SASA! Study
The SASA! Study is a joint collaboration between Raising Voices, CEDOVIP, Makerere University and the Gender Violence and Health Center at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The Study is a cluster randomized trial, with 2 cross-sectional surveys – a baseline survey and follow up being done in Kampala, Uganda. The baseline survey took place in 8 sites in Rubaga and Makindye Divisions (4 intervention and 4 control areas) in Kampala District. One thousand five hundred and eighty three community members (717 women, 866 men) completed the survey.
The SASA! Study provides evidence about the potential role and impact of the SASA! Approach in addressing gender inequality, violence against women and HIV/AIDS.
The specific aims of the SASA! Study are:
- To assess the three year impact of the program on the balance of power in relationships; past year experience / perpetration of partner violence; and past year HIV risk behaviors by men and actions in response to violence by women
- To investigate the processes and causal pathways through which levels of gender-based violence and HIV behaviors are promulgated and change over time, including the impact of active involvement in the intervention on community volunteers and other resource people who work regularly with the intervention
- To document the process of implementing the SASA! program, and the economic costs of program delivery
- To use the research findings to inform methods that will monitor the future replication of the SASA! methodology
SASA! Baseline Survey
The baseline survey was conducted to assess the levels of knowledge, attitude, skills and behavior of community members before exposure to the SASA! Study Intervention. The results will be compared with follow-up results to understand the impact created.
The survey was conducted with a team of 16 researchers and 4 supervisors with the support of a team leader. The research team went through a one month rigorous training on research methods from October 8 - November 12, 2007. The data collected was used to set intended outcomes.
Click here to read the Baseline Survey Report
A follow up of the Baseline Survey will be carried out between February and April 2012 in the same sites. Data results will be used to compare intervention & control communities and to assess whether the intervention will have made any significant impact in the communities within the intended outcomes.
The SASA! Study Intervention
The SASA! Study intervention runs in 4 phases of SASA! - Start, Awareness, Support and Action. In each phase, different activities are implemented by the different stakeholders through dialogues to create changes in the way community members view violence against women and HIV/AIDS.
Implementation is on-going in 4 Intervention sites. Different volunteer activist groups have been identified and trained. These include: 65 Community Activists, 35 Ssengas, 45 Local Council members, 7 drama groups consisting of 10 members each and 43 Landlords using the SASA! Approach throughout the four SASA! phases. This has helped in widening and intensifying activism in these sites. During all the SASA! phases, monitoring is being conducted using the qualitative and quantitative methods. Click here to see the monitoring methods used.
Other SASA! links:
