This study aimed to determine the initial impact of a Men’s Behaviour Change (MBC) program run by World Vision Vanuatu (WVV). MBC is a 10-session small group therapy program for perpetrators of violence (either self-identified or selected by community leaders to attend. Overall, the study found that the program was highly valued by participants and their families, with all identifying it as having been transformative in the participants’ changed attitudes and behaviour towards their spouse. Other key findings are:
- All participants and their spouses and other family members identified significant changes in the participant’s behaviour.
- The impact of the program was identified by interviewees and facilitators as relating to its Christian framing, its resonance with the real issues men face today and the practical steps suggested to address them in a staged manner, the emotional engagement with the concepts it engendered in the participants; and the opportunity it offered men to both realise and acknowledge their past behaviour and to forge new paths for themselves.
