Youth wellbeing, healthy relationships and GBV prevention in Tanzania
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Sussex
Department Name: Sch of Global Studies
Abstract
This participatory action research project will work with young people aged 18-25 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania to explore the links between emotional wellbeing, relationship quality and perpetration and experience of gender-based violence (GBV). Recent data demonstrates that rates of GBV in Tanzania remain high, including among young people. GBV takes place in the home, in schools, universities, workplaces and the streets, and increasingly online.
This Tanzania-UK collaborative project responds to existing research across multiple contexts which demonstrates that poor mental health can increase the risks of individuals - mainly, but not only, men - perpetrating GBV and of women, men, gender minorities experiencing GBV. Whilst a number of approaches to improving mental health with the aim to reduce GBV have been piloted in sub-Saharan Africa, these have largely been based on clinical approaches developed in Europe and North America. There has been little focus on contextual understandings of mental ill health or lack of emotional wellbeing and how these relate to relationship quality and the perpetration and experience of GBV. Similarly, there is a lack of wellbeing and violence prevention interventions which draw on locally resonant approaches and resources, including the creative arts and somatic approaches.
The central research question for this project is: To what extent can contextually responsive emotional wellbeing interventions improve relationship quality and reduce GBV among young people? Young people will be at the heart of this project as peer researchers, facilitators and participants. The first phase will comprise research with young people to explore their experiences of mental health and emotional wellbeing and how it affects their relationships and involvement in gender-based violence. It will focus on different forms of gender-based violence in intimate and peer relationships, how they connect and how they intersect with other forms of discrimination (e.g. based on ethnicity, class, sexuality and ability).
Building on this research, we will facilitate a co-design process with young people and practitioners in Dar es Salaam to develop a multi-session workshop-based intervention for young people to promote emotional wellbeing, healthy relationships and non-violence. This intervention will draw on a range of therapeutic, creative, arts-based and somatic approaches - informed as appropriate by 'traditional', 'Western' or 'alternative' approaches - learning from previous research and practice and working with what resonates for young people. The intervention will then be piloted with young people of diverse backgrounds in Dar es Salaam in partnership with local practitioners and organisations and accompanying research will explore the experiences and impacts of the intervention on young people's emotional wellbeing, relationships and involvement in GBV.
This project seeks to directly benefit young people in Dar es Salaam, as well as influence future research and programming approaches across Africa and beyond that work with young people on mental health, healthy relationships and GBV prevention. In particular, it aims to contribute valuable learning on how to develop contextually appropriate approaches which have the potential to be scaled up to reach larger populations. The project will be guided by a local steering committee in Tanzania and connected to the research team's extensive global networks on GBV prevention. In the final phase, young people will be involved in disseminating and communicating the research findings in a variety of creative ways including using audio, video and social media alongside co-authored academic publications and practitioner and policy-orientated briefs.
This Tanzania-UK collaborative project responds to existing research across multiple contexts which demonstrates that poor mental health can increase the risks of individuals - mainly, but not only, men - perpetrating GBV and of women, men, gender minorities experiencing GBV. Whilst a number of approaches to improving mental health with the aim to reduce GBV have been piloted in sub-Saharan Africa, these have largely been based on clinical approaches developed in Europe and North America. There has been little focus on contextual understandings of mental ill health or lack of emotional wellbeing and how these relate to relationship quality and the perpetration and experience of GBV. Similarly, there is a lack of wellbeing and violence prevention interventions which draw on locally resonant approaches and resources, including the creative arts and somatic approaches.
The central research question for this project is: To what extent can contextually responsive emotional wellbeing interventions improve relationship quality and reduce GBV among young people? Young people will be at the heart of this project as peer researchers, facilitators and participants. The first phase will comprise research with young people to explore their experiences of mental health and emotional wellbeing and how it affects their relationships and involvement in gender-based violence. It will focus on different forms of gender-based violence in intimate and peer relationships, how they connect and how they intersect with other forms of discrimination (e.g. based on ethnicity, class, sexuality and ability).
Building on this research, we will facilitate a co-design process with young people and practitioners in Dar es Salaam to develop a multi-session workshop-based intervention for young people to promote emotional wellbeing, healthy relationships and non-violence. This intervention will draw on a range of therapeutic, creative, arts-based and somatic approaches - informed as appropriate by 'traditional', 'Western' or 'alternative' approaches - learning from previous research and practice and working with what resonates for young people. The intervention will then be piloted with young people of diverse backgrounds in Dar es Salaam in partnership with local practitioners and organisations and accompanying research will explore the experiences and impacts of the intervention on young people's emotional wellbeing, relationships and involvement in GBV.
This project seeks to directly benefit young people in Dar es Salaam, as well as influence future research and programming approaches across Africa and beyond that work with young people on mental health, healthy relationships and GBV prevention. In particular, it aims to contribute valuable learning on how to develop contextually appropriate approaches which have the potential to be scaled up to reach larger populations. The project will be guided by a local steering committee in Tanzania and connected to the research team's extensive global networks on GBV prevention. In the final phase, young people will be involved in disseminating and communicating the research findings in a variety of creative ways including using audio, video and social media alongside co-authored academic publications and practitioner and policy-orientated briefs.
