Creating Opportunities through Mentorship, Parental Involvement, and Safe Spaces (COMPASS), Ethiopia

Adolescent girls in humanitarian settings face heightened risks of gender-based violence (GBV), including sexual violence and exploitation, intimate partner violence, and early and forced marriage. These violations are exacerbated by instability, displacement, and the breakdown of social support systems. Despite recognition of these challenges, evidence on effective strategies to protect adolescent girls in these contexts is lacking. 

The Ethiopia Humanitarian Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (HVACS) 2024 showed that 13.9% of young women and 2.2% of young men in refugee camps in Ethiopia experienced sexual violence in childhood [1]. In refugee camps in Benishangul–Gumuz Ethiopia, and conflict-affected areas of South Kivu, DRC, the COMPASS baseline survey found that more than one in four girls experienced sexual violence in the past 12 months (24.5% in DRC among girls ages 13-14 and 27.2% in Ethiopia among girls ages 13-19) [2]. In Pakistan, a baseline COMPASS assessment showed that 22% of adolescent girls felt family members would say it was their fault if they experienced violence or harassment, while 15% indicated that they had not left home, due to safety concerns and social norms that limit girls’ mobility.

To address this critical gap, the International Rescue Committee (IRC), in partnership with Columbia University, developed the COMPASS program. Implemented over three years (2014–2017) in conflict-affected communities in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, refugee camps on the Sudan/Ethiopia border, and displaced populations in northwest Pakistan. 

What it is and how it works

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) originally developed COMPASS to address both the individual and structural drivers of violence against adolescent girls. More than 1,938 girls and 1,875 caregivers participated in COMPASS in Ethiopia, DRC, and Pakistan between 2014 and 2017. 

COMPASS aimed to improve protective factors and reduce vulnerabilities through an integrated three-pronged model:

• Life skills curriculum for girls (ages 10-19). Weekly peer (ages 18-30) mentor-led sessions delivered in safe spaces over 10-12 months covered health (e.g., puberty, sexual and reproductive health), life skills (e.g., healthy relationships, communication skills, decision-making, rights and consent, and strategies for navigating unsafe situations), financial literacy (e.g., money management and savings planning, knowledge of sexual and intimate partner violence, and safety planning).
• Caregiver engagement groups. Monthly discussion groups for parents and guardians, especially fathers, supported the well-being and safety of their children using participatory tools and reflection exercises to foster behavior change. Topics included parenting skills, positive discipline, gender attitudes, and the importance of listening to and protecting girls.
• Service Provider Training and Coordination. Health and protection professionals received training to improve adolescent-responsive services and coordination mechanisms. Providers were encouraged to offer confidential, non-judgmental support tailored to the needs of younger survivors.

In Ethiopia, the IRC assigned participants to program groups by language, location, and age (i.e., 13-14 or 15-19 years). The groups participated in 30 weekly mentor-facilitated sessions consisting of 45-60 minutes of content and 30 minutes of unstructured time. Girls discussed life skills content ranging from reproductive health and gender norms to money management, savings plans, and decision-making. 

IRC also facilitated eight monthly discussion groups to support parents and caregivers’ understanding of existing risks for girls and explore how they might protect girls in their environment. The discussions focused on positive relationship building, empathetic communication, nonviolent discipline methods, and specific developmental and cultural issues experienced by adolescent girls [3, 4].

The findings showed:

• No reduction in exposure to sexual violence, transactional sex, or feelings of safety.
  There were no significant declines in the primary outcomes related to violence [3]. And

Pakistan

The COMPASS program was adapted to address the unique needs of displaced adolescent girls living in host communities or camps in north-west Pakistan, including social norms that restricted their mobility. Despite initial community resistance, communications activities and transportation to and from the safe spaces facilitated enrollment. 

Girls gained skills and knowledge related to safety and decision-making and developed increased social support. Before participating, girls had an average of one location away from home that they felt they could visit each month. This increased to two locations after participating, showing improved girls’ mobility. Girls were also more likely to report having more friends, higher quality friend relationships, and a trusted female adult to talk to outside their families following participation. Participants also showed improved knowledge of available services for experiences of violence and willingness to support. Further, girls' self-esteem improved and aspirations shifted; before the program 58% felt girls should receive the same opportunities as boys, while 82% agreed after participating. However, the program did not lead to shifts in harmful beliefs related to violence, safety, or confidence in talking about life skills [6, 7]. 

Democratic Republic of Congo

COMPASS was also implemented in eastern DRC among girls in a region that has faced ongoing armed conflict for more than two decades. There, an RCT tested the added benefit of the caregiver component and noted positive improvements in caregiver-child relationships. 

However, no significant change was found in measured sexual violence outcomes that was attributable to the caregiver intervention. The number of girls who indicated they had four or more friends doubled after program participation, from 54% to 96%. 

They were also more likely to report that they had a trusted adult outside of their family and to become more hopeful about their futures than girls who had not participated in the program. Some decreases in experiences of sexual violence were noted, but it was unclear if this was associated with program participation. 

There was no impact on harmful gender beliefs, such as prioritizing men as decision makers in the home or on girls’ feelings of safety [8, 5].

Challenges:

• Cultural barriers. Peer mentors from the same community may inadvertently reinforce harmful societal norms. Young women refugees aged 18-30 from the community who spoke the same language were recruited as mentors to foster trust and rapport among participants. However, the findings suggest that recruiting mentors outside the immediate community may reduce the risk of reinforcing existing norms [9].
• Insufficient follow-up timeline. Twelve months may be too short to capture reductions in violence, especially in complex humanitarian contexts. Although the researchers hoped to do a third round of data collection, resources were unavailable.
• Retention of volunteer mentors. Retaining volunteer mentors is difficult and can negatively impact the sustainability of the intervention.
• Inclusion of boys and men. The exclusion of male community and family members may have hampered program effectiveness in Ethiopia. Given that males perpetrate the majority of sexual violence against adolescent girls, male social norms change is essential.
• Limited behavior change. The intervention focused heavily on attitudinal shifts, which did not consistently translate to behavior modification. 

Lessons learned:

• Early action. By the age of 10, many girls had already experienced violence, suggesting that interventions are needed at an earlier age.
• A financial or livelihoods component may be important, recognizing the potential of income-generating activities. Vocational activities were a key draw for girls’ enrollment in Pakistan and may be helpful for engaging caregivers [5].
• Timelines and outcomes should be adapted to the complexities of humanitarian settings, meeting the needs of an unstable and rapidly changing population.
• Measuring impact on violence. Extending the follow-up period could better capture behavioral shifts that happen over time, while measuring frequency of experiences could help better assess potential violence-related outcomes [9, 3]
• Safe spaces are effective platforms for building trust, disseminating accurate information, and helping girls develop protective skills and confidence when integrated with broader economic and education initiatives.