Impact Data - Masculinities, Faith, and Peace (MFP)

In MFP congregations, reported perpetration (if male) or experience (if female) of emotional IPV in the previous 12 months reduced by 22.2% from (61.0% to 38.8%) in MFP congregations. This reduction was statistically significantly (p<0.05) larger compared to the 8.7% reduction in control congregations. Other forms of IPV were less commonly reported in MFP congregations: 18.3% physical violence, 21.4% sexual violence, and 8.6% violence to discourage FP use.

In MFP congregations, there was a 7.1% increase in respondents reporting that the husband of the couple regularly contributed to household work (74.1% to 81.2%) and a 9.2% increase for the husband regularly contributing to childcare from baseline to endline (79.5% to 88.7%). This was a statistically significantly (p<0.01) higher change in MFP congregations compared to control congregations for a husband's contribution to household work (+7.2% vs. -5.0%), but not for a husband's contribution to childcare.

There was a statistically significant (p<0.05) shift in the proportion of respondents in MFP congregations agreeing that Christian and Muslim faith leaders work together to solve community problems (+4.8%; 89.1% to 93.9%) from baseline to endline compared to a 2.4% reduction of respondents in control congregations agreeing with the statement, and this shift was statistically significant (-<0.05).

There were several positive shifts over time and relative to control populations for personal attitudes toward male engagement in both childcare and household work, and descriptive norms (perceptions of these behaviours being typical in the respondents' communities) and injunctive norms (toward a husband contributing to household work in the respondents' faith communities).

In MFP congregations, the researchers saw several positive shifts over time and relative to control populations for personal attitudes toward a husband using violence to discipline his wife, justifications for a husband using violence to discipline his wife, and injunctive norms (perceptions of acceptability by key reference groups), particularly among faith leaders and fellow congregants.

The proportion of respondents in MFP congregations who thought a husband disciplining his wife with violence was acceptable in any one of six different scenarios (e.g., wife goes out without telling him, etc.) declined by 14.3% from baseline (43.3%) to endline (29.0%). This shift was statistically significant (p<0.01) compared to a 1.7% increase in respondents in control congregations justifying use of violence in any of these six scenarios from baseline to endline.

At baseline, 40.8% of survey respondents in MFP congregations reported they strongly agreed they would use a form of non-violent conflict resolution to avoid violence in their relationship if they knew of one. At endline, the proportion increased by 25.8% to 66.6%. This was statistically significantly higher (p<0.01) compared to an increase of only 11.3% among respondents in control congregations.

In MFP congregations, there were large reductions from baseline to endline in the proportion of respondents perceiving that conflict (-18.7%; 46.4% to 27.7%) and mistrust (-18.7%; 46.4% to 27.7%) between Muslims and Christians was common in their community (-20.1%; 49.8% to 29.7%). These shifts were statistically significant (p<0.01) compared to reductions of only 1.8% for perceptions of interfaith conflict and 1.2% for perceptions of mistrust between the faiths in their community. Participants noted that faith leaders have been taking greater leadership in interfaith activities, including playing football, sharing meals, and joining in religious celebrations.

While the researchers did not see a statistically significant increase in modern FP use comparing MFP to control congregations, there were significant improvements in several intermediate outcomes leading to increased uptake of modern FP. For example, there were marked improvements for perceptions of access (adequate availability, transportation, information, etc.), individual attitudes, self-efficacy in using modern FP, injunctive norms (perceptions of acceptability by key reference groups, including faith leaders), and couple communication about FP.