We developed an Applied Project grant proposal for USAID-India. We propose an 8-week educational course program to combat gender-based violence at University of Madras in Chennai, India.

1. ASHA for Education APPLIED PROJECT: USAID INDIA (Tamil Nadu, Chennai)
Elham Ali, Bhavya Jeena & Elizabeth Cox
New York University
Comparative Studies of Socialization
Professor Elisabeth King & Dana Burde
TA: Grace Pai

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GENERAL INFORMATION:
Organizers: Ali, Elham; Jeena, Bhavya & Cox, Elizabeth
Organization: Asha for Education
Grant Applied Project: Educational course program to combat gender-based violence in
Chennai India
Location: Tamil Nadu, Chennai
Program Date: July 2015-July 2016
Funder: The Public Affairs Sections of the US Consulates General in Chennai and Hyderabad
Funding Opportunity Title: CRFP15-01: Combating Gender Based Violence through
Community Policing Programs
Budget: $15,000-$50,000

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INTRODUCTION
Gender-Based Violence (GBV) is a global issue that needs augmented efforts from
governments and communities. Government and community leaders should consider gender-
based violence a threat to national security, public health and the global economy (UNFPA,
2014). Particularly, in India, GBV is a fervent issue that has increased propagation in national
headlines, which have driven reforms and protests nation-wide. In 2015, the Human Rights
Watch released a call to monitor government’s past efforts regarding anti-GBV reforms, yet
these reforms are still to be implemented and reinforced today (Human Rights Watch, 2015). The
US Embassy in Chennai, India has released a call for proposals to combat gender based violence,
as it is a dire issue that requires further attention and comprehensive solutions.
In this grant proposal we will outline Asha for Education’s unique position to conduct a
GBV educational program in the Indian University of Madras. We propose to conduct an 8 week
training program which will incorporate community participation techniques and get to the root
causes of why GBV occurs in Indian society and on college campuses. We have also included a
rigorous monitoring and evaluation component using quantitative and qualitative techniques.
Violence against women has been treated as domestic violence in India, however, with
the increase of women taking on roles in the workplace and desiring to be educated we feel it
necessary that a program to promote cultural understanding of gender equity is needed. We are
aware that community policing is often an answer to increase a sense of security, however,
research has shown that a strengthened understanding of the issue, is more likely to increase
preventive behaviors in the community (Seabrook, 2009).
Our organization, Asha for Education, is a local Indian non-profit organization based in
Chennai that has vast experience with college based educational programming and community

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participation models to combat GBV in the local community. We are involved in initiatives that
affect human life, such as; health care, environment, socio-economic aspects and women's issues
(Asha Education, 2015). Our basic education materials do borrow from US best practices with
the view that adaptation to the local context is a form of best practice that we can contribute to
the US-Indian relationship. In addition, we see the value of working in conjunction with the
Indian government to strengthen their position against gender-based violence in our community.
We see the potential partnership between Asha for Education, United States Agency for
International Development (USAID) and the Indian government to be beneficial in the global
fight against GBV and we look forward to working closely on this project should our application
prove successful.
Asha for Education shares USAID’s philosophy and the Indian government’s position
when it comes to GBV curriculum. USAID’s programs seek to ‘address the root cause, improve
prevention, respond to the health and economic needs of those affected by GBV and support
legislation’ (USAID, 2014). The Indian government has in the past issued a Domestic Violence
act in 2005 which brought to the fore negative patriarchal cultural norms about women and
violence against women in the home. Even before this act, violence against women had been
noted on college campuses and the 1999 introduction of an Eve-Teasing Act made this behavior
illegal on college campuses. And, more recently the Indian Human Rights Watch Report in
coordination with the government called for stricter monitoring and evaluation of these laws
policing violence against women (Human Rights Watch, 2015). Our program seeks to use
USAID’s core principles and to strengthen the Indian government’s call for better monitoring
and evaluation of these programs.

