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General

Study Overview

Title:

Preventing intimate-partner violence: Impact Evaluation of Engaging Men through Accountable Practice in Eastern DRC

Study is 3ie funded:

No

Study ID:

RIDIE-STUDY-ID-576d513b31538

Initial Registration Date:

06/24/2016

Last Update Date:

07/14/2020

Study Status:

Completed

Change History for Status

Changed On	Previous Value
01/29/2020	Ongoing

Location(s):

Congo - Kinshasa

Abstract:

The objective of the study is to evaluate the impact of Engaging Men in Accountable Practice (EMAP) on the prevention of violence against women and girls in North and South Kivu (DRC). The study is conducted jointly by the World Bank’s Africa Gender Innovation Lab and the International Rescue Committee (IRC). EMAP is a program developed and implemented by the IRC to engage men to reflect on how they can reduce and prevent intimate partner violence through 16 weekly group discussion sessions. The study is a cluster randomized control trial in which 50 self-selected men in 15 communities receive the EMAP intervention while in 15 other communities, 50 self-selected men receive an alternative intervention. Key outcomes examined include: (i) Experience of past year physical, sexual and psychological violence reported by women whose partners are EMAP participants; (ii) Participant’s gender attitudes and behaviors, conflict and hostility management skills; (iii) Power sharing and communication within the couple.

Change History for Abstract

Changed On

Previous Value

01/29/2020

The objective of the study is to evaluate the impact of Engaging Men in Accountable Practice (EMAP) on the prevention of violence against women and girls in North and South Kivu (DRC). The study is conducted jointly by the World Bank’s Africa Gender Innovation Lab and the International Rescue Committee (IRC). EMAP is a program developed and implemented by the IRC to engage men to reflect on how they can reduce and prevent intimate partner violence through 16 weekly group discussion sessions. The study is a cluster randomized control trial in which 50 self-selected men in 15 communities receive the EMAP intervention while in 15 other communities, 50 self-selected men receive an alternative intervention. Key outcomes examined include: (i) Experience of past year physical, sexual and psychological violence reported by women whose partners are EMAP participants; (ii) Participant’s gender attitudes and behaviors, conflict and hostility management skills; (iii) Power sharing and communication within the couple.

Registration Citation:

Guilbert, N., Vaillant, J., Falb, K., Mallinga, P. and Roth, D., 2016. Preventing intimate-partner violence: Impact Evaluation of Engaging Men through Accountable Practice in Eastern DRC. Registry for International Development for Impact Evaluations (RIDIE). Available at: 10.23846/ridie091

Categories:

Health, Nutrition, and Population
Other

Additional Keywords:

Gender based violence; intimate-partner violence

Secondary ID Number(s):

This study is part of the World Bank project DRC: Learning from a Sexual and Gender Based Violence Prevention Pilot (P149394

Principal Investigator(s)

Name of First PI:

Julia Vaillant, Estelle Koussoubé, Rachael Pierotti

Change History for Name of First PI

Changed On	Previous Value
01/29/2020	Nathalie Guilbert, Julia Vaillant, Rachael Pierotti

Affiliation:

The World Bank

Name of Second PI:

Kathryn Falb, Danielle Roth

Change History for Name of Second PI

Changed On	Previous Value
01/29/2020	Kathryn Falb, Pamela Mallinga, Danielle Roth

Affiliation:

International Rescue Committee

Study Sponsor

Name:

World Bank

Study Sponsor Location:

United States

Research Partner

Name of Partner Institution:

International Rescue Committee

Type of Organization:

NGO-international

Location:

Congo - Kinshasa

Intervention

Intervention Overview

Intervention:

The Engaging Men through Accountable Practice (EMAP) approach aims to engage men as agents of change in ending violence against women and promoting gender equality through structured, weekly discussions with committed groups of men. This evidence-based approach founded on the IRC’s previous work in the DRC and West Africa, engages men as agents of change, working to address entrenched views of gender roles and identify positive models of masculinity. The approach follows a structured series of discussions designed to explore existing understandings of masculinity and create more positive models of what it means to be a ‘good’ man, promoting self-reflection and pushing men to analyze and change their own power and privilege, activities focused on anger management are also included. This methodology ensures the strong involvement of women in the process. It begins with a series of discussions with women (not necessarily partners of the male participants) to inform men’s dialogue groups, and includes continuous feedback loops with women throughout the process so that the work with men is grounded in, and accountable to, women’s views and objectives.

