Adaptation, feasibility and effectiveness of a community-engaged intervention designed to reduce gender-based violence and increase access to justice for transgender women in Indonesia

Transgender women face disproportionately high levels of gender-based violence (GBV), including intimate partner violence (IPV) and other forms of violence against women (VAW) compared to cisgender women. This disparity is particularly acute in Southeast Asia, where transgender women also encounter low access to GBV prevention and support services. A recent systematic review indicated that there are no evidence-based GBV prevention interventions for transgender women globally. The proposed research aims to reduce GBV and increase access to justice for transgender women in Southeast Asia’s most populated nation, Indonesia, by adapting and employing a community engaged approach to synergistically identify and address gaps in IPV, GBV and legal aid services using an evidence-based GBV screening, brief
intervention and referral to treatment services (SBIRT) tool entitled WINGS – Women Initiating New Goals for Safety integrated with a novel access to justice module. The overall goal of the project is to advance an effective intervention and enhance service linkages for transgender women. To our knowledge, this project represents the first time WINGS has been adapted and evaluated in a Southeast Asian context, and the first
time WINGS or any other evidence-based GBV prevention intervention has focused on transgender women globally. Community-led organizations serving transgender women, including those who trade sex, use drugs, and live with HIV, will receive training to implement the adapted WINGS tool assisted by mobile devices in
Greater Jakarta and Yogyakarta. The digitized WINGS tool allows organizations to conduct GBV surveillance by collecting aggregate data on different types of IPV/GBV, identify women at risk of GBV, and reduce GBV through safety planning, social support and linkage to services. To evaluate the effectiveness of the adapted WINGS intervention, we will employ a waitlist randomized control trial design where two
communities will start the intervention at different time points, allowing us to ethically test intervention effects while providing all participants with appropriate services. Qualitative research will be collected pre intervention to inform adaptation, as well as during implementation to understand multi-level factors that impede or facilitate adoption and sustainability of using a community-engaged approach to deploying
WINGS. To promote a community-coordinated response to reducing IPV/GBV, we will form a Community Action and Accountability Board (CAAB) comprised of service providers, transgender peers and allies. We will also identify and engage with government-based health and social services that transgender women can access
as part of ensuring buy-in from local governments. Study results will be packaged and disseminated via webinars, policy papers, peer-reviewed articles and high-level meetings in Indonesia and globally. The project implementation period is 18 months and total cost is USD $105,530. Please see attached full project proposal with the file name “SVRI 2023 Proposal WINGS Indonesia.”