Kenya - IMPower: A CRC trial testing an empowerment intervention to prevent sexual assault in upper primary school adolescents in the informal settlements of Nairobi, Kenya

Ujamaa Africa works in partnership with government ministries, UN agencies and civil society in Kenya and Malawi to implement projects that aim to reduce rates of sexual violence, by developing a schools-based programme to address the factors that can lead to violence early on. The IMpower programme works with girls to provide self-defence training and runs activities to build their self-esteem; it also runs courses with boys to encourage them to challenge ideas of masculinity and the use of violence.

A research team from Stanford University School of Medicine, in conjunction with Ujamaa-Africa and the African Institute for Health and Development (AIHD), conducted a large cluster randomized trial (CRT) to assess the impact of this intervention. The CRT examined the effects of the intervention on sexual assault, bullying, physical assault, and behavioural measures such as self-esteem amongst both girls and boys. The CRT is the largest study of a self-defense based program for violence prevention ever carried out, and will contribute considerably to the fields of preventing violence against girls and engaging boys in changing gender norms in communities.

This study was a two-arm, parallel, cluster-randomized trial testing a combination of a previously-tested girls' intervention, IMPower, and a newly revised boys' intervention, Source of Strength. Clusters were defined as schools within the informal settlements; participants were adolescent girls and boys in class 6, generally between the ages of 10-14 at baseline. Data collection began in January 2016 and continued through December 2018. For further details on the study refer to: Baiocchi M et al ( PLoS one. 2019 Jun 6;14(6):e0213359)