Raising Voices Zambia: SASA!-Z

As a part of our Health Promotion Practicum at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, my team and I researched and developed the following program to demonstrate our ability to respond to Health Promotion project/program tender. Our program (inspired by the existing SASA! program based in Uganda) was as follows:

Raising Voices is a non-profit organization based in Kampala, Uganda. We envision relationships, families and communities where women and children’s voices are heard, their rights are respected, and they can live free of violence.

Zambia has one of the world’s highest rates of IPV4. Although the government has recognized IPV as a major issue7, as it reinforces gender inequality and contributes to number of negative health outcomes, it remains complicated to tackle because it is rooted in social and cultural norms6.

SASA! is a unique community mobilization approach that aims to change the social norms and behaviors that result in gender inequality and IPV. Since its 2007 pilot in Kampala, SASA! has been shown to be very effective in decreasing both the prevalence and acceptability of IPV, while fostering supportive community networks. Moreover, evaluation results show that the costs and cost-effectiveness of SASA! compare favorably to other approaches14.

SASA!-Z, also referred to as RV-Z, has been specially adapted and transferred to the Chingola district of Zambia. The program is focused on building community capacity to implement interventions to decrease IPV while also including a pilot Crisis Support Intervention programmatic arm for IPV victims. Our emphasis on training local community mobilizers to have workforce capacity ensures that our program is sustainable beyond funding, making it a great value for money.

The final Health Promotion Practicum report can be found here.