Change History for Intervention

Changed On

Previous Value

01/29/2020

The Engaging Men through Accountable Practice (EMAP) approach aims to engage men as agents of change in ending violence against women and promoting gender equality through structured, weekly discussions with committed groups of men. This evidence-based approach founded on the IRC’s previous work in the DRC and West Africa, engages men as agents of change, working to address entrenched views of gender roles and identify positive models of masculinity. The approach follows a structured series of discussions designed to explore existing understandings of masculinity and create more positive models of what it means to be a ‘good’ man, promoting self-reflection and pushing men to analyze and change their own power and privilege, activities focused on anger management are also included. This methodology ensures the strong involvement of women in the process. It begins with a series of discussions with women (not necessarily partners of the male participants) to inform men’s dialogue groups, and includes continuous feedback loops with women throughout the process so that the work with men is grounded in, and accountable to, women’s views and objectives.

Private Intervention Details:

Theory of Change:

NA

Multiple Treatment Arms Evaluated?

No

Implementing Agency

Name of Organization:

International Rescue Committee

Type of Organization:

NGO (International)

Program Funder

Name of Organization:

The World Bank

Type of Organization:

Foreign or Multilateral Aid Agency

Intervention Timing

Intervention or Program Started at time of Registration?

Yes

Change History for Intervention Timeline

Changed On	Previous Value
10/13/2016	No

Start Date:

05/01/2016

Change History for Start Date

Changed On	Previous Value
10/13/2016	03/01/2016

End Date:

12/31/2016

Change History for End Date

Changed On	Previous Value
10/13/2016	08/31/2016

Evaluation Method

Evaluation Method Overview

Primary (or First) Evaluation Method:

Randomized control trial

Other (not Listed) Method:

Additional Evaluation Method (If Any):

Other (not Listed) Method:

Method Details

Details of Evaluation Approach:

The study is a cluster randomized controlled trial. In 15 treatment communities, 50 self-selected men will participate in the EMAP intervention. In 15 control communities, 50 self-selected men will receive an alternative intervention focused on a non-gender topic. The 30 sites are matched into 15 pairs on a set of socio-demographic characteristic and within each pair, sites are randomly allocated to treatment or control status. Within each community, all adult men (20+ years old) are eligible to participate. In case of oversubscription, the 50 participants will be randomly drawn. At the time of recruitment, the participants do not know what the treatment status of their community will be, therefore, the selection process of participants is identical in treatment and control sites. Baseline and follow-up surveys are conducted with all participating men and their female partners. Differences in outcomes at endline will be imputable to having received the EMAP program only. At endline, 3 men within each EMAP participants’ close social network of friends and family will be interviewed to assess diffusion effects within the close network.

Change History for Details of Evaluation Approach

Changed On

Previous Value

01/29/2020

The study is a cluster randomized controlled trial. In 15 treatment communities, 50 self-selected men will participate in the EMAP intervention. In 15 control communities, 50 self-selected men will receive an alternative intervention focused on a non-gender topic. The 30 sites are matched into 15 pairs on a set of socio-demographic characteristic and within each pair, sites are randomly allocated to treatment or control status. Within each community, all adult men (20+ years old) are eligible to participate. In case of oversubscription, the 50 participants will be randomly drawn. At the time of recruitment, the participants do not know what the treatment status of their community will be, therefore, the selection process of participants is identical in treatment and control sites. Baseline and follow-up surveys are conducted with all participating men and their female partners. Differences in outcomes at endline will be imputable to having received the EMAP program only. At endline, 3 men within each EMAP participants’ close social network of friends and family will be interviewed to assess diffusion effects within the close network.

Private Details of Evaluation Approach:

Outcomes (Endpoints):

Women’s experience of intimate partner violence (IPV) from a male partner in the past 12 months; Acceptability of intimate partner violence (among all women; all men); Acceptability that a woman can refuse to have sex (among all women; all men); Use of gender equitable behaviors in the home and in relationship (among all women, all men); Attitudes towards gender equitable/inequitable social norms (among all women, all men); Decision-making and communication around family planning (among all women, all men); Power sharing and decision-making around income generating activities and use of income (among all women, all men); Conflict and hostility management skills (among all men).

Change History for Outcomes (Endpoints)

Changed On

Previous Value

01/29/2020

Women’s experience of intimate partner violence (IPV) from a male partner in the past 12 months; Acceptability of intimate partner violence (among all women; all men); Acceptability that a woman can refuse to have sex (among all women; all men); Use of gender equitable behaviors in the home and in relationship (among all women, all men); Attitudes towards gender equitable/inequitable social norms (among all women, all men); Decision-making and communication around family planning (among all women, all men); Power sharing and decision-making around income generating activities and use of income (among all women, all men); Conflict and hostility management skills (among all men).

