Implementing Multiple Gender Strategies to Improve HIV and ... - ICRW

THE SASA! ACTIVIST KIT FOR PREVENTING VIOLENCE AGAINST
WOMEN AND HIV
LEAD ORGANIZATIONS:
COUNTRY:
HIV PROGRAM AREA:
Raising Voices
Center for Domestic Violence Prevention
(CEDOVIP)
Uganda
Prevention
OVERVIEW:
The SASA! Activist Kit for Preventing Violence against Women and HIV aims to mobilize communities
to change the power imbalance between women and men as it relates to violence against women
and women’s increased HIV risk. The Activist Kit is structured in four phases. The first phase (Start)
provides background information on violence against women and HIV and AIDS and suggests ways
organizations can lay the groundwork for community mobilization work; the second phase
(Awareness) encourages communities and individuals to examine how and why men use power over
women and girls; the third phase (Support) increases skills of community members and institutions to
support women experiencing violence and/or HIV, men seeking to change, and activists within the
community; and the fourth phase (Action) teaches community members how to take action to prevent
violence against women. Lessons learned include the need to address violence against women
holistically by examining its root causes, and the need to recognize that long-standing social norms
can be changed only gradually and when a cross-section of community members are involved.
Evaluation results were not available at the time of this publication.
BACKGROUND
HIV & AIDS
Program Goals
The SASA! Activist Kit for Preventing Violence against Women and HIV
aims to change the imbalance of power between women and men as it
relates to two specific human rights abuses: violence against women, and
women contracting HIV as a consequence of that violence.
Gender Strategies
Addressed
Reducing violence and coercion
Addressing male norms and behaviors
Increasing women’s legal protection
Increasing women’s access to income and productive resources
Other:
Description of
Intervention
The SASA! Activist Kit is a comprehensive tool for organizations to mobilize
their community to prevent gender-based violence and HIV. Sasa means
“now” in Kiswahili; it is also an acronym for the four phases presented in the
activist kit: Start, Awareness, Support, Action. Organizations can use
SASA! to design, plan, implement, and monitor their community
mobilization work. It includes a wide variety of tools, including training
modules, activity guides, and a variety of ready-to-use materials for each
phase. This approach builds on the Stages of Change model that
recognizes that one must go through a process before lasting change is
possible (Michau, 2008). Four strategies—local activism, media and
advocacy, communication materials, and training—are used within each
phase to reach a cross-section of community members. When
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