The Husbands’ Schools intervention began in Niger in 2007 to encourage men to support women in matters of reproductive health. While the Husband’s Schools strategy, implemented across the majority of regions, has been successful in influencing behaviors related to reproductive, maternal, neonatal and child health, like many similar programs, it has so far failed to address entrenched norms related to women’s empowerment (e.g. women’s mobility, joint decision-making, etc.).

EVIHDAF, with support from other Agency for All consortium partners, is leading the research and evaluation of the pilot project on Gender Transformative Adaptation of Husbands’ Schools as part of USAID’s WADATA Food Security Development Activity (DFSA) in Niger.

Goal and objectives

More broadly, Agency for All will design, test and evaluate a gender-specific adaptation of the Husband’s School model as part of the WADATA project in Niger. The formative research will explore in depth the contextual realities specific to gender equity and agency to ensure that the development and implementation of the gender transformative adaptation of the Husband’s Schools model in WADATA aligns with the needs and priorities of the local population. The aim of the evaluation is to measure the key results of the re-adapted approach and its effectiveness on the behaviors of participating women and men, in order to gain a better understanding of the changes it has induced as a result of the activities.

Approach

Designing and Implementing a Gender Transformative Adaptation of the Husband’s Schools in Niger will be carried out in the following phases:

• Formative research: We will conduct formative research to explore contextual realities specific to social norms, gender equity and action.
• Development of Husband School adaptation: Building on the strengths and successes of existing Husband Schools in Niger, the other consortium partners (Save the Children, Equimumdo and Matchboxology) will integrate the principles of inclusion and local leadership into the program design.
• Baseline study: We will implement and evaluate the effectiveness of the adapted husband school model and assess its feasibility and potential for scale-up.
• Pilot intervention: The adapted gender transformative Husband’s Schools intervention will include activities to engage men and women (individually and as couples) while ensuring key community and religious leaders support the initiative.