Credit: stock.adobe.com / Riccardo Niels Mayer
Furaha Adolescent Implementation Research (FAIR) Study
Principal investigator: Professor Jamie M. Lachman
Co-principal investigator: Dr Joyce Wamoyi, National Institute for Medical Research, Tanzania
Funded by: The Evaluation Fund
Start date: March 2020
End date: January 2021
Project outline
Overview
The Furaha Adolescent Implementation Research (FAIR) Study examined the large-scale delivery of Furaha Teens, a Parenting for Lifelong Health for Teens programme implemented in Tanzania.
The study analysed data from more than 27,000 caregiver-adolescent dyads to understand how an evidence-based parenting programme performed when delivered through routine services at scale.
Furaha Teens is a group-based parenting intervention designed to strengthen caregiver-adolescent relationships, improve supervision and communication, and reduce violence against children. FAIR examined programme quality, acceptability, costs and outcomes during large-scale implementation through Tanzania's Kizazi Kipya Project.
Significance
Evidence-based parenting programmes are increasingly being scaled up in low- and middle-income countries, but there is still limited evidence on how well they work outside trial conditions.
FAIR addressed this gap by examining large-scale implementation of Furaha Teens within Tanzania’s USAID-funded Kizazi Kipya Project. The study asked whether a parenting programme could remain feasible, acceptable and effective when delivered to very large numbers of families through real-world delivery systems.
Implementation
The FAIR study analysed data from more than 27,000 caregiver-adolescent dyads participating in Furaha Teens across eight districts in Tanzania.
The study used observational assessments of facilitator delivery, large-scale family-level pre-post surveys, in-depth interviews, focus groups and stakeholder meetings. It examined implementation quality, fidelity, acceptability, feasibility, participant outcomes and delivery costs.
Findings
FAIR generated rare evidence on the large-scale delivery of an evidence-based parenting programme in Tanzania.
The study found reductions in child maltreatment reported by both caregivers and adolescents, alongside improvements in family wellbeing. These included reductions in parenting stress, depression, financial insecurity and school-based violence, as well as improved parent-adolescent communication about sexual health.
Beyond participant outcomes, FAIR contributed important implementation evidence. The study examined programme fidelity, acceptability, cultural appropriateness and delivery quality at scale, helping to identify the conditions that support effective implementation through routine service systems.
site:
- Martin, M., Lachman, J., Wamoyi, J., Shenderovich, Y., Wambura, M., Mgunga, S., and colleagues. (2021). A mixed methods evaluation of the large-scale implementation of a school- and community-based parenting program to reduce violence against children in Tanzania: A study protocol. Implementation Science Communications, 2, 52.
- Lachman, J., Wamoyi, J., Martin, M., Han, Q., Alfaro, F. A. C., Mgunga, S., Ndyetabura, E., Manjengenja, N., and colleagues. (2024). Reducing family and school-based violence at scale: A large-scale pre-post study of a parenting programme delivered to families with adolescent girls in Tanzania. BMJ Global Health, 9, e015472.
- Martin, M., Lachman, J. M., Calderon, F., Han, Q., Shenderovich, Y., Ndyetabura, E., and colleagues. (2025). Scaling a parenting program to reduce child maltreatment in Tanzania: The role of facilitator fidelity in adolescent and parent outcomes. Child Protection and Practice, 5, 100161.
- Wamoyi, J., Martin, M., Shenderovich, Y., Mgunga, S., Manjengenja, N., Ndyetabura, E., and Lachman, J. M. (2025). Acceptability and cultural appropriateness of a parenting programme to reduce violence against adolescents in Tanzania delivered at scale: Implications for scale-up. Global Public Health, 20(1), 2483882.