Unit of Analysis:

Individual

Hypotheses:

1) Women whose male partners received the EMAP intervention will have lower self-reported experience of past year physical and sexual violence perpetrated by their partner than those who did not receive EMAP. 2) Men who received EMAP will be less likely to report intimate partner violence as justifiable than those who did not. 3) Men who received EMAP will be more likely to report a woman refusing to have sex with her partner as justifiable than those who did not. 4) Couples in which the man received EMAP will have more gender-equitable behaviors in the home and their relationship.

Change History for Hypotheses

Changed On

Previous Value

01/29/2020

1) Women whose male partners received the EMAP intervention will have lower self-reported experience of past year physical and sexual violence perpetrated by their partner than those who did not receive EMAP. 2) Men who received EMAP will be less likely to report intimate partner violence as justifiable than those who did not. 3) Men who received EMAP will be more likely to report a woman refusing to have sex with her partner as justifiable than those who did not. 4) Couples in which the man received EMAP will have more gender-equitable behaviors in the home and their relationship.

Unit of Intervention or Assignment:

Groups of 50 men participating in EMAP and control intervention

Number of Clusters in Sample:

30

Number of Individuals in Sample:

1500 men, 1500 women, 3500 members of men's social network

Size of Treatment, Control, or Comparison Subsamples:

15 treatment and 15 control sites

Supplementary Files

Analysis Plan:

Other Documents:

Data

Outcomes Data

Description:

Individual survey data collected before the start of the program and 12 months later among all male participants and their female partners, in treatment and control sites, as well as endline data collected among members of the close social network.

Data Already Collected?

No

Data Previously Used?

Data Access:

Data Obtained by the Study Researchers?

Data Approval Process:

Approval Status:

Treatment Assignment Data

Participation or Assignment Information:

Yes

Description:

Data Obtained by the Study Researchers?

Data Previously Used?

Data Access:

Data Obtained by the Study Researchers?

Data Approval Process:

Approval Status:

Data Analysis

Data Analysis Status:

Study Materials

Upload Study Materials:

Registration Category

Registration Category:

Prospective, Category 1: Data for measuring impacts have not been collected

Completion

Completion Overview

Intervention Completion Date:

03/01/2017

Data Collection Completion Date:

11/30/2017

Unit of Analysis:

Individual men and their female partners

Clusters in Final Sample:

28 clusters

Total Observations in Final Sample:

1125 women and 1252 men

Size of Treatment, Control, or Comparison Subsamples:

14 treatment and 14 control clusters

Findings

Preliminary Report:

No

Preliminary Report URL:

Summary of Findings:

Men in EMAP reported significant reductions in intention to commit violence (β= -0.76; SE=0.23; p<0.01), decreased agreement with any reason that justifies wife beating (OR=0.59; SE=0.08; p<0.01), and increased agreement with the ability of a woman to refuse sex for all reasons (OR=1.47; SE=0.24; p<0.05), compared to men in the control group.

We found no statistically significant differences in women’s experiences of IPV between treatment and control group at follow-up (physical or sexual IPV: adjusted OR = 0.95; SE=0.14; p=0.71). However, female partners of men in EMAP reported significant improvements to the quality of relationship (β= 0.28; p<0.05) and significant reductions in negative male behavior (β=-0.32; p<0.01). 

Interventions engaging men have the potential to change gender attitudes and behaviors in conflict affected areas. However, while EMAP led to changes in gender attitudes and behaviors related to perpetration of IPV, the study showed no reduction of women’s experience of IPV. Further research is needed to understand how working with men may lead to long-term and meaningful changes in IPV and related gender equitable attitudes and behaviors in conflict areas.

Paper:

Yes

Change History for Paper

Changed On	Previous Value
07/14/2020	No

Paper Summary:

Paper Citation:

Vaillant J, Koussoubé E, Roth D, et alEngaging men to transform inequitable gender attitudes and prevent intimate partner violence: a cluster randomised controlled trial in North and South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo. BMJ Global Health 2020;5:e002223.

Data Availability

Data Availability (Primary Data):

Yes--Available in the future

Date of Data Availability:

Data URL or Contact:

jvaillant@worldbank.org

Access procedure:

Other Materials

Survey:

Yes

Change History for Survey

Changed On	Previous Value
07/14/2020	No

Survey Instrument Links or Contact:

Email PI

Program Files:

No

Program Files Links or Contact:

NA

External Link:

External Link Description:

Description of Changes:

Study Stopped

Date:

Reason: