Gender-Based Violence Prevention Programmes and Safety Awareness Among Adolescent Girls in Rural Rwanda: A Community Intervention Study

Rwanda has seen a rise in gender-based violence (GBV), with adolescent girls being particularly vulnerable. The study employed a mixed-methods approach combining pre- and post-intervention surveys with focus group discussions. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. Among the 150 participants, 67% reported an increase in safety awareness knowledge after the intervention, while 42% of girls identified specific strategies to prevent GBV based on the programme content. The gender-based violence prevention programmes significantly enhanced adolescent girls' safety awareness and their ability to recognise potential risks. Continued support for such initiatives is recommended to reinforce learning and further reduce GBV prevalence. Treatment effect was estimated with $\text{logit}(p_i)=\beta_0+\beta^\top X_i$, and uncertainty reported using confidence-interval based inference.