About the conversation
Intimate partner violence (IPV) and violent discipline by parents or caregivers are the two most common forms of violence experienced by women and children. They have severe negative impacts on the physical and mental health of women and children, and on child development.
Fatherhood programmes have increasingly been recognised as a promising approach to prevent violence against women and children. But despite growing interest in gender-transformative programmes that engage fathers, there is limited information on what makes them effective and scalable in low- and middle-income countries.
Two existing interventions – the REAL (Responsible, Engaged, and Loving) Fathers programme in Uganda and the Bandebereho (‘role model’) programme in Rwanda – have demonstrated reductions in IPV and violent discipline and are currently being scaled in rural settings in Rwanda and Uganda.
REAL Fathers is a culturally tailored intervention that engages first-time fathers of young children (<5 years) in a community-based mentorship programme. Fathers and their partners are mentored in positive parenting and relationship skills, caregiving, gender equity, and communication. Bandebereho engages fathers and their partners in promoting maternal, newborn, and child health, caregiving, and healthier couple relations. The programme targets expectant and current fathers (aged 21 to 35) of children under five and involves them in small group sessions focused on critical reflection and dialogue.
A consortium of researchers performed an in-depth analysis of the two programmes to identify the programme components and change catalysts that led to violence prevention. Their findings suggest that the success of programmes and ability to scale rest on strikingly similar drivers, which the researchers have consolidated into an evidence-based theory of change.
Dr Anjalee Kohli and Kate Doyle from the research team will present the evidence behind the theory of change, delve into how it was created, and explore how it can inform implementation and scaling of early childhood development programmes that involve fathers. Please join Director General for Gender Promotion and Women Empowerment in the Rwanda Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion Silas Ngayaboshya, Thrive Deputy Programme Director Marlies Morsink and the researchers for this webinar.
Session recording
Questions and answers
Speakers
Independent Consultant, Adjunct with Georgetown University
Dr. Kohli brings over 20 years of experience advancing the prevention of violence against women and children, gender equity, and sexual and reproductive health through community-centered research. She is known for her participatory approach and her ability to navigate complex, sensitive topics – fostering dialogue among diverse stakeholders and ensuring research responds to the priorities of local communities
Senior Fellow with Equimundo, Independent Consultant, Senior Associate with Prevention Collaborative
Kate Doyle is a Senior Fellow at Equimundo: Center for Masculinities and Social Justice. She has more than 15 years of experience working on the prevention of violence against women and children, unpaid care work, reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health, and women’s economic empowerment. She is passionate about the potential of gender-transformative programmes with parents and couples to prevent family violence, advance gender equality, and interrupt intergenerational cycles.
Director General for Gender Promotion and Women Empowerment in the Rwanda Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion
Mr. Silas Ngayaboshya currently serves as the Director General of Gender Promotion and Women Empowerment effective June 2021. For the last 16 years, Silas has accumulated vast and strong professional record in projects cycle management around Human Rights, Gender equality promotion and women empowerment, child protection, inclusive education & development, with both national and international non-governmental organizations. His main areas of his experience include, project life cycle management, analyst in Gender Equality promotion and engaging men as allies and positive partners for women empowerment, GBV prevention and Mainstreaming MenEngage approaches into gender transformative programs. He has been also Involved in different projects assessments & evaluation with different organizations.
Host
Deputy Programme Director, Thrive Programme
Marlies Morsink is Thrive Deputy Programme Director at Oxford Policy Management. She has a background in impact evaluation in low- and middle-income countries, and is co-author of Attributing Development Impact: The Qualitative Impact Protocol (2019). She holds a Masters in Social Policy Research from the University of Bath and is a Fellow at the university’s Centre for Development Studies. She holds an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and was previously employed in investment banking.
Additional speakers to be announced soon.
About the series
We know that investing in early childhood is transformative for both children and societies in low- and middle-income countries, but there are gaps in our knowledge about how to move from pilot to scale and how to ensure long-term quality.
The exchange of insights and ideas between researchers and policymakers is a vital part of bridging these gaps – ensuring that new research addresses the questions most relevant to national decision makers, and that early childhood development policies are grounded in evidence about what works at scale.
This discussion series from Thrive brings together policymakers, practitioners and researchers to explore the latest evidence related to scaling early childhood development programmes in low- and middle-income countries. Conversations will explore the key takeaways from research highlighted in the Thrive What to Read newsletter and delve into how new evidence can help to inform diverse policy and research agendas associated with scaling.
Attendees can take part in live Q&As with leading experts and be part of a growing community of knowledge shaping the future of early childhood development programming.
For the latest research related to designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating scalable early childhood development programmes in low- and middle-income countries subscribe to the monthly Thrive What to Read newsletter.
The Thrive 2025 scientific conference on scaling early childhood development programmes and policies in low- and middle-income countries, brought together early childhood development researchers, practitioners, funders and policymakers to exchange ideas. Revisit keynote presentations and other sessions from across the conference here.