Rwanda has seen impressive advances in integrating gender equality and fighting gender-based violence in recent years. This has included a body of laws, policies and strategic plans which constitute a strong institutional framework through which to address the issue. To understand the national policy context for adolescent health, psychosocial well-being and bodily integrity, we used a policy and legal analysis (PLA) framework to examine the country’s national policy against gender-based violence.

This note provides a brief summary of our research findings. We draw some conclusions on the usefulness of PLA for understanding the politics and complexities of policy and legal change, and reflect on how this approach can support research programme and programming more broadly.