From pilot project to toolkit: using lessons learned from a comprehensive university campus sexual violence activity...

Sexual- and gender-based violence (SGBV) is a widespread and under-reported international human rights violation. It is more pernicious than other forms of societal violence because it stigmatizes and marginalizes people. Efforts to address SGBV at African universities have been limited and not comprehensive. Like other campuses, Moi University in Kenya has a serious problem of sexual misconduct. With support from a Kenyan nongovernmental organization and an American university, Moi University launched a pilot project, End Violence on Campus (EVOC), to test a comprehensive and low-cost intervention which was mainly student-led. Activities included establishing an EVOC Club to prevent SGBV, setting up support services, surveying second-year students, and holding student-staff policy dialogues. Although the EVOC Club won a university award and achieved gender equality in membership, the project had numerous challenges. Key lessons learned were as follows: (1) Student organizations need structured tools and support; (2) offering active bystander training and warnings to incoming students are essential; (3) while male students were the main perpetrators, food-insecure students are the most vulnerable to harassment from adults, such as lecturers; (4) monitoring via extensive annual surveys was cumbersome; and (5) achieving lasting change in survivor services required oversight and integration into existing structures. These lessons and other best practices informed the development of the Reduce-to-End Violence on Campus (REVOC) Multimedia Toolkit for use at universities in Kenya and elsewhere. The toolkit, a free downloadable resource, provides a step-by-step framework for SGBV project implementation that includes short videos, training curricula, and brief survey instruments.