Becoming One safety

Strengthening relationships through faith leaders to prevent violence against women

Becoming One is a counseling program designed to bring couples closer and prevent intimate partner violence. The program is delivered in partnership with local faith leaders, who guide couples through engaging workbooks and videos that teach communication skills, emotional regulation, shared control over finances and household duties, sexual consent and pleasure.
Filter by status
Design
Test
Scale

Becoming One is at the Scale stage

education

EdTech Global Landscape Analysis

The research identified six EdTech innovation trends that represent patterns of approach we observed across many individual global projects. Accompanying each innovation trend are 2-3 case studies that illustrate how...

Find out more

economic-wellbeing

Local Manufacturing of Medical Supplies in Northwest Syria

Northwest Syria

Open source designs, local manufacturing, and business support can enable a localized supply chain of critical medical equipment while also supporting the market and providing income to families in economic...

Find out more

empowerment

Service Delivery for Mobile Populations

Jordan

As people displaced by the Syria crisis begin returning to their homes, new approaches will be needed to deal with the unprecedented scale of returns.

Find out more

empowerment

Urban Housing

Jordan

Rapid urbanization in many parts of the world has led to a great deal of challenges ensuring the availability of adequate housing. In the Middle East, this is coupled by...

Find out more

This project became inactive following the Design Research phase

No projects currently, try another filter

innovative-finance

Crisis Risk Finance

Global

IRC’s work on crisis risk finance seeks to develop a blueprint for how organizations can reorient more of their resources and processes to be better prepared for, and how the...

Find out more

innovative-finance

Defining and driving innovative finance

Global humanitarian budgets are not keeping pace with our clients’ needs and aspirations. Airbel is designing and testing new approaches to raising finance, and impactful new ways to use funds...

Find out more

innovative-finance

Financing Refugee Crisis Response

Together with the Centre for Global Disaster Protection, Airbel is working to assess the potential to use risk-based financing approaches to respond to refugee influxes.

Find out more

This project graduated following the Generate Solutions phase

education

Humanitarian EdTech Innovation Toolkit

The toolkit is developed for organizations in the humanitarian sector seeking to improve the education access and quality for crisis-affected communities via technology-enhanced solutions.

Find out more

empowerment

Information Flows

Jordan

Displaced people live in challenging circumstances where accurate information can become difficult to obtain. Strengthening information flows can aid in decision-making and make their circumstances easier to manage.

Find out more

This project graduated following the Generate Solutions phase

empowerment

Placement Algorithm

United States

Airbel is piloting and scaling an innovative machine learning algorithm developed by the Stanford University Immigration Policy Lab that matches refugees in areas where they are likely to thrive when...

Find out more

This project became inactive following the Generate Solutions phase

economic-wellbeing

Trade Accelerator

Focused support for Jordanian businesses to foster rapid growth and help them tap into the European market and hire refugees to do so.

Find out more

This project became inactive following the Generate Solutions phase

health

Virtual Baby

This portable game would let children earn points for raising a happy baby, teaching them about sexual health and nutrition.

Find out more

This project became inactive following the Generate Solutions phase

No projects currently, try another filter

empowerment

Ask Laila

A hotline, SMS, and web-based service to help resettled refugees get quick answers from a trusted local source - in their own language.

Find out more

This project became inactive following the Prototype phase

education

Audio-Class System

Colombia

The Colombian education system is struggling to support an unprecedented influx of students in the midst of a global pandemic. To respond to the crisis, the IRC created an innovative...

Find out more

health

Dela

Liberia, Democratic Republic of Congo

Dela aims to be an open-source mobile application that connects community health workers and their supervisors with a consistent channel of communication, to improve the quality of services delivered through...

Find out more

empowerment

Games for Diversity and Inclusion

Airbel worked closely with colleagues in the Asia Region to prototype approaches to increasing diversity and inclusivity in our workplaces through mechanisms with wide appeal, that can be easily integrated...

