Growing Up GREAT! Brief

This brief informs program implementers and provides an overview of the Growing Up GREAT program. Growing Up GREAT! adapts elements of two tested models—Gender Roles, Equality, and Transformations (GREAT) from northern Uganda and GrowUp Smart from Rwanda—for an urban Democratic Republic of the Congo setting. Growing up GREAT! applies an ecological perspective addressing spheres of influence—individual, family, school, community—that most affect early adolescent life experiences. It consists of a toolkit of age-tailored, gender-transformative materials exploring sexual and reproductive health (SRH), gender-based violence (GBV), and gender equality. Targeting four audiences, the intervention encourages reflection and dialogue through community group engagement to build more equitable gender norms that support adolescent development and well-being. Growing Up GREAT! aims to measure if an intervention for early adolescents that addresses gender norms, GBV, and SRH will lead to more equitable gender roles, delayed sexual debut and pregnancy, and increased family planning use over the life course.