Understanding school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV) in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review of prevalence, drivers, and reported intervention strategies

BACKGROUND: School-related gender-based violence (SRGBV) is a major obstacle to inclusive, safe, and equitable education in sub-Saharan Africa. It undermines students' physical and mental health, academic performance, and overall development. Despite its widespread impact, consolidated evidence on SRGBV's prevalence, drivers, and effective interventions remains limited. This systematic review addresses that gap by examining existing research across sub-Saharan Africa contexts. METHODS: A systematic search was conducted across JSTOR, WorldCat, PsycINFO, Web of Science, ERIC, and PubMed. Additional records were retrieved from Google Scholar, ProQuest, and Dimension AI to capture both published and grey literature. All 30 studies that met the eligibility criteria were critically appraised for methodological quality. RESULTS: SRGBV prevalence ranged from 46.6% to 75%. Sexual violence (7-37.2%), physical violence (22.8-75%), and emotional or psychological abuse (34.8-53%) were frequently reported. Identified drivers spanned individual (peer pressure, poor academic performance), family (broken homes, poverty, lack of parental support), institutional (teacher misconduct, poor policy enforcement), and societal (gender norms, cultural stigma, governance failures) levels. Interventions included school policy reforms, capacity-building for staff and students, legal protections, community involvement, and survivor support services. CONCLUSION: SRGBV remains a significant challenge across educational settings represented in this review, driven by interconnected familial, institutional, and socio-cultural factors. Included studies, largely concentrated in a few sub-Saharan African countries, reported diverse intervention strategies, including policy reforms, staff training, student-centred initiatives, legal protections, and community engagement. However, this review identifies and describes reported strategies rather than evaluating their effectiveness. Consequently, rigorous evaluation studies across diverse contexts are needed to determine the effectiveness, sustainability, and contextual suitability of interventions to inform evidence-based policy and practice.