Community interventions for primary and secondary prevention of violence against women and girls: a cluster randomised controlled trial in urban India

There are high levels of violence towards women in India which causes physical, mental, societal, and economic harm. Reviews suggest community mobilisation could be a promising approach, but there have been few large trials that assess prevention programmes. 

We will test the effects of community mobilisation in slums in Mumbai,  with groups and volunteers who aim to prevent violence against women and girls. Our community intervention has been developed over 16 years of experience and two years of preparatory research, and our understanding of its effects is encapsulated in a theory of change. We will compare 24 areas receiving support services, activities from community groups and volunteers with 24 areas receiving support services only, primarily in terms of effects on occurrence of intimate partner violence and domestic violence over the course of a year. We will also examine disclosure of violence to support services, community attitudes to violence, bystander intervention, gender equality and the occurrence of sexual violence by non-partners. 

Our intervention is a replicable community-led action to address the public health burden of violence against women and girls, which is backed by public engagement and advocacy.