In Rwanda, Gender-based Violence (GBV) is a pressing issue affecting women and girls. Despite government efforts, 37% of women aged 15-49 report experiencing at least one form of violence—physical, economic, sexual, or psychological (RDHS 2019/2020). GBV is driven by harmful social and gender norms that perpetuate gender inequalities. These deeply ingrained norms, cultural beliefs, and behaviours create a vicious cycle where children who grow up in homes where violence is normalised are more likely to experience or perpetrate GBV as adults. Negative beliefs about masculinity in Rwandan society further fuel these issues. Unfortunately, men are often not seen as part of the solution to preventing and addressing GBV. This lack of male involvement is evident in both community and national anti-GBV initiatives, where the engagement of men remains very limited. GBV and its root causes significantly impact women, hindering their access to education, employment, and financial opportunities and threatening their participation in decision-making and politics. Bandebereho scale up programme Rwanda Men Resource Centre (RWAMREC) and Equimundo, in partnership with Rwanda Biomedical Center (RBC), established 'Bandebereho' (role model) programme, which aims to engage men as fathers and partners in maternal child health, caregiving and violence prevention for healthier couple relationship striving for a future of equal opportunities for all genders, and the dismantling of patriarchal systems to foster genuine equality and end violence against women and girls. The Bandebereho programme has been piloted in 4 districts of Rwanda from 2013-2015 by 48 trained fathers’ facilitators. After the pilot phase, RWAMREC and RBC with technical support of Equimundo tested the scale up in Musanze District from 2029-2022 through the community health system using the community health workers to facilitate the 17-session curriculum with small groups of men and couples in their communities and it is currently being scaled up in three districts of Northern Province, including Musanze, Burera and Gakenke. Since its inception in 2013, Bandebereho has reached 42,912 families with children below 5 years. Through the pilot phase, Bandebereho reached 3,000 families, the transition to scale phase, it reached 20,000 families and the scale up phase reached 19,912 from 2023 updates in 3 districts of Musanze, Burera and Gakenke. These sessions support men and their partners in learning, practicing, and adopting new equitable attitudes and behaviors related to positive parenting, caregiving, improved couple communication, and non-violent conflict resolution. Key highlights of Randomized Controlled Trials (RCT) findings To assess the impact of this programme, two rounds of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) were conducted. The first RCT was conducted for the impact evaluation of the pilot phase, the second RCT was conducted after a 6-year follow up to assess the sustainability of the positive outcomes of the programme found in the pilot phase. Participants were surveyed at multiple time points, including the baseline, after 9 months, after 21 months, then six years later in 2021. A total of 1,199 couples participated in the survey of which 575 couples were the treatment group, while 624 couples were the control group. Results after 6 years follow up from the comparison of both the treatment and control group. 35.33% decrease in experienced physical violence by women in the intervention group compared to the control group; 15.96% decrease in the use of physical violence by men on children in the intervention group compared to the control group; 11.77% decrease in the use of physical violence on children by women in the intervention group compared to the control group; 7.87% increase in men accompanying their partners to antenatal care visits in the intervention group compared to the control group; 16.33% decrease in men having the final say on weekly/monthly income and expenses in the intervention group compared to the control group; 32.10% increase in the time men spend on four key child development tasks in the intervention group compared to the control group, 14.89% increase in women's time spent on four key child development tasks in the intervention group compared to the control group. These findings show that engaging men as fathers and partners is a promising window of opportunity to effectively promote healthier couple relationships and more equitable families, as this approach has been proven impactful by solid evidence over time. Bandebereho effectively helps prevent GBV, promoting gender equality as well as positive parenting over time. The impacts of Bandebereho on parents are likely to positively shape the next generation of children into gender equitable adults. To enhance accountability and ensure that efforts to engage men in gender equality center women and girls, collaboration with women's rights and feminist organisations is crucial. It’s in this regard that RWAMREC has partnered with Paper Crown Rwanda, a feminist non-profit organisation that works with youth to transform gender norms, foster leadership and create lasting social change, over the past six months to exchange insights, practical approaches, and address challenges in gender-transformative work. For more details about the research, visit: https://tinyurl.com/2dxzjk3s
