Sexual assault on University campuses has attracted growing attention in the global North but there is little data available on the scope of the problem in the global South. Preventing sexual assault for University women in the Global South may be one key to keeping them in higher education and promoting gender equity and health. Providing non-judgmental, empathetic training on the origins of sexual assault and resistance strategies for women may also create important ripple effects as they assume leadership positions in their communities. The Enhanced Assess Acknowledge Act (EAAA) intervention provides young women with thoughtful, feminist training on emotional, physical, and verbal strategies to resist sexual assault and coercion, while affirming that sexual assault is never the fault of the victim and only perpetrators are responsible for prevention. It has been shown to reduce completed sexual assault by 50% among female University students in Canada.

A team of researchers at the University of Swaziland and the University of California, San Diego, are conducting the first campus-wide survey of sexual assault ever conducted at a University in sub-Saharan Africa, followed by an adaptation of the EAAA intervention for implementation at the University of Swaziland. The intervention will be pilot tested to establish acceptability, feasibility, and potential.

**Funded by Fordham University RETI**  

RELATED PUBLICATIONS

1. Senn CY, Eliasziw M, Barata PC, Thurston WE, Newby-Clark IR, Radtke HL, Hobden KL, Team SS. Sexual violence in the lives of first-year university women in Canada: no improvements in the 21st century. Bmc Womens Health. 2014;14. doi: 10.1186/s12905-014-0135-4. PubMed PMID: WOS:000345716000002.
2.  Senn CY, Eliasziw M, Barata PC, Thurston WE, Newby-Clark IR, Radtke HL, Hobden KL. Efficacy of a sexual assault resistance program for university women. New England journal of medicine. 2015;372(24):2326-35.