Population Council Research that makes a difference

Despite considerable improvements in a range of gender equality indicators in education and health, child marriage and gender-based violence remain significant impediments to achieving gender equity in Bangladesh:

• The law provides for penalties for those responsible for the marriage of girls aged 18 years and under, but more than 60 percent of girls in the country continue to get married before they reach 18.
• Legal and policy reforms to address gender-based violence have been limited in impact because less than 2 percent of married women who have experienced physical violence seek any kind of remedy or service.
  
  

The situation is considerably worse for women living in urban slums. Dire poverty, insecure living arrangements, frequent squatter evictions, weak social networks, the absence of civic society institutions, the absence of public services, and poor coordination among services compound the vulnerability of young women.

Supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the SAFE project works with adolescent girls and boys, young women, and men as well as local community leaders in urban slums. It helps vulnerable adolescents build their social and health assets, with the eventual goal of improving their lifelong functional capabilities and well-being. The project establishes links and creates a strong network between legal services and reproductive and sexual health service providers, human rights and women's rights advocates, research organizations, and Bangladesh's Ministry of Women and Children Affairs.

The SAFE project raises awareness about women's and girls' rights through a combination of messages on prevention, service provision, and proposed legal and policy reforms.

• Prevention messages focus on bodily integrity and intimate decisionmaking. Issues of choice and consent are highlighted as essential elements to help women and girls realize their rights to health and freedom from violence.
• A comprehensive package of skills and services are offered through one-stop service centers near slums. At the centers, the project teaches girls and women how to protect themselves against sexual and reproductive health risks and gender-based violence and how to cope with and mitigate their impact. The project builds on recent reforms in Bangladesh that have provided all citizens with the opportunity to obtain birth registration and identification cards as critical elements of promoting rights and accessing services.
• The project aims to enhance access to available remedies and related referrals through implementation of the Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Act 2010, emphasizing education about relevant rules and procedures.
  
  

The SAFE project includes quantitative and qualitative research. Qualitative research will offer rich data to inform all phases of program implementation and analysis of outcomes. An experimental design will allow comparison of changes attributable to the program. The project will measure young people's vulnerability, social capital, and specific reproductive health knowledge, skills, and preventive behaviors.

Partners

Marie Stopes, Bangladesh provides sexual and reproductive health awareness education and individual access to services and Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust provides legal aid and support services, both through the one-stop service centers located near slums. We Can is a community mobilization campaign that is creating an enabling environment for young women to live violence-free lives. In collaboration with the government and implementing partners, the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh and the Population Council are conducting action research to inform the study design and reflect upon the findings generated by the project.