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Good practice Imported

Indashyikirwa — Couples Curriculum for Preventing Intimate Partner Violence

Rwanda · Rubavu · See the Rwanda profile

Evidence: Randomised controlled trial Top 32% 78/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

A 21-session couples curriculum plus community activism reduced reported intimate partner violence in rural Rwanda: a cluster-randomised trial found women 56% less likely, and men 46% less likely, to report physical/sexual IPV after 24 months versus controls.

0.44 aRR
Adjusted relative risk, women reporting past-year physical/sexual IPV (24 months)
0.54 aRR
Adjusted relative risk, men reporting perpetrating physical/sexual IPV (24 months)

Details

Maturity
Scaling
Promoter
CARE International Rwanda, Rwanda Women's Network & Rwanda Men's Resource Centre (RWAMREC)
Period
2014-2018 (RCT results published 2020)
Keywords
gender-based violence, intimate partner violence, couples training, community activism

Context

Indashyikirwa ('Agents for Change') was implemented from 2014 to 2018 in seven Rwandan districts by CARE International Rwanda, the Rwanda Women's Network and the Rwanda Men's Resource Centre (RWAMREC), part of the UK Department for International Development's multi-country 'What Works to Prevent Violence' programme.

Activities

The programme combines a women's curriculum, a men's curriculum, a 21-session couples curriculum for heterosexual couples in village savings and loan associations (VSLAs), and community activism led by trained 'Women's and Men's Champions' who model and advocate for equitable, non-violent relationships.

Results

At 24 months, women in intervention communities were significantly less likely to report past-year physical and/or sexual IPV than women in control communities (adjusted relative risk 0.44, 95% CI 0.34-0.59), and men were significantly less likely to report perpetrating physical and/or sexual IPV (adjusted relative risk 0.54, 95% CI 0.38-0.75).

Conclusions

The intervention was more effective at stopping violence already occurring than at preventing its onset in relationships with no prior history — a nuance the evaluators reported openly. The model is resource-intensive and its strongest evidence comes from this single rural Rwandan trial; independent replication elsewhere would strengthen the case for wider transfer.

Implementation
Indicative cost
High (€500k–€5M)
Time to results
Long (> 3 years)
Staffing & skills
CARE International Rwanda, Rwanda Women's Network, Rwanda Men's Resource Centre (RWAMREC), trained Women's and Men's Champions

Conditions for success

  • integration with existing village savings and loan associations (VSLAs)
  • parallel community mobilisation alongside the couples curriculum
  • trained community Champions modelling equitable relationships

Common failure modes

  • more effective at stopping ongoing violence than preventing its onset in relationships without a prior history
  • resource-intensive (21 sessions plus roughly two years of community mobilisation); evidence base is a single rural trial site pending independent replication

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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