Adaptive Delivery and Resilience of a Community-Based Gender-Based Violence Response in Rural Zimbabwe During COVID-19 (2020–2022)

The COVID-19 pandemic produced what UN Women (2020) and later global analyses called a “shadow pandemic” of gender-based violence (GBV). Stay-at-home orders, economic shocks, and disruption of formal services coincided with sharp rises in intimate-partner and family violence in many countries. Community-based GBV programs running during 2020–2022 faced two problems at once. Demand for prevention and response services rose. In-person delivery became difficult or impossible. This paper examines how one such program managed and adapted its work through the pandemic. It also reports the outcomes the program achieved by its conclusion. The program is the Womandla Foundation Trust’s GBV Prevention and Response Program. It was implemented in Zvishavane District, a mining-dependent rural area in Midlands Province, Zimbabwe. The study used a convergent mixed-methods evaluation. It integrated a community survey (N = 120), a service-provider survey (n = 60), four focus group discussions, and twelve key informant interviews. We analyse the program’s trajectory using a four-capacity resilience framework. The four capacities are absorptive, adaptive, anticipatory, and transformative. The program ran through three national lockdowns and several COVID-19 waves. At endline, 75.0% of community respondents were aware of common GBV forms. A further 66.7% had taken part in at least one prevention activity. Among trained providers, 83.3% showed high adherence to survivor-centered protocols. Qualitative data indicate that three factors supported these outcomes. First, a quick shift from large public campaigns to radio, WhatsApp, and household-level outreach. Second, a locally embedded volunteer network. Third, faster take-up of digital monitoring tools, which continued after the pandemic. The paper argues that women-led, locally anchored programs with prior community trust showed strong resilience during COVID-19. Several changes introduced during the crisis retain value beyond it. Implications for pandemic-era and future-shock GBV programming in sub-Saharan Africa are discussed.

COVID-19; shadow pandemic; gender-based violence; program resilience; adaptive delivery; community health workers

1. Abramsky, T., Devries, K., Kiss, L., Nakuti, J., Kyegombe, N., Starmann, E., Cundill, B., Francisco, L., Kaye, D., Musuya, T., Michau, L., & Watts, C. (2014). Findings from the SASA! Study: a cluster randomized controlled trial to assess the impact of a community mobilization intervention to prevent violence against women and reduce HIV risk in Kampala, Uganda. BMC Medicine, 12, 122. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

2. Bahadur, A. V., Peters, K., Wilkinson, E., Pichon, F., Gray, K., & Tanner, T. (2020). The 3As: tracking resilience across BRACED. London: Overseas Development Institute. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

3. Ballard, M., Johnson, A., Mwanza, I., Ngwira, H., Schechter, J., Odera, M., Mukherjee, J., Shelley, K. D., Nkhoma, D., Rosenberg, J., & Palazuelos, D. (2022). Community health workers in pandemics: evidence and investment implications. Global Health: Science and Practice, 10(2), e2100648. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

4. Bashwira, M.-R., & Cuvelier, J. (2022). Women, mining and power in southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo: the case of Kisengo. The Extractive Industries and Society, 9, 101050. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

5. Béné, C., Newsham, A., Davies, M., Ulrichs, M., & Godfrey-Wood, R. (2014). Review article: resilience, poverty and development. Journal of International Development, 26(5), 598–623. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

6. Bourgault, S., Peterman, A., & O'Donnell, M. (2021). Violence against women and children during COVID-19: one year on and 100 papers in. Washington, DC: Center for Global Development. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

7. Boyce, M. R., Attal-Juncqua, A., Lin, J., McKay, S., & Katz, R. (2022). Global Fund contributions to health security in ten low- and middle-income countries, 2014–2020: mapping synergies between vertical disease programmes and capacities for preventing, detecting, and responding to public health emergencies. The Lancet Global Health, 10(5), e705–e714. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

8. Creswell, J. W., & Plano Clark, V. L. (2018). Designing and conducting mixed methods research (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

9. Dlamini, N. J. (2021). Gender-based violence, twin pandemic to COVID-19. Critical Sociology, 47(4–5), 583–590. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

10. Dunkle, K., Stern, E., Chatterji, S., & Heise, L. (2020). Effective prevention of intimate partner violence through couples training: a randomised controlled trial of Indashyikirwa in Rwanda. BMJ Global Health, 5(12), e002439. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

11. García-Moreno, C., Hegarty, K., d'Oliveira, A. F. L., Koziol-McLain, J., Colombini, M., & Feder, G. (2022). The health-systems response to violence against women. The Lancet, 399(10327), 1453–1465. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

12. Heise, L. L. (1998). Violence against women: an integrated, ecological framework. Violence Against Women, 4(3), 262–290. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

13. Heise, L., Greene, M. E., Opper, N., Stavropoulou, M., Harper, C., Nascimento, M., & Zewdie, D. (2019). Gender inequality and restrictive gender norms: framing the challenges to health. The Lancet, 393(10189), 2440–2454. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

