Impact of Gender-Transformative Interventions on Contraceptive Use and Reproductive Autonomy in Somalia

Since 2019, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) has led family planning programming in Somalia under the Women's Integrated Sexual Health (WISH) program, funded by the United Kingdom's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. This study will assess contraceptive and gender-norms outcomes in communities in Galgaduud region, where the IRC implemented WISH-1 (2019-2025) and continues programming under WISH-2. Approximately one year into WISH-2 implementation, the IRC will add gender-transformative programming, which this study will evaluate over the subsequent two years. The intervention aims to change harmful gender norms that constrain women's family planning decision-making, through programming with women, men, couples, and communities; the IRC will implement an intensive and a light-touch version. This study is independent of the IRC and is one of four studies in the Guttmacher Institute's Family Planning Impact Lab (FPIL), which produces experimental research estimating the causal impact of family planning interventions on women's health, wellbeing, and development outcomes.

Inclusion Criteria: * Married women aged 15 to 49 living within a sampled settlement in Galgaduud * Married men aged 18 to 60 living within a sampled settlement in Galgaduud Exclusion Criteria: * Unmarried women * Unmarried men * Men who are partners of women enrolled in the study who live in the same households of women enrolled in the study (for safety reasons) * Individuals unable to provide informed consent due to cognitive impairment or severe mental illness * Individuals who do not share a common language with the enumerators