Working With Community Influencers: Reflections on My Work in GBV Prevention and Response

By Flavia Mystica Atoo, WI-HER Gender and Youth Specialist

In April 2021, I started providing technical assistance to an implementing partner and a health center in Uganda and worked with community influencers to address gender and social barriers to the uptake of antenatal care (ANC) services in their communities, particularly in the first trimester.

Due to long waiting hours at the health facility, women were going back home and often faced gender-based violence (GBV) from their spouses. Coupled with a lack of support in terms of provision of transport and maternity wear from their partners, these women were not receiving the ANC they needed. At this time, according to the health facility’s ANC register, only 19% of all pregnant women attending their first ANC appointment were in the first trimester. 

I engaged community influencers to conduct men-alone sensitization against GBV and shared the importance of supporting their pregnant women to attend ANC. By the end of June 2021, the facility achieved 59% of pregnant women attending their first ANC appointment in the first trimester, exceeding the national goal of 50%. Today, the women in the health center report that their husbands are very supportive: they escort them to antenatal classes, and the facility’s ANC performance has greatly improved. The Sub-County Community Development Officer (CDO) also says she receives fewer GBV cases from the community.

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This reflection is part of WI-HER’s 2023 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence (GBV) campaign. UN Women created the 16 Days campaign to bring awareness to issues related to responding to, preventing, addressing, and ending GBV.