Growing Up GREAT / Bien Grandir Study Launches in DRC

On Tuesday, May 3, 2016 national officials and program coordinators met in Kinshasa to officially launch the Growing Up GREAT study in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Under the Passages Project, Growing Up GREAT (or Bien Grandir, in French) will target youth, parents, and community members to foster an enabling environment for family planning use. Save the Children will adapt the Gender Roles, Equality and Transformations (GREAT) Project‘s intervention package and the GrowUp Smart intervention — piloted in northern Uganda and Rwanda, respectively — as well as video testimonials, teacher lessons, health center visits, and workbooks for use in the study. Growing Up GREAT’s impact will be measured by the Johns Hopkins Global Early Adolescent Study.

At the launch event, a series of presenters discussed the needs of adolescents and details of the project. TIZA, a theater troupe, gave a performance about the importance of inter-generational dialogue.

Attendees included officials from the Ministry of Public Health, Ministry of Social Affairs, Ministry of Youth, United Nations Population Fund, and Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, among other agencies.

The launch earned coverage in several local outlets including a seven-minute report by Radiotélévision Nationale Congolaise. The video can be viewed here.

Read more about the launch of the Passages studies:

Santé sexuelle et reproductive : lancement du projet
Passages pour les jeunes PNSA : lancement du projet « passages, bien grandir

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Passages project aims to address a broad range of social norms, at scale, to achieve sustained improvements in family planning and reproductive health. This research project is building the evidence base and contributing to the capacity of the global community to strengthen normative environments that support reproductive health, especially among very young adolescents, newly married youth, and first-time parents.