Background
More than 1/3rd of women in Pakistan experience gender-based violence (GBV) at some point in their lives. Pakistan’s ranking on gender equality remains one of the lowest in the world. Amoral traditional practices in Pakistan include honor killing, rape, sexual assault/harassment, acid attacks, being burned alive, kidnapping, domestic violence, dowry murder, and force marriages are the most pervasive forces causing GBV. Despite a rise of such reported cases, not much attention has been paid on its prevention. In this project, we will implement and evaluate the effectiveness of violence prevention interventions to empower and safe women and promote gender equitable behaviours.  

Aim and objectives
This project will engage/empower Lady Health Workers (LHWs) by preparing them to identify and raise awareness about GBV in the community. An easy to use mobile phone app (I-CArE) will be developed that can simultaneously train LHWs and also provide tailored information to raise awareness about GBV.

Methodology
A mixed-method design will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions and primary outcomes. 1) A quantitative survey will be conducted to determine the effectiveness and usability of mobile app to train LHWs; 2) a qualitative focus group with LHWs to evaluate the usefulness of mobile app in preparing them to develop appropriate plan to help GBV victim; 3) focus group or individual interviews with women who will be supported by LHWs; 4) quantitative survey to evaluate the community awareness about GBV.    

Discussion
There is a limited body of evidence on the effectiveness of GBV prevention programs, interventions, and strategies, for poor marginalized people living in LMICs. Our proposed innovative approach (i.e. training of LHWs using Mobile App) to prevent GBV in Pakistan will take a gender transformative approach to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment. Technology in combination with training of LHWs will be an effective strategy to achieve sustained change.

I-CArE (Information, Communication and Action for Empowerment): a mobile app to prevent gender based violence