Schools should be safe spaces for children to learn and grow, but for half of the world’s children, this isn’t the case. Each year UNICEF seeks to give children a megaphone to inspire people around the world. However, in the case of violence in schools, existing programs end up isolating victims because many fear speaking out or don’t know how to cope with the experience.

In 2018, we were tasked with shining a spotlight on the issue of violence in schools and demonstrating to world leaders that young people need their help to combat violence. The winning comic creation would debut at the High-level Political Forum in the presence of key global leaders and act as a rally cry for children to push for change, regardless of their age and authority.

The biggest obstacle to preventing violence in schools is the victim’s fear of speaking out against their perpetrator, so we created a villain called the Silence and invited children to create a superhero to combat him.

We launched the Silence at Comic Con in New York and challenged children to submit their superheroes through the #ENDViolence School Superhero Comic Contest. We took the Silence into schools to educate children on the issue and also engaged famous comic artists to join the cause, creating a network of global activists spreading the word.

We had to reach young people worldwide (between the ages of 13 and 24). This challenge was two-pronged; not only did we have to educate and inspire children to take action, but we also had to frame the issue in a positive light without eliciting any trauma.

Our campaign had to make the impact of violence relevant and simple for children to rally against. To do this, we leveraged the power of comic superheroes to connect with young people — individuals who have a sense of confidence and belief that they can change the world — by encouraging them to create their own superheroes. Spreading the message in schools helped build urgency around the topic, and seeing their classmates and teachers participate brought more children into the fold, ultimately sparking a larger conversation and submission of superheroes.

We launched the Silence at Comic Con in New York against a backdrop of other iconic villains with a call for children to submit their superheroes. This caught the attention of comic fans, famous comic artist Gabriel Picolo, and others who joined the conversation by creating their superheroes and inspiring children to submit. The Silence film was then broadcast across UNICEF’s social channels.

We also went into schools where UNICEF conducted workshops with students and teachers on solutions to create safe learning environments brought to life through their superheroes.

Through a global online vote in December 2018, the winning superhero, Cipta was unveiled and made waves across UNICEF’s social channels, giving the Silence something to worry about. Now Rizka, Cipta’s creator, is developing a themed comic book in partnership with a comic book artist. The book will be distributed to 100,000 schools around the world.

In the 90 days between launch in October 2018 to when the winner was announced in January 2019, the #ENDViolence campaign reached more than 1 billion social media users worldwide.

UNICEF’s Instagram channel reached more than 95.4 million users and generated 447,480 engagements.

Comic artist and influencer Gabriel Picolo helped bring more people into the fold by sharing his superhero creation, which drew 300,000 of his followers via Instagram Live and reached 1.4 million users on Instagram.

Inadvertently, the Silence became an influencer for children to take action against the issue.

Rizka, Cipta’s creator, is developing a themed comic book in partnership with a comic book artist; the book will be distributed to 100,000 schools around the world.