There is now a growing body of research indicating that prevention interventions can reduce intimate partner violence (IPV); much less is known, however, about how couples exposed to these interventions experience the change process. Understanding the dynamic process that brings about the cessation of violence in relationships is essential for understanding how interventions work (or don’t) to reduce IPV.
This webinar discusses how couples’ involvement with SASA!—a violence against women and HIV-related community mobilisation intervention developed by Raising Voices and implemented by CEDOVIP in Uganda—influenced processes of change in relationships. The study draws attention to the value of working with, researching and collecting data from women, men and couples to prevent IPV and suggests IPV prevention interventions may benefit from the inclusion of relationship skills building and support within the context of community mobilisation interventions.
Dr. Elizabeth Starmann is a social scientist with a diverse background in gender violence and HIV research, programme design and management, policy and capacity development. She worked on the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine’s multidisciplinary SASA! Study in Kampala, Uganda with Raising Voices. Prior to this she worked for Partners for Prevention (a UN Joint Programme in Asia-Pacific), UNDP’s HIV programme in Rwanda and Women’s Equity in Access to Care and Treatment (WE-ACTx) in Rwanda. Her current research examines couple-level data collection and analysis to inform intimate partner violence prevention.
