Peer-reviewed article
The Brother–Sister Sibling Dyad as a Pathway to Gender-Based Violence Prevention: Engaging Male Siblings in Family-Strengthening Programs in Humanitarian Settings
Andrea Koris, Monica Giuffrida, Kristine Anderson, Hana Shalouf, Ibrahim Saley et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined how engaging male siblings alongside adolescent girls and caregivers in family-strengthening programs can help prevent gender-based violence in conflict-affected communities in Jordan and Niger. The program, called SSAGE, used gender-transformative approaches to help families explore gender norms and power dynamics. Researchers found that male siblings who participated showed less physical and verbal violence toward their sisters, did more equitable household chores, and developed better trust and communication with them.
Key points
- Male siblings who participated in the program reported decreased perpetration of physical and verbal violence toward their sisters
- Siblings showed increased equity in household labor distribution between boys and girls
- Improved communication and exploration of positive gender identities were key mechanisms of change
- The program built trust and mutual emotional support between male and female siblings
- Research involved 469 participants across two humanitarian settings using qualitative methods
Limitations
The study used qualitative research only, so it cannot measure the magnitude of impact or provide quantitative evidence of reduced violence. The research cannot determine whether these changes persist over time or translate into girls' actual protection from violence in daily life.
Abstract
Household violence poses a significant threat to the physical and mental health of adolescent girls. In conflict-affected communities, increased stresses to safety, security, health, and livelihoods may heighten this risk. While it is widely evidenced that the caregiver-child relationship can increase or protect against girls’ risk of violence, less is known about the role of male siblings. Sibling Support for Adolescent Girls in Emergencies (SSAGE) used whole-family support programming to synchronously engage adolescent girls, their male siblings, and their caregivers in conflict-affected communities in Jordan and Niger, using gender-transformative approaches to explore the impacts of gender norms, power, and violence and encourage support and emotional connection. We conducted qualitative research activities, including focus group discussions, participatory group activities, and in-depth, paired, and key informant interviews with 469 SSAGE participants and program facilitators to explore SSAGE’s impact on the male-female sibling dyad in both settings. The multi-stakeholder team used a collaborative thematic analysis approach to identify emergent themes. Findings suggest that the inclusion of male siblings in family strengthening programs may have a positive impact on factors related to girls’ protection, with research participants discussing decreased perpetration of physical and verbal violence by male siblings, increased equity in household labor between siblings, and improved trust and mutual support among siblings. These changes were facilitated by improved communication and interrogation of positive gender identities. In humanitarian settings, interventions that support more gender-transformative, egalitarian, and emotionally effective relationships between male-female siblings can work towards improving girls’ protective assets. More research on the impact of this relationship on girls’ experience of immediate and long-term experience of violence is needed. In settings where gender power dynamics among male-female siblings are less salient, other relationship dyads should be explored.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- SSAGE: whole-family support programming using gender-transformative approaches to engage adolescent girls, their male siblings, and caregivers together to explore gender norms, power, and violence while encouraging support and emotional connection
- Population
- Adolescent girls, their male siblings, and caregivers in conflict-affected communities in Jordan and Niger