Influence of gender based violence intervention programs on households’ wellbeing; a case of Majengo Slum, Nyeri Municipality, Nyeri County, Kenya

Abstract

This study sought to establish the influence of Gender Based Violence intervention programs on households’ wellbeing; a case of Majengo Slum, Nyeri Municipality, Nyeri County, Kenya. The study specific objectives were; to determine the effect of gender help desks on households’ wellbeing of Majengo slum residents, to establish how Gender Based Violence response centres affect households’ wellbeing of Majengo slum residents, to evaluate how advocacy and support programs affect the households’ wellbeing of Majengo slum residents and to analyze the effect of publicity of Gender Based Violence prevention policies on the households’ wellbeing of Majengo slum residents. The study literature captured on the general objective of the study titles and empirical review of the reflective objectives that are gender help desk, response centres, advocacy and support programs and publicity of GBV towards households’ wellbeing. The study literature incorporated the Social control theory, Radical feminist theory and Social Learning theory, which were presented to support the concept of the GBV intervention programs. The study adopted an explanatory research design and used questionnaires and an interview schedule to collect data from a target population. The sample size of the household was arrived at through Yemane’s formula and selected through stratified simple random sampling while the help desk officers, GBV response centre officers, the assistant chief and NGO project managers were selected through purposive sampling. Pilot testing of the data instruments was conducted using a small number of respondents to test the appropriateness of the instruments. Validity was ascertained through content and construct validity while the reliability of data from the pilot study was done using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. Data collected was analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. Content analysis was done and further analysis using statistical package for social sciences and presented in tables, graphs, and charts. The study revealed that gender help desk has an influence on households’ wellbeing of Majengo slum residents (B=0.651, sig. 0.012). The gender help desk has greatly impacted victims of GBV when seeking justice. The GBV response centres has an influence on households’ wellbeing of Majengo slum residents (B=0.686, sig. 0.010). The GBV response centres act as treatment and consulting place for reported GBV cases. The study established that advocacy and support programs has an influence on households’ wellbeing of Majengo slum residents (B=0.462, sig. 0.020). The society has praised NGOs advocacy and support for championing human rights agenda. The study established that Publicity of Gender Based Violence prevention policies have an influence on households’ wellbeing of Majengo slum residents (B=0.497, sig. 0.020). The presence of social media has enhanced reporting of GBV cases among the victims. The study recommends that support of rescue or safe homes should be set up to provide safety to the victims of GBV. The NGOs should seek to ensure that they provide adequate programs to reach out to all the GBV victims. The study also recommends that more funding should be provided for GBV campaigns.