Sammanit Jeevan was successful in reducing physical violence by husbands towards their wives, changing gender relations in the family and community, and economically empowering young married women. Young married women also gained confidence to express themselves and improve their livelihoods with the support of the family. The whole family approach worked well in overcoming backlash that might have arisen if the intervention had only worked with young married women, helping to build a better understanding of their subjugated social position and its negative effects on women and their relationships with husbands and in-laws.

Drop out from the IGA was very low, in part owing to the family-centred approach. Providing seed funding without expecting reimbursement also assisted in retention of participants, their commitment to the IGAs and the positive impact on their livelihoods. Farming IGAs take time to yield impactful results as the real benefits can only be observed after at least 1 year due to intermittent earnings. The intervention strength came from its sound theory of change, the family-centred approach, the participatory methods used, delivery to peer groups and a focus on building skills in critical reflection, communication and income generation and IGA management.

This programme was manualised thus very structured, and fidelity to the method of delivery was possible to maintain. Extensive training and support of facilitators/implementers was critical for effective implementation, as was their recruitment from similar backgrounds as the participants’ meaning that they had local understanding of social issues facing the community and were able to gain their trust.

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