Type of intervention     

Workshop instructional sessions designed to provide girls with the skills to protect them from sexual violence and enable boys to challenge sexual violence. This includes provision of self-defence training and for girls and active bystander training for boys. The No Means No approach has been informed by empowerment self-defence research, including the evidence-based IMpower methodology. The program has been delivered in Kenya, Malawi, Uganda, Nigeria, Ethiopia, the U.S., and South Africa and is scaling up to additional geographies.

Target group/s, level/s of prevention and sub-group/s:   

Primary and secondary prevention to school-aged children.  

Target population     

Older children and young people aged 10-20 in school and youth club settings.  

Delivery organisation     

No Means No Worldwide is a global charity seeking to end sexual violence against women and girls. They provide rape prevention training for instructors to disseminate throughout communities.

Mode and context of delivery  

Classroom instruction and role play.  

Level/Nature of staff expertise required   

No Means No Instructors must complete a three to four week training. This is delivered in partnership between No Means No and local Implementing Partners.  

Intensity/extent of engagement with target group(s)    

Delivery typically consists of six sessions, each two hours in length. There is also programming adapted to Covid-safe protocols, which is shorter in length, between eight and ten hours total.   

Description of intervention 

The No Means No curriculum is divided by gender and includes role play opportunities to practice practical skills. Girls participate in sessions which empower them with a variety of skills to help protect them from sexual violence. The content explores definitions of sexual violence, seeks to improve self-esteem, improve self-efficacy in boundary creation and assertive communication; and verbal and physical self-defence skills and de-escalation techniques. Meanwhile, the curriculum for boys delivers skills in resilience, breaking down harmful gender stereotypes and rape culture, consent, respect for women and active bystander skills.

Evaluation     

In one report of the program in Kenya, rape incidents decreased by 51% for participants. Fifty percent of girls reported stopping a rape in the following year and bystander interventions rose from 26% to 74%. Additionally, school drop-out due to pregnancy decreased by 46% (IZA World of Labour, 2017).

Baiocchi et al. (2017) report a 3.7% decrease in risk of sexual assault for girls who have participated in IMPower compared to controls. This was reviewed within a cluster-randomised, matched-pairs trial of interventions. During this, boys participated in an adapted version of IMPower called 50:50.

In a non-randomised, single-arm trial of program efficacy with 4^th and 5^th graders on a Native American reservation, the No Means No program increased knowledge of child sexual abuse and efficacy in resisting an attack or assault (Edwards et al., 2020).

Further published evaluations of the IMPower program can be found here: https://www.nomeansnoworldwide.org/research.

References     

Baiocchi, M., Omondi, B., Langat, N., Boothroyd, D. B., Sinclair, J., Pavia, L., Mulinge, M., Githua, O., Golden, N. H., & Sarnquist, C. (2017). A behaviour based intervention that prevents sexual assault: The results of a matched-pairs, cluster-randomized study in Nairobi, Kenya. Prevention Science, 18(7), 818-827. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5326602/

Edwards, K. M., Siller, L., Charge, L. L., Bordeaux, S., Charge, D. L., Herrington, R. (2020). Efficacy of a sexual abuse prevention program with children on an Indian reservation. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 29(8). Retrieved from https://static1.squarespace.com/static/586da1dcff7c50a814a5fdd4/t/600873d57801e54fa0d420e8/1611166678068/2020++Edwards+et+al_Efficacy+of+a+Sexual+Abuse+Prevention+Program+with+Children+on+an+Indian+Reservation.pdf

IZA World of Labour. (2017). No mean no: How “consent classes” in Kenya reduced incidents of rape by 51%. Retrieved from https://wol.iza.org/news/no-means-no-how-consent-classes-in-kenya-reduced-incidents-of-rape-by-51

No Means No. (n.d.). IMPower System. Retrieved from https://www.nomeansnoworldwide.org/approach

Contact details  

Website: https://www.nomeansnoworldwide.org/approach

Email: info@nmnw.org

Address: 1765 Greensboro Station PI #900, McLean, VA 22102

RATING: PIONEERING

INFORMATION CORRECT AS PER APRIL 2021