SASA!

SASA! (Start, Awareness, Support, Action) is a community mobilisation programme implemented by ZACH across 3 districts of Zimbabwe, funded by PEPFAR/CDC through the HPCTS-FCI platform. The programme uses a phased approach to prevent intimate partner violence and reduce HIV risk by shifting the social norms and power imbalances that drive both.

Over its implementation period, SASA! reached 37,043 community members — 48% male and 52% female — through community activists, faith leaders, and health workers trained as change agents. The programme achieved significant results in changing attitudes toward gender-based violence and increasing community members' willingness to intervene when violence occurs.

SASA! operates on the evidence that sustainable change requires engaging entire communities — not just those directly affected by violence. By working through ZACH's trusted network of faith-based health institutions, the programme reaches communities where church and clinic are the anchors of social life, creating an environment where healthy relationships and gender equality are community values, not just health messages.