Throughout the years many external evaluations have been conducted in over 10 countries across the globe (Tanzania, Zambia, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Nepal, Argentina, Barbados, Netherlands, Russia, Serbia) looking at the outcomes of the Dance4Life model on the level of behavioural determinants and intentions.
Our franchisees conducted evaluations as part of their monitoring and evaluation efforts as well. Being a member of the Dutch SRHR alliance, Dance4Life also had its model researched in 8 countries (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana, Ethiopia, Indonesia, India, Pakistan) within larger multi-annual programme evaluations.
Pilot studies on Journey4Life in 2017-2018
In 2017 en 2018 pilot studies have been carried out to investigate the impact of our Journey4Life-programme in Russia, Ghana, Nepal and Tanzania. Results show that the Journey4Life, our innovative curriculum that focuses on empowerment of young people, has a positive impact on the sexuality of young people. In Ghana for example, 11% more young people are willing to use condoms and in Tanzania 32% more young people have been tested for HIV. Read this article on the results.
The full report on the pilot studies can be downloaded here. A summary of this research can be downloaded here.
Earlier findings show that The Dance4Life model has been effective in increasing knowledge, confidence, and changing attitudes and social norms. After joining the Dance4Life program, they experienced more egalitarian attitudes, were less discriminating, and more accepting towards those living with HIV. Dance4Life helps in breaking the culture of silence around sex and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), enabling youth to feel confident to talk with their parents, teachers, peer leaders, health workers and friends about it. All these contributions lead to increased capacities to make safe and informed decisions about their sexual lives.
Collaborations with others
Throughout the years we have strategically collaborated with local researchers in design, collection and analysis of data, supported by renowned international research institutes, such as the Dutch Royal Tropical Institute (KIT), University of Amsterdam and National Research University Higher School of Economics in Moscow. Next to outcome evaluations we have commissioned multiple researches on the workings of our model.
Youth report to feel more empowered to end a relationship if their partner wants sex as a condition to continue.
In addition, young people find themselves empowered in their ability to solve problems and have more confidence than their non-dance4life peers.
They are more willing to seek health services, use a condom or to talk their community about SRHR.
More and more, there is a need for insight into the longer term impact of behaviour change interventions. We already have anecdotal and self-reported evidence on this. The next step is to have a thorough assessment of our model’s impact on health outcomes.