The International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie) is an international grant-making NGO promoting evidence-informed development policies and programmes. We are the global leader in funding, producing and synthesising high-quality evidence of what works, how, why and at what cost. We believe that better and policy-relevant evidence will make development more effective and improve people's lives.
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About this report3ie accepted the final version of this report, Voluntary medical male circumcision uptake through soccer in Zimbabwe, in November 2015 as partial fulfilment of requirements under grant TW3.09, issued under Thematic Window 3. The content has been copy edited and formatted for publication by 3ie. All of the content is the sole responsibility of the authors and does not represent the opinions of 3ie, its donors or its Board of Commissioners. Any errors and omissions are also the sole responsibility of the authors. Authors' affiliations listed in the title page are those that were in effect at the time the report was accepted. Any comments or queries should be directed to corresponding author Jeff DeCelles at j.decelles@grassrootsoccer.org.
SummaryMake The Cut Plus (MTC+) is a short, sport-based intervention, delivered by Grassroot Soccer, that aims to increase demand for male circumcision among adolescent male students (aged 15 to 19 years) in secondary schools in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. MTC+ consists of a 60-minute soccer-themed educational session led by a trained 'coach', who was circumcised; information, education, and communication material on male circumcision; referrals and phone-based follow-up to interested participants conducted by the coaches; and soccer-based incentives to participants who completed VMMC. This study's objective was to determine if the MTC+ intervention could substantially and significantly increase demand for VMMC in secondary schools and whether the intervention is an effective, innovative and scalable solution to increasing uptake of VMMC. The study was constructed as a cluster-randomised trial to assess the effectiveness of MTC+. Twenty-six schools in Bulawayo were randomised to receive MTC+ at the start of a four-month trial (intervention) or at the end (control). VMMC uptake over four months was measured via cross-linkage of the trial participant database (n=1,226 male participants aged 14 to 20 years; median age 16.2) and clinic registers of Bulawayo's two free VMMC clinics (n=5,713) from 7 March to 6 July 2014, using eight identifying variables. The trial had more than 80 per cent power to detect an absolute difference of 5 percentage points in VMMC uptake.A process evaluation was conducted to explore perceptions of VMMC, perceptions and...