Find out more

This project graduated following the Prototype phase

health

Medicine Bank

Jordan

People with low income in Jordan often struggle to access the medicine they need. This solution is aimed at making supply chains more efficient to reduce the cost of pharmaceuticals....

Find out more

health

InforMH

Jordan

Leveraging people’s existing practices to bridge the information and stigma gaps that prevent people from seeking mental health and psychosocial support.

Find out more

health

Sprout

Niger

Over 16 million children under the age of 3 are afflicted by severe acute malnutrition. To pinpoint the most impactful prevention methods, Sprout is experimenting with 3 distinct approaches.

Find out more

This project graduated following the Prototype phase

education

Spark

Tanzania

Spark creates alternative learning spaces outside of refugee camp schools to practice play-based learning and social-emotional skills with primary school children.

Find out more

This project became inactive following the Prototype phase

No projects currently, try another filter

empowerment

IRC Connect

United States

In partnership with Twilio.org, Airbel is developing an SMS-based system to streamline communication between caseworkers and newly-settled refugees as they adapt to their new lives in the United States.

Find out more

This project graduated following the Pilot phase

education

Coach Erevu

Tanzania

Coach Erevu is a virtual teacher coaching program designed to empower teachers to learn and practice social-emotional learning activities that they can use in their classrooms.

Find out more

This project graduated following the Pilot phase

health

Low-Literacy Malnutrition Tools

South Sudan

In hard-to-reach areas local community health workers are key to treating malnourished children. Commonly used tools for diagnosing and treating malnutrition have been adapted to meet the needs of workers...

Find out more

This project graduated following the Pilot phase

economic-wellbeing

Impacts of anticipatory cash to small-holder farmers and livestock owners in Northeast Nigeria

Find out more

health

Micronutrient Condiment

Kenya

Two billion people are affected by micronutrient deficiencies worldwide. One third of them are children. We aim to introduce an affordable product inspired by existing porridge preparation practices for sale...

Find out more

education

PlayMatters

Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda

PlayMatters is an IRC-led consortium funded by the LEGO Foundation that cultivates holistic learning and wellbeing outcomes for refugee and host-community children aged 3-12+ in Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Uganda through...

Find out more

education

Pop-Up Class Tanzania

Tanzania

Pop-Up Class Tanzania is an after-school digital learning program where children learn on personalized game-based learning software called onecourse and Kitkit School.

Find out more

education

Pop-Up Learning Tanzania

Tanzania

With more students out of school around the world due to COVID-19 than ever before, we need solutions that ensure the hardest-to-reach children receive quality education. The IRC is delivering...

Find out more

innovative-finance

Resettlement Revolving Fund

In this new model for refugee resettlement finance, a self-sustaining fund provides countries with finance for refugee resettlement, and is replenished as refugees fuel economic growth.

Find out more

This project graduated following the Pilot phase

economic-wellbeing

Seed Security Solution Package

Syria, South Sudan, Pakistan, Niger

This package of three solutions leverages contests, prizes, field experiments, and peer-learning to identify and multiply high-yielding and climate-adapted seed varieties, increase seed quality and availability, and ultimately enhance the...

Find out more

education

Tunakujenga

Tanzania

Tunakujenga is a family learning program designed to empower caregivers to engage in nurturing and playful parenting to support their children’s social and emotional development.

Find out more

This project graduated following the Pilot phase

No projects currently, try another filter

education

EmpaTeach

Tanzania

EmpaTeach is a project that aims to reduce corporal punishment in low resource settings by helping teachers learn positive discipline methods, change destructive thought patterns, and plan ahead for positive...

Find out more

This project graduated following the Rigorous Evaluation phase

safety

Real Man Challenge

Liberia, Uganda, Peru

The Real Man Challenge is a mobile messaging campaign that engages men with an aspirational and positive masculine identity to prevent intimate partner violence. It sends WhatsApp messages to men...

Find out more

education

Pop-Up Learning Bangladesh

Bangladesh

Pop-Up Learning is a tablet-based computer-assisted learning program, aimed to mobilize quickly and efficiently on the onset of crisis.

