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, that was developed as part of the MenCare+ project 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.
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.
The manual was adapted for the transition-to-scale of within the Rwanda health system with financial support from the WOW Fund and Grand Challenges Canada.