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Leadership: Michele R. Decker, Nancy Glass, Shannon Wood, Salma Tayel 

Focus Area: Eliminate Gender-Based Violence 

myPlan Kenya is an evidence-based safety planning tool for women at risk of intimate partner violence (IPV).  is an evidence-based, secure, private and personalized app designed to address IPV-related decision-making, safety planning, and resource connection, developed by the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. In 2019, myPlan was  in Nairobi, Kenya through extensive, community-partnered formative work, resulting in the myPlanKenya web-based tool. Our randomized control  showed that myPlanKenya was effective in improving safety preparedness, resilience and other violence outcomes among young women at risk for IPV. The team’s current work focuses on dissemination, implementation and institutionalization of the tool through formal sectors and informal networks in Nairobi to enhance IPV prevention and response. 

This project is implemented in partnership with the , , and   

With support from: IDEAS42; National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (1R01HD099144; Decker) 

Leadership: Michele R. Decker, Shannon Wood, Salma Tayel, Anaise Williams 

Focus Areas: Eliminate Gender-Based Violence, Reset Gendered Power Dynamics

Agile 2.0 extends the PMA Agile data platform to examine gender equity including gender-based violence (GBV), with a focus on actionable metrics and translation to diverse audiences. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Nairobi Youth Cohort established by PMA Agile added a Gender/COVID module, a remote study among young men and women in Nairobi, Kenya which found gender disparities and gendered power dynamics across social, economic, safety, and health. 

Agile 2.0 addresses emergent and understudied GBV topics not yet embedded in existing data systems (sexual harassment, cyber abuse, economic abuse), critical metrics for monitoring progress on GBV prevention and response (stigma, help-seeking barriers, and access to justice), and the normative environment.  Strategic knowledge-sharing spans community-partnered, peer-to-peer methods to advance data literacy, and policy engagement across national and sub-national levels. Our innovative in-country scholars' model is building local capacity through intensive mentoring, skills application, and coursework, to strengthen the talent pipeline.  Agile 2.0 is implemented in Kenya in partnership with the  and  

This innovative work was made possible through the synergistic impact of multiple investments (,  with support from: Gates Foundation (INV-046501; PI Decker). 

Leadership: Nancy Glass, Michele R. Decker 

Focus Areas: Eliminate Gender-Based Violence, Reset Gendered Power Dynamics

Johns Hopkins is a core Research Consortium partner of the What Works to Prevent Violence - Impact at Scale Programme.  This seven-year global initiative implements, scales, and evaluates effective and innovative interventions to stop violence against women and girls, with support from the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).  The Research and Evaluation Consortium is led by the , and delivers impact evaluations and operational research to identify what works in preventing violence, in coordination with the Implementation Consortium led by the . In collaboration with grantee implementation partners and local research collaborators, our applied research includes systematic reviews, prevalence studies, and evaluation research for scaling evidence-based interventions, and the next generation of innovative programming in what works to prevent violence against women.  .

With support from: UK’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) 

Publications

• Williams, A., Wamue-Ngare, G., Malelu-Gitau, A., Heise, L., Glass, N., Edeh, C., Aiura, Y., Gitahi, T., Rakuomi, J., & Decker, M. R. (2025). . BMJ global health, 10(4), e016851. 
   

Leadership: Shannon Wood, Charvonne Holliday Nworu 

Focus Areas: Eliminate Gender-Based Violence, Reset Gendered Power Dynamics

Reproductive coercion (RC) is a type of abuse where a partner intends to prevent or promote pregnancy through tactics including coercion, deception, and physical violence with profound implications for sexual and reproductive health. Our research addresses social determinants of RC victimization and perpetration in the U.S. and low-and-middle-income countries, and the necessary measurement optimization. We produced the first cross-site prevalence estimates of RC in sub-Saharan Africa and found substantial variation across settings (3-20%). Longitudinal analyses examine RC’s role in prompting contraceptive non-use among woman in need of contraception, increasing their risk for unintended pregnancy and maternal mortality. Increasingly, our research examines men’s RC motivations, perceptions, and measures. 

With support from National Institutes of Health, Gates Foundation, and the Bloomberg American Health Initiative. 

