Suubi4her Project

Reach the Youth Uganda

Suubi4her is a 5 year project that is being implemented in greater Masaka region in the districts of Masaka, Kyotera, Kalungu and Lwengo targeting 1,142 secondary school girls 14-17 years in 40 secondary schools. It will be undertaken by Washington University in St Louis, School of Social Work and International Centre for Child Health and Development (ICHAD). The principle investigator is Prof Fred Ssewamala, a professor at Washing University in St Louis and Director of ICHAD.

Reach The Youth Uganda (RTY) is the main implementing partner responsible for managing the income generating activity (IGA) training component. Other partners are Masaka Catholic Diocese and Rakai Health Services Programme (RHSP). This component is implemented with support of government extension workers (agriculture and animal husbandry).

As part of the intervention, the project trains study participants and their caregivers to spur study participants with support of the families to start family based IGAs that will eventually generate income so as to enable them eke a living while saving some of the proceeds from IGAs in their bank accounts.

Study Aims

  • Aim 1: Examine the effectiveness of the Suubi for Girls intervention in protecting against known HIV risk factors and enhancing developmental and health outcomes.
  • Aim 2: Elucidate individual- and family-level mediating influences on the response to the Suubi for Girls intervention.
  • Aim 3: Examine school and Suubi intervention program-level influences on the uptake, implementation and fidelity of intervention delivery within Ugandan secondary schools.
  • Aim 4: Evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the intervention components of Suubi for Girls for all intervention arm comparisons.

Expected outcomes of the study

  • Outcome 1: Reduced HIV risk and improved decision making among girls aged between 15- 24 on their life choices.
  • Outcome 2: Increased innovation and creation among the girl children and their families hence improved saving for education and family business development.
  • Outcome 3: Reduced rate of school dropout and improved performance in school for girl children aged between 15-24 years.
  • Outcome 4: Increased HIV status awareness, overall health and mental health among children and their families.

Findings from this study may help to inform efforts to reduce HIV infection and transmission rates, and improve overall health, mental health and education outcomes for older adolescent girls in Uganda, and possibly more broadly in low-resource countries in SSA and other regions that have been devastated by HIV/AIDS.