14. John, N., Casey, S. E., Carino, G., & McGovern, T. (2021). Lessons never learned: crisis and gender-based violence. Developing World Bioethics, 21(1), 65–68. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

15. Kourti, A., Stavridou, A., Panagouli, E., Psaltopoulou, T., Spiliopoulou, C., Tsolia, M., Sergentanis, T. N., & Tsitsika, A. (2023). Domestic violence during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 24(2), 719–745. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

16. Kyegombe, N., Namakula, S., Mulindwa, J., Lwanyaaga, J., Naker, D., Namy, S., Nakuti, J., Parkes, J., Knight, L., Walakira, E., & Devries, K. (2023). Learning from the implementation of the Good School Toolkit and SASA! interventions in Uganda: comparative reflections on intervention design and delivery. Global Health Action, 16(1), 2216023. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

17. Mahase, E. (2020). Covid-19: EU states report 60% rise in emergency calls about domestic violence. BMJ, 369, m1872. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

18. Manyena, S. B., Machingura, F., & O'Keefe, P. (2019). Disaster resilience integrated framework for transformation (DRIFT): a new approach to theorising and operationalising resilience. World Development, 123, 104587. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

19. Mittal, S., & Singh, T. (2020). Gender-based violence during COVID-19 pandemic: a mini-review. Frontiers in Global Women's Health, 1, 4. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

20. Mojahed, A., Brym, S., Hense, H., Grafe, B., Helfferich, C., Lindert, J., & Garthus-Niegel, S. (2022). Rapid review on the associations of social and geographical epidemiology of COVID-19 and intimate partner violence against women. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 13, 830322. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

21. Nowell, L. S., Norris, J. M., White, D. E., & Moules, N. J. (2017). Thematic analysis: striving to meet the trustworthiness criteria. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 16(1), 1–13. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

22. Ogum Alangea, D., Addo-Lartey, A. A., Chirwa, E. D., Sikweyiya, Y., Coker-Appiah, D., Jewkes, R., & Adanu, R. M. K. (2020). Evaluation of the rural response system intervention to prevent violence against women: findings from a community-randomised controlled trial in the Central Region of Ghana. Global Health Action, 13(1), 1711336. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

23. Perks, R., & Schulz, K. (2020). Gender in oil, gas and mining: new frontiers of research and action. The Extractive Industries and Society, 7(2), 380–388. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

24. Peterman, A., & O'Donnell, M. (2020). COVID-19 and violence against women and children: a second research round up. Washington, DC: Center for Global Development. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

25. Pfitzner, N., Fitz-Gibbon, K., & True, J. (2022). When staying home isn't safe: Australian practitioner experiences of family violence during the COVID-19 lockdown. Journal of Gender-Based Violence, 6(2), 297–314. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

26. Piquero, A. R., Jennings, W. G., Jemison, E., Kaukinen, C., & Knaul, F. M. (2021). Domestic violence during the COVID-19 pandemic: evidence from a systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Criminal Justice, 74, 101806. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

27. Roesch, E., Amin, A., Gupta, J., & García-Moreno, C. (2020). Violence against women during covid-19 pandemic restrictions. BMJ, 369, m1712. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

28. Rustad, S. A., Østby, G., & Nordås, R. (2021). Artisanal mining, conflict, and sexual violence in Eastern DRC: a quantitative analysis. The Extractive Industries and Society, 8(2), 100880. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

29. Sardinha, L., Maheu-Giroux, M., Stöckl, H., Meyer, S. R., & García-Moreno, C. (2022). Global, regional, and national prevalence estimates of physical or sexual, or both, intimate partner violence against women in 2018. The Lancet, 399(10327), 803–813. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

30. UN Women. (2020). COVID-19 and ending violence against women and girls. New York: UN Women. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

31. UN Women. (2023). Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals: the gender snapshot 2023. New York: UN Women. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

32. Usta, J., Murr, H., & El-Jarrah, R. (2021). COVID-19 lockdown and the increased violence against women: understanding domestic violence during a pandemic. Violence and Gender, 8(3), 133–139. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

33. World Health Organization. (2016). Ethical and safety recommendations for intervention research on violence against women. Geneva: WHO. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

34. World Health Organization. (2021). Violence against women prevalence estimates, 2018. Geneva: WHO. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

35. Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency & ICF International. (2016). Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Survey 2015: Final report. Rockville, MD: ZIMSTAT and ICF International. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

36. Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency. (2022). 2022 Population and Housing Census: Preliminary report. Harare: ZIMSTAT. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

• The Dynamic of Religious Pluralism and Cultural Identity in Rongmei Naga (Kabui) Society
• Effects of Social-Economic Empowerment of Teenage Mothers and Nurture Care. A Case of Kimbilio Hope Centre, Machakos, Kenya
• Gendering Caste and Casteing Gender: A Study of Social Sickness in Uma Chakravarti’s Gendering Caste: Through a Feminist Lens
• Counselling as Social Work for Women Empowerment in Akwa Ibom State: A Case Study of Ibiono Ibom Local Government Area. Implications for Counsellors
• Motherhood: Inclusion and Containment, A Case Study