Addressing School-related Gender-based Violence as Part of the Keeping Girls in School Initiative in Zambia

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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The goal of this trial is to assess the impact of the Empowerment Pilot, a school-based safe-space program delivered to secondary school students in Zambia. The main question it aims to answer is whether the Empowerment Pilot increases adolescent girls' knowledge of school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV), improves attitudes and norms around gender roles and SRGBV, increases socio-emotional skills, improves mental health, and enhances social support.

Detailed Description
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Using a randomized controlled trial, with randomization at the school level, this study will evaluate the impact of the Empowerment Pilot on adolescent girls' knowledge of SRGBV; attitudes and norms around gender roles, corporal punishment, bullying, sexual violence, and response to SRGBV; socioemotional skills; mental health and social support. Data will be collected from approximately 3,000 adolescent girls and their teachers/peers/caregivers across three districts in Zambia. This study aims to contribute to the limited literature on what works to create awareness and change attitudes around SRGBV. It will also contribute to the growing literature on the effectiveness of safe space programs on adolescents' well-being.

Official Title
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Safe-space Program in Secondary Schools to Address School-related Gender-based Violence in Zambia: a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial

Conditions
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Gender-based Violence

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: Empowerment Pilot


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria for Adolescent Girl Participants: Students enrolled in grades 8 - 11 of secondary schools in the 2023 school year at the start of the intervention Beneficiaries of the Keeping Girls in School program

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 10 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Prevention
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Intervention group<br>Empowerment Pilot | Behavioral: Empowerment Pilot<br>* The Empowerment Pilot is a school-based program aimed to raise awareness and change attitudes around SRGBV among students and teachers and promote gender equality. This intervention includes training provided by Teacher Mentors to other teachers in school, learning sessions delivered via safe spaces for student learners, and guidance for engaging parent-teacher committees.<br>|
| No Intervention: Control group<br> | |

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Knowledge of school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV) | questions developed based on the Learners' Curriculum (part of the Empowerment Pilot Toolkit |  10 months after intervention starts | 
| Attitudes around SRGBV | Individual attitudes around gender roles, corporal punishment, bullying, sexual violence, and response to SRGBV |  10 months after intervention starts | 
| Social support | Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Support (Zimet GD, 1988) |  10 months after intervention starts | 
| Mental health | Generalized Anxiety Disorder questionnaire (Spitzer et al., 2006) |  10 months after intervention starts | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Aspirations | Questions on desired schooling levels and occupation preferences |  10 months after intervention starts | 
| School climate | School Climate Module in the USAID's SRGBV Toolkit |  10 months after intervention starts | 
| School enrollment | A binary indicator for school enrollment status determined at endline |  10 months after intervention starts | 
| Experience of SRGBV | self-reported experience of different types of violent events experienced in the past school term, including bullying, corporal punishment, and sexual violence, based on questions developed by USAID's SRGBV Toolkit. Respondents will also be asked about perceived changes in SRGBV. |  10 months after intervention starts | 
| Self-efficacy | General Self-Efficacy Scale developed by Schwarzer and Jerusalem (1995) |  10 months after intervention starts | 
| Self-esteem | Self-Esteem Scale developed by Rosenberg (1964) |  10 months after intervention starts | 
| Locus of control | Abbreviated Locus of Control Scale originally developed by Rotter (1966) |  10 months after intervention starts | 
| Assertive communication | A self-developed scale to measure assertiveness in communication |  10 months after intervention starts | 
| Injunctive norms around SRGBV | A self-developed scale to measure injunctive norms (i.e., perceptions of what is approved or disapproved by others) around gender roles, corporal punishment, bullying, sexual violence, and response to SRGBV |  10 months after intervention starts | 
| Descriptive norms around SRGBV | A self-developed scale to measure descriptive norms (i.e., perceptions about how people behave) around gender roles, corporal punishment, bullying, sexual violence, and response to SRGBV |  10 months after intervention starts | 
| School attendance rate | Proportion of school days in attendance based on administrative data |  10 months after intervention starts |