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We will conduct an 8 week educational course on the root causes of GBV in the college
community. The course will be conducted on one campus – The University of Madras with the
aim that students will partner with other universities at the end of the course. The success of our
course will be evaluated using quantitative surveys of the participants before and after the
course. Qualitative video interviews will be taken with course participants and with audience
members after the community play is performed. We will combine this data with college
reported statistics of GBV to see what impact our program has made on reporting dynamics in
the college community.
The aim of this course will be to strengthen community ties between the students in the
course (an equal representation of boys and girls), college administrators and police officers who
will be invited as guest speakers. An outcome of this course will be for the students to work with
a community theatre organization to produce a play on the root causes of GBV and prevention
methods they learned in the class. The students will then perform their play at other colleges in
Chennai and create a partnership with that university to design their own GBV educational
courses. By educating their peers, they will take on a leadership role in policing GBV and spread
the program to multiple campuses. We believe connecting policing staff with students will create
a community that is responsible and driven to stop GBV.
PROJECT JUSTIFICATION
The justification for this project lies in the growing number of GBV incidents reported in
India each year. Our justification for a college based education program is to discuss the root
causes of GBVin the college community and to address perspectives from women, men,
administrators and police in the community. From the three projects options solicited in the grant
application, we chose to develop a college based course as it would be the most effective

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endeavor to raise awareness and combat gender-based violence on college campuses. We feel
this approach will considerably strengthen community ties far more than a community policing
program alone. Participants will understand the cultural issues motivating this violence and be
able to gain awareness and ownership of gender-based violence issues resulting in taking actions
after program completion.
The following literature review will first outline the current Indian cultural climate
regarding gender violence against women in society and the college campus. We will then look
at successful models based on US best practice to justify our approach which includes: gender
integration of workshops, the importance of local Indian context using a social ecological model,
the benefit of bystander intervention approaches and the importance of community participatory
techniques. Finally we conclude with the aim of strengthening relationships between the college
community and the local police in order to pave the way for a sustainable intervention.
Literature Review
GBV Statistics in India
Gender-based violence is historically prevalent in Indian society. Statistics collected by
the National Crime Records Bureau in India report that crimes against women increased 6.4%
from 228,260 to 244,270 in the years 2011-2012 (See Table A). Rape, kidnapping, dowry death,
torture, molestation and sexual harassment are the most dominant crimes reported. (Bamal and
Saharan, 2014). These statistics also speak to the context of Chennai. Especially in regards to
domestic violence (Vivian et al, 2003). In India, this problem is prevalent as more women enter
the workplace subsequently challenging cultural stereotypes of traditional gender roles. The most
extreme case of torture has taken the form of acid throwing (Chowdury, 2015). This is usually
done to women who refuse courtship from a man or challenge the authority of their husband.
Men cannot get to grips with the modernized, educated female who becomes a symbol of the

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male’s emasculated state (Chowdury, 2015; Bamal and Saharan, 2014). Violence against women
is generally reported on as a result of patriarchal traditional culture and domestic violence is
often overlooked in communities as the woman is the property of the husband. Table A (Bamal
and Saharan, 2014, p. 9)
Cultural Stereotype of Women
India is a patriarchal society and women are traditionally expected to be good wives,
mothers and daughters. This traditional stereotype does not allow for education of girls or the
growth of the female beyond the household. Although there are many cases of women who
progress through the education system and enter the workplace, the unequal status of women in
comparison to men is manifest in daily interactions and is embedded in Indian processes of
socialization in education, family life ‘customs, religious laws and rituals’ (Bamal and Saharan,
2014, p. 10). India is a unique case study for GBV as these actions go beyond physical abuse
(Kalokhe, 2015). College-going women usually belong to middle or upper class families which
mean that the values of equal gender status become normative for one social class but traditional
values prevail in lower classes in society (Rogers, 2008; Subramanian, 2014). Part of the
narrative on raising awareness on GBV is to change the cultural belief that women are a burden
to their family and to raise awareness of the pervasive embedded social inequalities that causes
gender based violence.
College Campus Dynamics
Sexual harassment is called ‘eve-teasing’ on college campuses. The Indian government
has made eve-teasing illegal since 1998 which is why it occurs off campus, on buses or footpaths
that students have to use. Reasons for why male students or males in the community engage in
eve-teasing includes creating status by initiating a fight with the girl’s boyfriend, enjoying

