Capacity Building to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence: Project Description and Evaluation of RESPOND/Guinea

Report No. 6, October 2012  

Guineans and international observers alike were shocked by the political violence, including brutal rapes, perpetrated on September 28, 2009, following a political demonstration in a stadium in Conakry. The response at the time of the incident was limited and underscored the urgent need for more and better-quality services throughout the country for survivors of gender-based violence (GBV).

With support from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) mission in Guinea, RESPOND worked with the Government of Guinea and local organizations to support follow-up services to women who had survived the September 28 violence, to strengthen local capacity for GBV prevention, and to improve the health sector's response to sexual violence. Over the course of 18 months in Guinea, RESPOND:

• Helped 153 survivors of September 28 to receive medical, psychological, social, and/or economic services
• Trained 10 trainers and 110 community leaders to use Men As Partners® (MAP) approaches to challenge inequitable gender norms and GBV
• Reached close to 9,000 men and women with messages against GBV through religious sermons, community discussions, and dramas led by the community leaders who received training and supervision
• Provided technical assistance to the Ministry of Health to develop its first national curriculum on the care of sexual violence survivors
• Trained 53 health care providers at 21 Ministry of Health clinics in three regions to respond to sexual violence

This report describes the project and its results. Looking at baseline and endline facility audits as well as interviews with participants and stakeholders, the report presents the successes, challenges, and lessons learned from this important project.

The report is available in English (PDF, 2.5MB) and French (PDF, 2.5MB).