Photo by Fútbol Más
Gender-based violence is a widespread issue across the world. One out of three women have been victims of intimate partner violence (García-Moreno, 2005). Even before adulthood, many women encounter this issue or contend with gender norms that rationalize such violence. Consequently, a focus on interventions targeting children becomes imperative to promote long-lasting changes, reduce victimization, and foster bystander behavior in favor of survivors.
Focusing on young boys and girls is key for sustained impact. Since socio-emotional skills are particularly sensitive to environmental stimuli during these developmental stages (Moroni et al., 2019), a higher potential for impact exists.
This study evaluates the impact of a soccer-based gender transformative intervention implemented by Fútbol Más among boys and girls aged 10 to 16 in Peru. The program’s first step was to enhance socioemotional skills (empathy, emotional self-efficacy, and decision-making) with a gender-transformative approach to subsequently improve well-being, gender norms concerning violence, improve bystander behavior, and reduce dating violence.
This study is funded by the Sexual Violence Research Initiative.