Find out more
No projects currently, try another filter

safety

Becoming One

Uganda

Becoming One is a counseling program designed to bring couples closer and prevent intimate partner violence. The program is delivered in partnership with local faith leaders, who guide couples through...

Find out more

health

ComPAS: Combined Protocol for Acute Malnutrition Study

South Sudan, Kenya, Somalia, Mali, Chad

The current malnutrition treatment is inaccessible for 4 out of 5 acutely malnourished children globally. A new combined approach is simpler, less expensive, & offers more comprehensive treatment, with the...

Find out more

other

Dioptra

Dioptra simplifies the process of conducting cost analyses, helping humanitarian and development actors make use of limited resources in a transparent and effective way.

Find out more

economic-wellbeing

Match

Jordan

Working to counter the high rates of unemployment that follow mass displacement, the Match project in Jordan is testing a set of new innovations for placing vulnerable populations and refugees...

Find out more

education

Ahlan Simsim

In this historic effort, IRC and Sesame Workshop have partnered to help children whose lives have been uprooted by the war in Syria to build brighter futures.

Find out more
No projects currently, try another filter

Our process began by understanding the magnitude of the problem and how communities were solving it for themselves.

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is the most common form of violence against women.

Partner violence graphic

In Uganda, 50% of ever-partnered women aged 15-49 years have experienced intimate partner violence at least once in their lifetime.

Partner violence graphic

Globally, 35% of women worldwide have experienced either physical and/or sexual violence from an intimate partner.

*World Health Organization, 2013

What makes Becoming One different?

It is focused on prevention not response.

It is focused on behavioral change rather than changing attitudes.

It uses existing, already invested systems and messengers to achieve scale and cost efficiency.

Becoming One helps couples build love in their relationship

Our program relies on existing structures that the community appreciates and respects. In Uganda and many other east African countries, Christian couples are expected and highly motivated to attend pre-marital counseling programs at their local churches. These faith programs were identified during our research as a perfect contact point for preventing intimate partner violence for 3 main reasons:

  1. Faith leaders are a trusted source of knowledge and advice, skilled in teaching and counseling;
  2. Faith leaders spend a lot of time counseling couples through conflict and are highly incentivized to prevent violence as opposed to just respond to it;
  3. Marriage and pre-marital counseling are frequently revenue sources for a church.

Content and program assets

“It's like there was a scan to get what was most meaningful and needed for the generation”

- Christopher, Faith Leader

Becoming One covers three major themes:

Communication image

Communication

Good communication skills leads to better communication between partners and reduces conflict related to violence. Communication skills help increase positive communication between partners, especially on difficult and potentially contentious topics. It helps problem solve, and to regulate their emotions. Successful interventions such as IMAGE and SASA! Included communication skills in their intervention although these components were not specifically evaluated given the intervention included many components. (Jewkes et al.; Abramsky et al.)

Finance image

Finances

Feminist and Economic theory suggest that increasing female control and access to financial resources could lead to reduced violence by increasing a women’s bargaining power in the household. (Bloch and Rao 2002). In practice, interventions that have sought to increase women’s economic empowerment within the household have resulted in reduced violence, particularly when combined with training challenging gender norms. (Vyas and Watts 2009).

Finance image

Sexual Pleasure

Interventions which increase sexual knowledge and communication skills may decrease instances of physical and sexual assault because men and women in these settings often lack the communication skills and specific vocabulary to express sexual desires and experiences (Wood and Jewkes 1997). Several successful structural interventions have included these components in their gender training to reduce IPV. (Jewkes 2008; Pronyk 2006)

How does it work?

1. Faith leaders learn digitally

Faith leaders receive a physical Becoming One guide and a tablet with videos on how to conduct sessions, real life scenarios and couple facing videos on harder to discuss topics like sex.

We were able to reduce training time and costs by introducing digital training materials. Experience wise, this allowed our faith leaders to learn on their own terms, made training available and accessible at all times and introduced them to new technology that reinforced their position as a leader in the community.

