THE FREE OF BULLYING
COMPETENCE CENTRE
The Mary Foundation & Save the Children Denmark
Copenhagen
Phone: +45 45 27 30 20
E-mail: freeofbullying@maryfonden.dk

The joint founders of the Free of Bullying anti-bullying programme – The Mary Foundation and Save the Children Denmark – established the Free of Bullying Competence Centre in 2014 to support partners involved in the programme outside Denmark.
Based in Copenhagen and staffed by representatives from both founding organisations, the Competence Centre serves to:
The Competence Centre is a network for sharing knowledge and experience, which is why your organisation must be a member to work with Free of Bullying. At present, our members include organisations in Greenland, The Faroe Islands, Estonia, Iceland, Romania and France. The Free of Bullying programme is being rolled out in childcare facilities, preschools and/or schools in each of these member countries on the initiative of at least one local organisation. It is an advantage if this organisation has a focus on child welfare and/or education
In the words of Nicholas Sparks, “Nothing that’s worthwhile is ever easy.”
If you belong to an organisation that may wish to bring Free of Bullying to your country, it is important to recognise that Free of Bullying is a resource-intensive, long-term programme. We know from experience that ongoing development of the programme is fundamental to its success. Members must therefore be strong (child-centred) organisations who are committed to working with Free of Bullying for many years into the future.
To become a member of the Free of Bullying network, your organisation will need to:
As a member, your organisation will benefit from:
Here is a chronological breakdown of the steps involved in bringing Free of Bullying to a new country, so you can see exactly how the process works. Member countries typically complete the first 11 steps within 1 ½ to 3 years.
You have researched the community-based view of bullying and the Free of Bullying programme, and concluded that this may be an initiative with which your organisation would like to get involved. Great, we would love to hear from you!
Representatives of The Mary Foundation and Save the Children Denmark from the Competence Centre in Denmark will meet with you online. On the agenda: for you to tell us about your organisation and motivation for bringing Free of Bullying to your country; and for us to introduce you to Free of Bullying and what it takes to become a member of our international network.
We continue the dialogue, answer your questions and discuss next steps, e.g.
Based on everything we have discussed and learned up to this point, can you and the Competence Centre in Denmark conclude that Free of Bullying is a good fit for your organisation and country, and vice versa?
If you decide to move forward and enter into a partnership with us on Free of Bullying, the Competence Centre in Denmark will send you a Letter of Intent. This will include a short form for you to provide information about the structure of your educational institutions, your motivation for implementing the programme, and a brief project description.
Once you have signed the Letter of Intent and completed the form, the process of implementing Free of Bullying in your country can begin. We will send you our Guidebook on Bringing Free of Bullying to your country. This takes you through every subsequent step of implementing Free of Bullying – from preparing the project documents and translating materials, to fully implementing, evaluating and developing the programme.
You provide the project description, timeline, organisational chart and budget plan, for approval by the Competence Centre in Denmark.
The Competence Centre in Denmark and your organisation sign the official partnership agreement. This is also when your organisation will need to:
You now start the process of translating, adapting and securing approval (from the Competence Centre in Denmark) for the localised Free of Bullying materials and making preparations for the pilot phase. This phase typically takes around one year.
The selected institutions taking part in the pilot phase attend the Basic Course, start using the materials and evaluate the programme.
Materials are adapted based on the evaluations from the pilot and Free of Bullying is then rolled out in institutions from the chosen age group across the country.
The programme is expanded to include an additional age group; ongoing quality assurance and programme evaluation are carried out; and materials are improved as required.
Remember that, once we have completed the first five steps summarised above, we provide you with a comprehensive Guidebook on bringing Free of Bullying to your country that explains the remaining steps in detail. In addition, the Free of Bullying Competence Centre in Denmark is always available to assist and answer your questions.
During the three implementation phases (preparation, pilot and roll-out), you must be prepared to participate in several meetings and ongoing communication with The Mary Foundation and Save the Children Denmark, including sending status reports, sharing results from your research etc.
At some point during this process, we would very much like to host you on a visit to Denmark. This will provide a great opportunity for us to meet in person and build on our collaboration. It will also give you a chance to visit a Danish institution currently implementing Free of Bullying, to see the programme in action.
If you deem it necessary for ensuring a smooth process in your country and involving relevant stakeholders, we are also happy to participate in additional meetings where we present the community-based view of bullying and the programme. This could take place online or in person in your country.
To get the ball rolling – or simply find out more – please contact our team directly.