The Bandebereho (‘role model’) intervention, adapted from Equimundo’s Program P, engages men in maternal, newborn and child health, caregiving and healthier couple relations in Rwanda. To date, the intervention has reached more than 20,000 parents in the country and is now being scaled up through the health system. A randomised controlled trial of the pilot demonstrated considerable impacts across a range of outcomes. At 21-months post-baseline, Bandebereho couples reported less intimate partner violence and physical punishment of children, greater modern contraceptive use and antenatal care attendance by women and men, and improved household and relationship dynamics, compared to the control group.
In 2021, Equimundo, the Rwanda Men’s Resource Center, and the Rwanda Biomedical Center embarked on undertaking a six-year follow-up to the randomised controlled trial. The follow-up sought to understand whether these impacts have been sustained over the longer-term, and whether any of these changes have contributed to improved child development outcomes. The protocol for the six-year follow-up study is available here.