Facilitating Gender Equity and Transformation :

Research Studies and Reports

The Effects of a Gender-Based Violence Awareness Campaign in Luanda, Angola: A Quasi-Experimental Study (Report No. 17)
At the request of the Angola Mission of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), RESPOND developed and implemented a gender-based violence (GBV) awareness campaign in Cazenga, a low-income neighborhood of Luanda, Angola’s capital. The program was created in partnership with two local nongovernmental agencies. A quasi-experimental study conducted before and after the campaign assessed its impact on knowledge and attitudes related to GBV. Women’s attitudes related to GBV improved somewhat, but there was an equivalent change in the opposite direction among men. Most respondents were exposed to some aspect of the awareness campaign, and exposure to the campaign was associated with a reduction in the belief that GBV is justified.
Available in English (PDF, 2.6 MB)

Integrating Intimate Partner Violence Screening and Counseling with Family Planning Services: Experience in Conakry, Guinea (Report No. 16)
In September 2009, the Guinean armed forces repressed a peaceful political demonstration in Conakry; during this action, hundreds of women were subjected to sexual violence. RESPOND conducted an 18-month program to provide support services for these women, build local capacity to prevent gender-based violence, and improved the health sector’s ability to respond to such violence. As a result, RESPOND was asked to help integrate screening and counseling for intimate partner violence (IPV) into family planning services at a facility in Conakry. RESPOND pilot-tested a curriculum and supportive supervision model that trained providers to discuss IPV with FP clients, explore their family planning options, educate them about available medical, legal, and psychosocial services, and discuss personal safety issues and help them develop a safety plan. This report describes results of an assessment following provider training.
Available in English (PDF, 2.4 MB)

Encouraging Men’s Participation in HIV and AIDS Prevention and HIV Testing Services: Evaluation of the Men As Partners® (MAP) Approach in Côte d’Ivoire (Report No. 10)
Harmful social norms about masculinity and femininity are associated with high-risk sexual behavior. In Côte d’Ivoire, RESPOND provided technical assistance to build the capacity of local and international organizations to use the Men As Partners® (MAP) approach. By stimulating dialogue around gender and encouraging men and women to reject harmful norms and to promote those that protect health, MAP® trainings helped build the capacity of PEPFAR partners to incorporate gender-transformative messages into ongoing prevention efforts and of facilities to engage men in HIV services. This report highlights the findings and recommendations from a midcourse process evaluation conducted in March 2013.
Available in English (PDF, 5.4 MB) and French (PDF, 5.5 MB)

Services for Sexual Violence Survivors in Kayanza and Muyinga Provinces, Burundi
Burundi is emerging from a long period of civil conflict in which sexual violence was used as a weapon of war. The RESPOND Project worked with government ministries in Burundi to improve efforts both to prevent sexual violence and to respond to sexual violence survivors in two provinces—Kayanza and Muyinga. This study reports on research undertaken to identify ways to strengthen the health sector’s response for survivors of sexual violence, promote gender-equitable norms to prevent sexual violence and to support survivors, and increase the capacity of communities and civil society to prevent sexual violence.
Available in English (PDF, 1.0 MB) and French (PDF, 1.0 MB)

Capacity Building to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence: Project Description and Evaluation of RESPOND/Guinea (Report No. 6)
Guineans and international observers alike were shocked by the political violence, including brutal rapes, perpetrated on September 28, 2009, in a stadium in Conakry following a political demonstration. RESPOND worked with the Government of Guinea and local organizations to support follow-up services for women who survived the violence, to strengthen local capacity for prevention of gender-based violence (GBV), and to improve the health sector's response to sexual violence. Over the course of 18 months, RESPOND helped 153 survivors receive medical, psychological, social, and/or economic services, trained 10 trainers and 110 community leaders to use Men As Partners® approaches to challenge inequitable gender norms and GBV, reached close to 9,000 men and women with messages against GBV, provided technical assistance to the Ministry of Health to develop a national curriculum on the care of sexual violence survivors, and trained 53 health care providers to respond to sexual violence.
Available in English (PDF, 2.6 MB) and French (PDF, 2.2 MB)

Factors Underlying the Use of Long-Acting and Permanent Family Planning Methods in Nigeria: A Qualitative Study (Report No. 5)
Long-acting and permanent methods of contraception (LA/PMs) are safe and cost-effective family planning methods for women who desire to delay or limit births, yet they are often underutilized. In Nigeria, these methods contribute only about 10% of all modern contraceptive use. Qualitative research conducted by RESPOND partner Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication Programs (JHU•CCP) revealed some of the attitudes and beliefs that hinder demand for LA/PMs in Nigeria. Despite general awareness about family planning methods, considerable misinformation about specific LA/PMs persists. Fear of side effects is a key factor hindering family planning use. Study participants felt that husbands often resist the idea of modern method use because they lack knowledge about such methods, believe myths and negative rumors about them, and associate family planning with women's infidelity. Women need to learn how to use convincing, evidence-based arguments to counter husbands' resistance to contraceptive use.
Available in English (PDF, 2.1 MB)

Baseline Assessment of the Readiness of Health Facilities to Respond to Gender-Based Violence in Guinea (Report No. 4)
In 2011, the RESPOND Project and local partners initiated a collaborative effort to address the response to gender-based violence (GBV) in Guinea. As a baseline assessment of the readiness of Guinean health centers to respond to sexual violence, interviews were conducted with 141 facility managers and health care providers in three regions to assess services, equipment, supplies, and standard operating procedures, as well as providers’ knowledge, attitudes, and skills. Fewer than one in three providers interviewed had ever received training on GBV. Procedures and/or protocols for addressing sexual violence were not systematically available, and most facilities lacked essential commodities, equipment, and supplies to respond to sexual violence effectively.
Available in English (PDF, 1.8 MB) and French (PDF, 1.7 MB)

Synchronizing Gender Strategies—A Cooperative Model for Improving Reproductive Health and Transforming Gender Relations
In exploring gender integration approaches to sexual and reproductive health programs and policies, the authors of this paper coin the term ”gender synchronization” to refer to working with men and women, boys and girls, in an intentional and mutually reinforcing way that challenges gender norms, catalyzes the achievement of gender equality, and improves health. They describe the opportunities missed by the benefits and constraints of approaches to health development that work with women or men alone. Further, they illustrate what separate but aligned programs and policies for both women and men and couple approaches look like and describe the value added from addressing both men and women from a relational perspective. This product was developed by RESPOND and the BRIDGE Project at the Population Reference Bureau (PRB), in consultation with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Interagency Gender Working Group (IGWG).
Available in English (PDF, 512 KB)

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