The study was designed as an effectiveness trial aimed to enhance the generalizability of its findings. The intervention was implemented using documentation that will permit it to be replicated in other settings in South Africa. We sought to apply principles of best practice to selection and training of facilitators, but in other respects the implementation of the intervention arms of the study very closely followed normal practice of non-governmental organizations (NGO) such as the Planned Parenthood Association that have used Stepping Stones. Over the years of working with Stepping Stones we have learnt that facilitators are better if they have attitudes that are supportive of gender equity and non-judgemental regarding sexuality. One deviation from usual NGO selection practices is that we assessed these attitudes during the selection process and recruited more open-minded facilitators. However, we were working in an area with predominantly conservative views on gender and so most of the facilitators held views that were considerably more conservative than those of the project investigators. A second difference was that staff were trained for longer than is common practice in most NGOs. The Planned Parenthood Association of South Africa; however, has quite an extensive in-service training element for its staff so our training was ultimately not very different. Supervision of staff was very similar to normal practice for NGOs with which we are familiar. Our staff made ad hoc visits to workshops that were in progress. They observed all facilitators and discussed issues related to workshops; however, there was no attempt to micro-manage the progress of intervention delivery.