empathy along the way.

The story draws on characters, environment, dialogue and voices from the Caribbean and has been designed specifically with Caribbean young people in mind. It tackles many different issues including the influence of alcohol, the effects of domestic violence on children (including child violence), gender inequality, positive male role models, intergenerational violence and through its characters, models conflict resolution skills.

In July, Professor Adele Jones (Co-Director of Ni3) and Dr Ena Trotman Jemmott (Independent Consultant) visited St Lucia to meet with the Acting and Deputy Chief Education Officers, Ministry of Education, who expressed total commitment to the roll out of JESSE across all schools in the country. In light of a recently introduced rights-based curriculum module (Education for Democratic Citizenship), the intention is for JESSE to be embedded within schools’ timetables and sustained year on year.

Initial roll-out in the seven schools is being conducted by Ni3 Consultant and International Advisory Group Member, Dr Morella Joseph.

Providing teachers with a new child-centered intervention for raising awareness of the impact of domestic violence and what can be done about it is important because violence in the home is closely linked to violence in schools.

“The research is clear: when children play aggressive computer games their behaviour can become violent but when they play socially conscientious games, their behaviour correspondingly improves. Trials of Jesse show that when children play the game as part of a class lesson, levels of awareness of the impact of domestic violence and empathy are increased. These results are important because as the UN states, educational programmes which challenge attitudes that contribute to violence against women are an important strategy in preventing it,” said Professor Adele Jones, Co-Director, None in 3.

Jesse is designed primarily for working with young people in education settings, however it is also valuable as a training tool for professionals.

It comes with a user manual and is available for free download on PC & Android devices and also for webplay at: http://noneinthree.hud.ac.uk/barbados-and-grenada/jesse/