Bandebereho

About Bandebereho

Bandebereho (meaning role model in Kinyarwanda) is a couples’ intervention implemented through the health system in Rwanda. Bandebereho, adapted from Program P, was developed by Equimundo and the Rwanda Men’s Resource Center (RWAMREC) and evaluated through a randomized controlled trial. The study demonstrated the impact of the intervention on a range of health and gender-related outcomes, including intimate partner violence, contraceptive use, women’s antenatal care attendance and men’s accompaniment, household decision-making, and violence against children.

The history of Bandebereho

2013

Pilot Program

From 2013-15, the Bandebereho intervention was implemented by RWAMREC with more than 1,700 couples in four districts of Rwanda. Men were invited to attend all 15 sessions and their female partners were invited to participate in up to 8 couple sessions. The intervention was facilitated by local fathers trained to recruit and implement the sessions with men and couples in their community. More than 3,000 parents were reached in the pilot between March 2014 and July 2015.

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2015

Evaluation

A randomized controlled trial (RCT) was conducted to assess the impact of the Bandebereho program in Rwanda. The findings of the RCT demonstrated the intervention’s impact across of range of outcomes – including improved antenatal care attendance by women and accompaniment by men, greater modern contraceptive use, and reductions in both intimate partner violence and violence against children.

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2019

Scale-Up

Beginning in 2019, RWAMREC and the Rwandan Biomedical Center, and with support from Equimundo, began adapting and testing the delivery of Bandebereho through the health sector in Musanze district in the hopes to begin a scale-up of the Bandebereho intervention in light of its demonstrated impact. A multi-sectoral technical advisory group, led by the Rwanda Biomedical Center, identified the health system and community health workers as the best pathway for taking the intervention to scale in a sustainable and cost-effective manner, and this transition-to-scale phase aimed to test the feasibility of delivering the Bandebereho intervention with quality and fidelity through Rwanda’s community health system.

2023

Expanded Scale-Up

In the expanded scale-up, we are testing and refining our model to optimize it for nationwide scaling through the health system. Across two additional districts, Burera and Gakenke, we will continue slow and steady rollout to ensure high quality and fidelity. Equimundo provides technical assistance on scaling and leads a process and impact evaluation, and we are considering digitization or a digital component of the program.

One program, lasting impacts

The program's randomized control trial demonstrated impacts up to six years later. Compared to the control group, some of the outcomes Bandebereho participants reported were:

Less intimate partner violence

Less physical, sexual, emotional, and economic IPV experienced by women

More equitable couple relations

More shared decision-making, greater sharing of and men spending time on tasks

Less violence against children

Less physical punishment by parents; Greater use of positive parenting

Better mental health & wellbeing

Less parental depression; less harmful alcohol use for men; closer relationships

This initiative promotes gender equality, prevents violence, and helps build stronger, safer families across Rwanda. Having already reached thousands of families in Musanze and many more in Burera, we are now expanding to reach even more households in Gakenke and beyond. Achieving lasting change requires strong collaboration with local leaders, and together, we can transform mindsets and build healthier, more resilient families.”

- Rwandan Minister of Gender and Family Promotion, Prof. BAYISENGE Jeannette

Program reach

30,000

parents currently reached through Bandebereho

80,000

parents who will be reached by 2028

A man, a woman, and 4 children stand in front of a door, smiling.

10 years of Bandebereho

Celebrating success at the closing ceremony of the 5th Cycle of Group Education

Key Resources

Bandebereho Manual for Facilitators

This manual was developed by RWAMREC and Equimundo to support the scale-up of the Bandebereho couples’ intervention through the health system in Rwanda. The manual is adapted from the original Bandebereho facilitators manual, inspired by Program P. The randomized control trial demonstrated the impact of the intervention on a range of health and gender-related outcomes, including intimate partner violence, contraceptive use, women’s antenatal care attendance and men’s accompaniment, household decision-making, and violence against children. This manual is designed for community health workers who are trained to recruit expectant or current parents of children under five years and facilitate small group sessions in their local communities. The manual includes 17 sessions with activities designed to engage men in maternal and newborn health, caregiving, violence prevention and healthier couple relations.

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Long-term impacts of the Bandebereho program on violence against women and children, maternal health-seeking, and couple relations in Rwanda

In an initial study 21 months after the Bandebereho program, results demonstrated positive impacts on intimate partner violence (IPV), child physical punishment, maternal health-seeking, and couple relations. This latest study seeks to explore whether those outcomes are sustained six years later. This article demonstrates that programs engaging men and women to promote collaborative and non-violent couple relations can result in sustained reductions in family violence six years later. We find that Bandebereho has lasting effects on IPV and physical punishment of children, alongside multiple health and relationship outcomes. Compared to the control group: intervention women report less past-year physical, sexual, economic, and moderate or severe emotional IPV. Intervention couples report less child physical punishment, fewer depressive symptoms, less harmful alcohol use, and improved maternal health-seeking, father engagement, and division of household labour and decision-making.

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Want to learn more?

For more information about Bandebereho, please contact our Deputy CEO, Giovanna Lauro.