Publications

• Holliday, C. N., Miller, E., Decker, M. R., Burke, J. G., Documet, P. I., Borrero, S. B., Silverman, J. G., Tancredi, D. J., Ricci, E., & McCauley, H. L. (2018). . Women's health issues : official publication of the Jacobs Institute of Women's Health, 28(3), 205–211. 
   
• Wood, S. N., Thomas, H. L., Guiella, G., Bazié, F., Mosso, R., Fassassi, R., Akilimali, P. Z., Thiongo, M., Gichangi, P., Oumarou, S., OlaOlorun, F. M., Omoluabi, E., Khanna, A., Kibira, S. P. S., Makumbi, F., & Decker, M. R. (2023). . Reproductive health, 20(1), 22. 

Leadership: Anaise Williams 

Focus Areas: Eliminate Gender-Based Violence, Reset Gendered Power Dynamics

Women’s economic power is a global development priority with diverse benefits, and is considered a strategy to advance the interwoven goals of reducing gender-based violence (GBV) and improving overall health and wellbeing - yet the relationship has proven variable. Our research addresses these complexities.  

During the COVID-19 pandemic, this work documented gender disparities in time use among youth: young men’s time was occupied with income generation while young women bore the brunt of household tasks and caregiving, exemplifying the concept of “gendered time poverty.”

Our secondary analysis of the Demographic and Health Surveys examines the underlying economic normative environment and its impact on the interplay of women’s economic participation on violence risk. We introduce the concept of “vanguard” women’s economic power to characterize individual economic participation that is non-normative at the community level – and found evidence of partner backlash in the form of intimate partner violence among vanguard women, i.e., those whose behavior contradicted the economic norms of the local context.  

Our 2025 systematic review of microfinance programming and GBV highlights some promise of microfinance reducing GBV, though identifies overall mixed results with majority null effects across programs globally. The work pinpoints key action steps for programming and future research on the impacts of economic empowerment on GBV across settings and populations.  

With support from NIH (T32-HDO64428), Gates Foundation, and UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) via the What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls Programme.  

Publications

• Williams, A., Wamue-Ngare, G., Malelu-Gitau, A., Heise, L., Glass, N., Edeh, C., Aiura, Y., Gitahi, T., Rakuomi, J., & Decker, M. R. (2025). . BMJ global health, 10(4), e016851. 
   
• Williams, A., Stuart, C., Perrin, N., Heise, L., Anglewicz, P., & Decker, M. R. (2025).  World development, 186, 106846. 
   
• Williams, A., Heise, L., Perrin, N., Stuart, C., & Decker, M. R. (2024). Global health research and policy, 9(1), 53. 

Leadership: Rosemary Morgan, Anju Malhotra

Focus Area: Strengthen Health Systems for Gender Equity

The Monitoring and Action for Gender and Equity (MAGE) project is a partnership between JHU and the Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents (GFF), a multi-stakeholder partnership housed at the World Bank that is committed to ensuring women, adolescents, and children can survive and thrive.

MAGE advances the capacity and execution of gender- and equity-intentional monitoring and evaluation and data use to improve gender equality and Reproductive Maternal, Newborn, Children, and Adolescent Health and Nutrition (RMNCAH-N) outcomes for women, children, and adolescents in GFF partner countries.

Leadership: Anna Kalbarczyk

Focus Areas: Reset Gendered Power Dynamics, Strengthen Health Systems for Gender Equity

The EDGE initiative enhances women's access to resources, tools, and skills, that ultimately can be leveraged to affect organizational change. EDGE is an intersectional initiative which welcomes women, non-binary people, and men who are feminist leaders and increases their awareness of the ecology of global health structures and institutions.

Leadership: Anita Sankar

Focus Areas: Reset Gendered Power Dynamics, Strengthen Health Systems for Gender Equity

Self-Empowerment and Equity for Change (SEE Change), funded in part by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), is an initiative that conducts international gender-informed research, evidence-based training, and support services that help entrepreneurs and employees build positive mental habits, realize their leadership potential, and achieve their personal and professional goals. SEE Change is housed in the Department of International Health at the Johns ��ѻ��ý.

