Engaging with Faith Groups to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls in Conflict-affected Communities

This project equipped local faith leaders, and other selected community members, as change agents within their communities to speak out and mobilise faith communities to prevent VAWG through tackling its root causes. Seventy-five faith leaders (both men and women) were trained on gender equality, understanding VAWG, counselling and psycho-social support over 5 sessions (11 days in total).
The research used a mixed methods approach including a longitudinal qualitative panel study and two household surveys at baseline and endline. Household surveys were carried out in 15 communities at two evaluation time points. The baseline survey was implemented in mid-2015 and the end-line survey was implemented in late 2017, with 29 months between the two evaluation points. Men and women were randomly selected and interviewed at the household level face-to-face by local Congolese assessors using a questionnaire in French or Kilendu. At baseline 769 household members were interviewed (369 men and 400 women). At endline the sample was increased by 50%, with 1218 people (599 men and 619 women) interviewed. Qualitative data was also collected, through interviews and focus group discussions with programme actors and community members at eight monthly intervals (four visits).