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fighting as part of an evolutionary consequence of the male brain, seeing girls as too forward,
and male students not knowing how to act when women enter previous male spaces (colleges)
(Rogers, 2008). These reasons are also embedded in the lower social class, economic status and
language inferiorities of male students who feel they are victims of a globalizing world, which
fuels their need for eve-teasing. (Rogers, 2008). This implies that the result of eve-teasing is
usually a male altercation with males defending the honor of their female friend. The common
nature of these fights leads campus security and local police to turn a blind eye. Presuming it is
male bravado and not gender based violence.
US models for Gender-Based Violence Awareness
Gender Integration
In US best practices, men have become the targets of GBV interventions and research studies
(Rogers, 2008; Miller et al, 2015; Das and Singh, 2014). Since men are largely the perpetrators
of violence against women, the narrative has been focused on how to change men’s attitudes and
behaviors (Jewkes, Flood and Lang, 2015). A successful U.S. study to change male behavior and
raise awareness targeted high school and college boys in sports teams and relied on the coach to
mentor and initiate behavior change (Miller et al, 2015). These programs have proved successful
in the United States, however the adaptation to an Indian context does not adequately consider
the cultural and social upbringing of gender norms in Indian homes (Miller et al, 2015; Anderson
and Whiston, 2005). While attitudes to gender equity improved in the Indian study (Ibid), the
belief that violence is still an appropriate way to deal with conflict or wives was largely held.
This is likely due to the prevalence of violence in the home lives and communities of these
students (Ibid). And, it underscores how culture and violence against women is a norm in India.
Our program has been designed with the Indian local context in mind and aims to challenge both

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male and female students and administrators to reconsider these cultural norms. We believe a
successful intervention includes all actors in the ongoing conflict in order to create better
relations in the college community. This decision is supported by research that not only men
need to become allies to women but women also need to believe that they have the legitimacy to
actively change cultural gender norms (Jewkes, Flood and Lang, 2015). The content of
programs, presenters, gender of audience, and culturally relevant programs are crucial for a
better gender-based violence programming (Anderson and Whiston, 2005).
Local Context
The social ecology perspective has been proven successful in the US and in other
countries to prevent violence against women. This perspective takes into account how the
different individual, social, institutional and political sphere’s all provide unique context for a
curriculum. This type of program needs to lay roots for sustained problem solving tools across all
spheres of the individual’s social ecology model. (Michau et al, 2015) Our programming uses
this approach by first analyzing the Indian social ecological context and inter-sectionality of
gender inequalities and then providing a program which will bring in local and US experts to
teach activism tools that can be integrated into these spheres.
Bystander Interventions
Educating U.S. college students on GBV has been proven to reduce the rate of sexual
violence reported on college campuses (Salazar et al, 2015). In order to reach a large college
audience these trainings are often done through the internet. Often, failure to act when a situation
arises is because college students don’t know how to identify the behavior as sexual harassment
or because of pluralistic ignorance (Aronson, 2013). Pluralistic ignorance is when they believe
everyone in the group wants to go along with the behavior and to speak up would ruin their