Becoming One leverages an already existing and large social network of faith leaders through our partner, World Vision. The program equips church leaders with engaging counseling materials that draws on existing evidence, cognitive behavioral therapy, behavioral science, and Biblical principles to achieve immediate and lasting change.

“I used to think that I would never get anything good from trainings but this training has opened my heart and has changed me to a new person.”

- Faith Leader

Becoming one image

2. Couples learn

Couples are given a beautiful, full color couples guide that has contextual and relevant illustrations. They attend the Becoming One program once a week for 12 weeks where their local faith leader conducts group sessions and takes them through different lessons focused on everything from calming methods, understanding your partner’s love languages, communicating about consent and desire non-verbally and Bible study.

The couples guide is an exemplary tool that helps couples remember what they learned and captures the couple’s growth through activities such as writing vows together and organizing actions that make each other feel loved. It is almost entirely illustrated, designed to be used by illiterate users as an informative and interactive workbook.

“The pictures have such a powerful impact on me. I have learned a lot from it. I want to be like the happy couples who look so supportive.”

- Becoming One participant

“When I compare with the materials of life skills, these equip you in a way that is different.Some pictures even speak for themselves - people understand these more.”

- Becoming One faith leader

Becoming one image

3. Couples practice at home

Couples take what they learned in the group session and put it into practice at home. Examples of home practice include practicing “warm ups” and getting consent before sex, having hard conversations using new communication skills, and saving money for shared financial goals.

In the following Becoming One group session, the faith leader takes the group through a discussion of the last week’s home practice and asks the couples to share their experience openly and honestly.

“Before the program, we never used to sit and have a decent conversation and he could drink a lot and was never open with his finance. He used to shop all food stuffs even onions but since the program, he has started leaving money for me to buy the food stuffs. We even have peaceful and loving conversation. It is surprising that he has proposed that I should start a small business with his support something that he never agreed to at all before.”

- Becoming One participant

What’s happening now?

Over 1.5 years, we are conducting a full-scale randomized control trial in Uganda to rigorously capture the impact of our design on the prevention of violence. The evaluation launched in September of 2018 in which 140 Faith Leaders and 2381 couples were recruited to receive Becoming One.

To measure the effects, our research partners, Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) is conducting three rounds of surveys with participating couples: a baseline prior to randomization, a midline after the program has concluded for 1 group of couples, and an endline 12 months from the start of the program.

During the implementation, we are conducting monitoring activities and interviews with faith leaders to understand how the program is implemented in practice.

Becoming one image
Becoming one image
Becoming one image
Becoming one image
Becoming one image
Becoming one image
Becoming one image
Becoming one image
Becoming one image

September 2019 | Endline of impact evaluation

By this time a total of 144 faith leaders and over 2,000 couples would have completed the full Becoming One program.

September 2018 | Impact evaluation begins

Becoming One cohort 1 of 3 begins

Resource

May 2018 | Content revisions and research planning for our much larger Randomized Control Trial.

January 2018 | Designed and incorporated new changes to our program based on our pilot results

December 2017 | Analyzed results from pilot

And worked out the costing and scale analysis to bring our program to life.

October 2017 | Gulu, Uganda. Feasibility and Acceptability Pilot

Ran a successful 8 week pilot with 35 faith leaders and over 350 couples

Resource

June 2017 | Production of new content

We began production of our new content including videos, faith leader, couples guides and all other relevant assets for the program.

May 2017 | Airbel, IPA, and World Vision launch official partnership

We conducted contextual research and testing in Ethiopia and Uganda with more refined content and prototypes

Resource

February 2017 | Refine prototype and identify communities

We refined our prototypes and identified faith communities as a channel for a scalable and sustainable successful intervention.

February 2017 | Prototyping with faith leaders

We created prototypes and tested them with users including, family members, church leaders and couples.

Resource

December 2016 | Research in Liberia

We conducted extensive research in Liberia to understand our users and current prevention methods

The Airbel Impact Lab at IRC is a team of researchers, strategists and innovators committed to the accelerated design, rigorous evaluation and cost-effective scaling of the most impactful solutions supporting people affected by crisis.