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Leadership:  Paté Mahoney, Kristin Bevilacqua, Charvonne Holliday Nworu and Michele R. Decker 

Focus Area: Eliminate Gender-Based Violence

Creating protective environments for sexual violence prevention is an emergent strategy, yet despite interest and enthusiasm, best practices lag behind. This initiative responds with pilot tools and initial evidence on how to approach environmental and situational prevention for sexual violence, with a focus on college campuses, and developed in close partnership with , the  and sexual violence (SV) preventionists from Maryland colleges. 

With support from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (1U01CD003208; Decker) 

Publications

• Mahoney, P, LaCure M, Erdice S, & Decker MR. . Baltimore, Maryland: MCASA and Johns ��ѻ��ý.

   

Leadership: Charvonne Holliday Nworu  

Focus Area: Eliminate Gender-Based Violence

Addressing IPV perpetration among men targets the root causes of violence and enhances safety for all. Our approaches include developing a  for abusive partners in the U.S., understanding the influence of social networking in fostering IPV and general desistance, refining and evaluating a social-determinants-focused abuse intervention program for urban men, and optimizing measurement specific to gender-based violence perpetration.  

Our team is partnering with House of Ruth Maryland (HRM) to expand their existing hotline for IPV survivors to also serve individuals at risk of causing harm to an intimate partner. “Interrupting Intimate Partner Violence: Crisis Line Services for Men at Risk of Causing Harm” is a high-impact practice project funded by the Bloomberg American Health Initiative at the Johns ��ѻ��ý. It is currently the only 24-hour hotline of its kind in the U.S. While crisis services help mitigate suicide and self-harm, IPV crisis response for those at risk of causing harm remains limited. 

Dr. Holliday Nworu leads the formative evaluation of this innovative practice project. This work includes developing the theory of change and protocol development, conducting research and analysis to assess the feasibility and acceptability of the crisis support expansion, and providing technical assistance regarding training and implementation. We aim to establish best practices for engaging people who use violence via our existing crisis support infrastructure. By addressing a critical gap in IPV intervention, this project helps reimagine crisis response to proactively engage those who use IPV, ultimately reducing harm. If successful, this model could be replicated elsewhere to advance IPV intervention. 

With support from: Bloomberg American Health Initiative, National Institutes of Health’s Office of Research on Women’s Health via the Building Interdisciplinary Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH) and the Urban Health Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. 

Publications

• Holliday, C. N., Morse, S. M., Irvin, N. A., Green-Manning, A., Nitsch, L. M., Burke, J. G., Campbell, J. C., & Decker, M. R. (2019). Journal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, 96(1), 97–111. 
   
• Murphy, C. M., Richards, T. N., Nitsch, L. J., Green-Manning, A., Brokmeier, A. M., LaMotte, A. D., & Holliday, C. N. (2021). . Psychology of Violence, 11(6), 509–518.  

Leadership:  Kristin Bevilacqua, Charvonne Holliday Nworu, Paté Mahoney, Michele R. Decker 

Focus Areas: Eliminate Gender-Based Violence, Reset Gendered Power Dynamics

Safe housing is a longstanding priority for the estimated one in three women who experience intimate partner violence in their lifetimes. Housing instability and intimate partner violence are linked via mutually reinforcing pathways that can escalate and create significant harm.  In partnership with  and a network of advocates, our team is advancing the evidence base on housing as prevention for domestic violence though evaluating the impact of leading forms of housing supports on the safety of domestic violence survivors and understanding and improving the systems in which they operate to better serve domestic violence survivors. Key learnings demonstrate the impact of rapid re-housing and transitional housing on improving women’s safety and housing stability, while reducing economic dependence on abusive partners, and food and housing insecurity.  Research focused on the pathways by which improvements were achieved highlights housing as a potent reset of power dynamics with harmful partners.    

With support from National Institutes of Justice (NIJ 2018-ZD-CX-0002; Decker), Bloomberg American Health Initiative.  

Publications

• Decker, M. R., Grace, K. T., Holliday, C. N., Bevilacqua, K. G., Kaur, A., & Miller, J. (2022). . American journal of public health, 112(6), 865–870. 
   
• Holliday, C. N., Bevilacqua, K., Grace, K. T., Denhard, L., Kaur, A., Miller, J., & Decker, M. R. (2021). . International journal of environmental research and public health, 18(8), 4177. 
   
• Bevilacqua, K.G., Holliday Nworu, C., Miller, J. et al. . J Fam Viol (2025).