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status in the group. In actuality, bystanders remain bystanders instead of allies because they feel
society would accept them more if they did nothing. However, with trainings on what to look for
and how to act, research found that 6 months after bystander training, male college students had
sustained greater empathy for rape victims, were less involved in GBV on campus and had
greater intentions to intervene (Salazar et al, 2015). Our program includes discussion topics on
the bystander, the bully and the victim in local context scenarios. Participants will also be
encouraged to design awareness campaigns based on the best practices of bystander
interventions.
Successful Interventions have been focused on early prevention or rehabilitation of
victims. There is little evidence that interventions designed to change attitudes and behaviors of
perpetrators have proven as successful (Elsberg et al, 2015). This lack of evidence is true
especially for the Indian context. Based on these findings our program focuses on early
prevention and understanding the social ecological reasons for why GBV occurs. By internally
motivating college students to be advocates for change and allies to women we can effect change
more easily.
Community Participation Theory
Community participation theory encourages people in the community to become active
members of a development program. In this method community members partner with the
intervention organization and contribute to the design and implementation. This has proven a key
strategy with youth who are eager to learn from outside organizations but are also determined to
contribute to the discussion instead of having ideas imposed on their day to day lives.
(Cheetham, 2002). The project also has sustainability built into its core objectives from day one.

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Participants are given tools to teach the content back to the community or to design their own
interventions (Cheetham, 2002).
A key component of community participation is ownership of a task through shared
responsibility (Cheetham, 2002). The inclusion of different groups aims to represent the
community and acknowledge the value of the local knowledge they have to share. It also
strengthens the relationships between these different groups, lessening prior conflict that might
exist between them. (Cheetham, 2002). We have decided to include students and administrators
as participants in the program in order to foster trust and shared responsibility between these
groups to find solutions to GBV on campus.
Another relationship which our program aims to strengthen is trust between the police
force and the college community. To begin this dialogue we have invited US and local police
officers as guest speakers in the course. Sharing of best practices by the police force has been
seen to strengthen trust between these two groups. Police involvement in community
participation for behavior change has proven successful in the U.S. to curb violent gang-related
behavior (Seabrook, 2009). Police support lends legitimacy to the college course, shows that
police support efforts to combat GBV and encourages people to report incidents (Seabrook,
2009). Other methods used in the U.S. to combat violence has included the neighborhood watch,
increasing official police presence and creating social activities for perpetrators to channel their
energies into (Juvenile Justice Bulletin, 1999; Seabrook, 2009).
In India, community participation for youth has also included participatory theatre
techniques. This is where students are given a chance to script and enact a play to inform others
on correct health behaviors or current issues in the community. Our program will ask students

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and administrators to design campaigns which seek to involve more community participatory
methods in the cause.
Quality Relationships between the community, college and police
Public safety is a growing concern in India (Viswanath and Basu, 2015). Ironically,
bright street lighting and seeing an equal number of men and women on the street makes people
feel safer than police presence (Viswanath and Basu, 2015). This is because Indian police
officers are stereotyped as self-interested, corruptible parties (Ibid; Rogers, 2008; Wahl, 2014).
Mistrust is embedded in the relationship which communities have with their local police force.
Our program aims to show how communities can initiate their own policing efforts and it shows
how better relations can be fostered between students, campus security and the local police.
Again, gender integration works best to raise awareness. In the local context a best practice is to
use female police officers to conduct self-defense trainings for women and raise awareness that it
is culturally encouraged for females to speak up (UN Women Security Sector Module 2011).
An essential relationship will be the connection between university students and police
officers from the Police Academy. Firstly, collaboration with police is a constructive strategy to
strengthen the program and increase legitimacy in the community. Secondly, students shared
ideas will hold significance to important members in the community who can assist students to
implement their plans. This relationship will allow both sides to hear the realities of each other’s
lived experiences. It will also allow for open and safe discussion on sensitive cultural material
between students and police that can forge a stronger bond that could allow for future
collaboration. It is essential to have police participation in the program as they are an important
part of the reporting aspect of the program.

