In this episode of the Daphne-CHILD Grantee Spotlight Series, Paula Paçó and Anabela Reis from Instituto de Apoio à Criança (IAC) discuss their Listen2Act project – training young people to become peer educators in preventing violence against children in Portugal.

The project responds to alarming trends in Portugal, where two in three adults who work with children accept corporal punishment, and post-pandemic increases in violence have strained mental health across generations. Working through IAC's youth network, the project empowers 30 young people from Lisbon, Coimbra, and Évora to co-create toolkits and lead training for over 300 peers, families, and professionals. The young people drive every aspect: designing videos, leading focus groups, and crafting messages that resonate across audiences while remaining sensitive to the reality that some participants love the parents who harm them. IAC's approach balances this complexity with educational rather than punitive messaging, guided by Paula's advice to adults: "Stop and listen to your children," and Anabela's recognition that changing deeply entrenched cultural attitudes requires resilience – the willingness to "start over, and keep going."

This podcast is part of a series aiming to showcase the vital and innovative work of our grantees in the Daphne-CHILD programme as they combat violence against children across Europe.