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We believe community participation, gender integration and designing prevention
activities with the social-ecological model in mind will help us to strengthen community ties and
strengthen the government’s position on GBVin India. In the following section we have outlined
our specific goal and objectives for our college based education program.
PROGRAM GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
Goal: Strengthen leadership to raise awareness and combat GBV on college campuses and
universities
Objectives:
- Develop a pilot training course for students and administrative leaders in order to strengthen
their efforts to combat gender-based violence at the University of Chennai
- Assist administrators and students increase awareness; develop prevention and intervention
strategies to tackle gender-based violence on college campuses
- Train students to spread the tools and skills learned in this course to other campuses in
Southern regions of India
PROGRAM NARRATIVE
This proposal is for an 8-week comprehensive education program at the University of
Madras. First, students will complete a 6-week training course, and will be given two-weeks to
prepare a community theater project upon course completion. While the course aims to
strengthen administrators and students efforts to combat campus-based gender-based violence,
the community theater project will prepare students to transfer the skills and tools learned in the
course to their own course programming, which will be designed at their own university and
other surrounding colleges in Chennai. As an effort to spread the program, this theater project

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will be a way to gain credibility and partnerships to design the course in other campuses.
Students will prepare a theater play and perform it on college campuses.
The program will be facilitated by two local instructors from Asha for Education. The
two instructors will require a strong educational background in Criminology and Women Studies
in connection to gender-based violence. The program will be conducted at the University of
Madras between July 2015 and July 2016. University of Madras is a public state university
located in urban city area of Chennai. It is one of the oldest universities in south of India and
prides itself on being opened to progressive changes and initiatives, nationally and
internationally (University of Madras, 2015).
There is little research on how gender-based violence is addressed at the university;
however, this topic does unfold in classes and around the campus. Recently, a play called ‘Jen
and Steve’ raised attention in a lecture classroom at the Criminology department. This play was
organized by Ben Atherton-Zeman, a ‘recovered sexist’ who later became a spokesperson for an
activist organization called National Organization for Men against Sexism (NOMAS) which
promotes pro-feminism and positive changes for men. He toured around India to raise awareness
of one form of sexism-micro-aggression-through theater plays and puppetry (The Times of India,
2014). Evidently, gender-based violence is a discussed topic on campus, yet little initiatives and
efforts are taken to fight this issue. As a result, this course program offers to raise awareness and
combat gender-based violence in a sustainable method.
This course will initiate a multi-sectoral approach in managing campus-based gender
based violence. Course lessons will inform and train students to engage with varied institutions
and inter-agencies when designing prevention programs, this approach is vital for successful
outcomes.

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Participants
We will select 20 students and 6 administrative leaders, of which 13 will be males and
13 females. There will be 10 male and female students and 3 male and female administrators. We
decided to select 26 participants as we intend to conduct small group workshops which have
evidenced success in changing norms and behaviors (OECD, 2011). The equal number of males
and females will increase gender integration. There will only be 6 administrative leaders as part
of their role in the course will be to guide and encourage leadership in students. Participants will
be selected through a rigorous selection process, where they will be required to submit a
statement of purpose to prove their motivational goals in combating gender-based. Student
applicants must be enrolled full-time in a master’s level degree and administrative leaders must
work full-time and have a broad work experience in leadership and administration. All applicants
will be invited for interviews to communicate their leadership skills and their envisioned
platform on anti-GBV initiatives at the University of Madras. This program will solely consider
students that are committed to strengthen community leadership and building a strong
community. This training course will prepare students to carry out the mission and activities of
the program. Post successful completion of the program in the University of Madras, the
structure and results of the course program will be reevaluated and then modified if necessary to
gain a universal success upon the program’s distribution to other similar cultural settings despite
the geographical region.
The overarching goal of this program is to build a violent free environment in
campuses and universities. This course will introduce participants with successful methods and
models adopted from US colleges and universities. We do keep in perspective that US models
may not necessarily adopt well in Indian college campuses due to context variances. When

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designing this program, we will pay close attention to the local context, incorporate
comprehensive approaches and continue research (over focus groups) at the University--to
evaluate if these approaches are indeed suitable. Notwithstanding, participants will develop a
holistic prevention programs informed by research and relevant theories. While this course will
follow a comprehensive nature, sections and details of the course need to correspond with the
context and the university where this course is implemented.
PROGRAM ACTIVITIES
Course Design
Asha representatives will design a syllabus that includes a course overview with course
descriptions and purpose, detailed instructor's’ information, outlined modules for each week with
activities, assignments and reading materials. The syllabus will also include what is expected of
participants during the course. As previously mentioned, students and administrators will be
elected prior at the start of the program.
The central goal of the course is to introduce sustainable and innovative program designs
that students can apply to their own programming. This 6-week course will include 6 lessons--
one lesson per week. The three known players of gender-based violence; the bully, victim and
the bystander will be the themes for the course lessons. The course will be subdivided so that
each major topic discussed will be addressed during two consecutive lesson periods: the first two
class lesson will be on The Bully- The impact of the Bully, the two class lessons following on The
Victim-The Survivors Experience, and the final two class lessons on The Bystander-
Interventions and Preventions. Each course lesson will be one hour long. The first course lesson
of each topic or theme will be an introductory lecture and discussion course, mainly focusing on
various theoretical perspectives (feminist, sociology, psychology and criminology) and informed

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research on the cause of gender-based violence and its possible solutions. The second course
lesson of each theme will include a one- hour workshop, with one or two activities, to expose
students to programming of effective prevention methods drawn from evaluated US models that
have evidenced success in college campuses. The first course lesson aims to strengthen students
efforts in raising awareness by increasing their knowledge on GBV and critically analyzing
Course Methods
Cooperative learning techniques have shown to improve inter-group relationships and
academic achievement (Slavin& Cooper, 1999), specifically jigsaw learning, increases
motivation and confidence in students involved in inter-group activities. These techniques will
be utilized to enhance gender integration and lessen power dynamics between men, women,
students and administrators. Students will be asked to participate in activities with heterogeneous
groups to enhance integration among groups, as they have to depend on each other to finish a
competitive activity.
Weekly Course Modules
Lesson1 & 2: The Bully- The impact of the Bully
The very first lesson of the course will begin with an overview of the program and an
introduction to the course and materials. It will introduce the theories and research that inform
The Bully, and there will be a lecture accompanied by reading materials available for students.
Students will learn about the different levels of social ecology theory. The ecological model
theory posits that there are various contributing factors of violence; it looks beyond the single-
factor as a cause of violence (OECD, 2011). The model demonstrates that root causes of violence
range from an individual level to the societal level. Students will also be assigned introductory
readings on historical and theoretical approaches surrounding gender-based violence.

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The second lesson will include an interactive activity, in which students will discuss the
different types and the root causes of GBV, the motivations of the bully and the outcomes
expected by the bully. They will relate these discussions to the violence that occurs at the
University of Madras. The second workshop activity will discuss gender, gender norms and how
to shift cultural norms in order to change attitudes and behaviors of the bully. They will learn to
design gender-transformation campaigns that integrate both male and female participants. In the
past, program agencies have only focused on gender-transformation campaigns targeting males
and females separately, in the recent years more recognition is now given to campaigns that
integrate both gender. This practice has shown positive changes on norms and behaviors (OECD,
2011). Students will also learn to design a gender integrated peer training and community
workshops, targeting men and women who are already involved in other meetings and activities,
such as microfinance programs and sports clubs, as a way to maintain long-term participation.
Lastly, students will learn about successful awareness campaigns such as UNiTE to End Violence
campaigns organized by UN Women, which have raised awareness and political activism
through slogans and materials (OECD, 2011). In addition, students will learn about the media as
an awareness campaign; the media is a powerful tool to spread information, in this course it will
be used to reach students at the University of Hyderabad, located in the Indian state of
Telangana. Students will be connected through an online discussion and video calls, and they are
expected to follow up with their peers on their own. By participating in these online discussions,
students will practice what they have learned by teaching other students about these programs.
Lesson3 & 4: The Victim-The Survivors experience
The third course lesson will introduce The Victim theme. During the lecture, student will
learn about human rights, women empowerment and varied feminist theoretical perspectives on

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the cause of GBV. The third lesson of this course will include a workshop with two activities.
The first activity will begin with discussion questions, student will discuss the typical victims of
GBV and what preventions and rehabilitation strategies would be most effective for victims.
They will be given written scenarios of women that have previously experienced violence;
students will suggest strategies for the university and the state to help victims of violence.
Students will learn how to collaborate with health and social welfare services to help victims on
campus. These two sectors are crucial in helping victims of GBV; health workers have a critical
role in helping victims of violence, as they can provide health treatment and consoling
(Samarasekeraa & Horton, 2014). If victims experience partner violence, social support and
services are essential to their well-being. Students will also learn about partnering with police for
as a prevention strategy. In order for students to learn more about innovative policing programs
and to strengthen quality relationships between students and police, two police officers will be
invited to speak and join workshop activities for two courses. Hemant Karkare, a local Indian
police officer and Laura Luigi, a US female police officer will be invited to speak about
community policing and effective preventions of GBV.
Lesson5 & 6: The Bystander-Interventions and Preventions
The fourth lesson will about the The Bystander, it will begin with a lecture on community
participation theory followed by discussion questions on the bystander--the reasons why they do
not intervene or report crimes and how to change these attitudes and behaviors. Students will
then focus on community prevention and intervention programs such as situational prevention,
mentoring/counseling, media and social marketing interventions, and policy interventions. For
instance, students will discuss mentoring and counseling programs as they have shown to lower
violent and delinquent behaviors, and increase pro-social skills, academic achievement and

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positive attitudes and social norms. In mentoring programs, using behavior management
strategies have also shown to increase students’ attendance. Students will also speak about policy
interventions as methods to lobby for strengthened GBV laws and legislation. The fifth lesson on
this topic will include the last workshop activity. Students will incorporate all aspects of the
course and design a blueprint that is suitable for University of Madras.
Community Theater Project
As the last project of this program, students and administrative leaders will be asked to
prepare a community theater project, where they will include a play of each theme--the bully,
victim and bystander. Each theme will be incorporated in the play and it will creatively express
the causes and preventions to gender-based violence. This project will prepare students with the
tools and skills learned in class as they will be instructing their own GBV course in other
campuses. The sustainability of this program depends on how these leaders will internalize the
techniques to use it for their own programs and to spread it throughout other campuses. It is
critical that students exercise these tools in the community. In collaboration with Marappachi
Trust, a local nonprofit organization that works on human rights through art and culture, students
will receive the help they need and prepare theater project. They will have to organize all aspects
of the program and perform it other campuses. This performance will also be an opportunity to
be spread to other college campuses. Responses of attendees to the program will be videotaped
and utilized for promotional materials and as a measurement of success of the program.
MONITORING AND EVALUATION
Asha for Education has several monitoring processes lined up to track the effectiveness
of the program. The first step to monitor effectiveness will be to assess the outlooks of
participants on gender norms and gender violence. A pretest and posttest will be administered to

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measure attitude. The pretest will be administered to all participants in the program on the first
meeting date in person before any activities or discussions have begun. The post-test will be
administered a week after the program has ended and will be e-mailed to participants to complete
at home. The test will be based on a psychometric evaluation of a twenty-four-item scale, to
measure attitudes toward gender norms among young men: the Gender-Equitable Men (GEM)
Scale (Pulerwitz, 2007). Scale items are designed based on the gender norms that relate to sexual
and reproductive health, sexual relations, violence, domestic work, and homophobia. The test
will assess the current gender norms and issues seen in Indian society to best reflect the
participants in the program. The goal of the program is to see if there is a significant
transformative change in underlying attitudes toward gender norms and violence in all
participants. Thus, it is crucial to measure the long-term effects of the program. The GEM test
has previously been administered to test attitudes in Brazil and the test was shown to be effective
in predicting not only attitudes but actions, “as hypothesized, more support for equitable norms
(i.e., higher GEM Scale scores) is significantly associated with less self-reported partner
violence…” (Pulerwitz, 2007)
In addition to quantitative measures of attitude, qualitative research will also be done on
participants through videotaped interviews of all twenty participants. We will use relevant clips
from the videotaped interviews as a form of advertising for the program to other college
campuses. The participants will be asked questions about their experiences, their attitudes and
how their participation in the program has changed their goals for the future and their
relationships. A 25 to 30 question interview will be designed over the course of the program to
really reflect the experiences of the participants. Interviewee responses will be coded and utilized

22. USAID INDIA 21
to inform (in) effectiveness of the program for the next group to use in order to adjust activities
and curriculum.
In addition, the educational nature of the program will result in some project based
evidence of effectiveness. Because the end goal of the program is for participants to create and
implement their own final project to share what they have learned with their classmates and with
college students on other campuses, the spread of the program will be an additional indicator of
program effectiveness. We project for the first group to participate in the program to bring the
tools and skills they have learned to at least three campuses, including their own. From this
point, ambassadors from different college campuses will take charge and create effective
programming based on our structure to their campuses. The goal is to have ten college campuses
in the southern province of India to be implementing the GBV curriculum created by Asha for
Education two years after the start of the inaugural program.
Finally, program effectiveness will be measured by the rate of reporting of GBV crimes
on campus to security. Our theory is that with the increased reports and awareness of GBV, the
number of reports will keep increasing. This may appear to show that more GBV crimes are
occurring; however Asha for Education believes that more awareness results in first a spike in
reporting and eventually a slow decline, as less GBV crimes occur on campus or are prevented
by a better informed security staff and students.
CONCLUSION
Asha for Education has designed this project with the aim of sustainable, measureable
outcomes in mind. Our educational approach is participatory in nature. It encourages students,
administrators and local police to engage in a dialogue to raise awareness about GBV in Indian
society. Our choice to use a college campus is to deliberately target students who are eager to

23. USAID INDIA 22
initiate change, who are internally motivated to strengthen community relationships, raise
awareness and perhaps even turn this project into a vocational career.
We have used a simple course structure – the bully, the victim and the bystander – which
borrows from U.S. models of bystander intervention methods. This approach is in accordance
with research that preventive education can have long-lasting sustainable attitude and behavior
change in school or college environments. Our course uses community participation techniques
and is grounded in a local Indian context. We believe it is important to adapt best practices from
U.S. models to an Indian context in order to ensure participants can place their learning within
their own social ecological model. Our choice to use U.S. models is also hoped to strengthen
U.S-India relationships at the college level and at the government level.
The success of the course will be evaluated using quantitative and qualitative methods.
The GEM survey will be adapted to the local Indian context and administered a week before and
after the course. Qualitative video interviews will report on how students connected with the
material and what needs to be adapted for future trainings. We will also video interviews after
the students put on their community theatre plays at other colleges to measure how these
interventions are received by the college community. Campus reports of GBVwill also be used to
add to our evaluation report. These statistics will be checked monthly for the next two years. Our
hope for this project is that participants will learn tools to raise and sustain awareness of GBVon
college campuses with the hope that we begin to see an increase of these types of courses and
programs, ultimately culminating in cultural shifts in attitude regarding violence against women
and LGBTQ who defy gender norms. Asha for Education has a number of years’ experience in
educational and community participatory projects. Our expertise and innovative methods are
poised to lead the college community dialogue on gender based violence.

24. USAID INDIA 23
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