Resources

This publication provides an overview of a three-day workshop on 'Strengthening partnership with men and boys to promote gender equality and end violence against girls and boys’, organised by Save the Children Sweden-Denmark, Regional Office for South Central Asia on 23-25 March in Kathmandu. Around thirty participants from the region met and shared their practical experiences of and theoretical insights into working with men and boys on issues (masculinities that promote gender equality and non-violence towards children and women). They also developed strategies and concrete action plans for increasing partnership with men/boys to address violence against girls and boys and for promoting gender equality from a child rights based approach.

This 72-page publication by the Interagency Gender Working Group (IGWG), highlights three programmes that have engaged men and boys in efforts to improve reproductive health outcomes for both men and women. Though planned and implemented in different geographic regions within different cultural contexts, these programmes share a number of features. All three evolved and developed during the process of implementation and continue to evolve as they continue to work within their respective communities.

A number of organisations in South and Central Asia have recognised the urgent need to include boys and men in efforts to combat gender-based violence in the region. Yet there have been few opportunities for them to come together to work collectively on this important issue. To begin this process, UNIFEM and Save the Children Sweden, organised a three-day workshop in 2004 on 'Strategies and Tools for Working with Men and Boys to end Violence against Girls, Boys, Women and other Men'.

Raewyn Connell is perhaps the most prominent masculinities theorist in the world. Here, XY brings together over 30 of her key journal articles.

Engaging Men at the Community Level (2008) is a manual to help develop activities at a community level for work related to male engagement and HIV and AIDS. All of the activities in the manual can be used with groups of men and women. This manual is a compilation of many of the activities that Promundo and EngenderHealth have used in “community” settings all over the world including, Brazil, Botswana, Ghana, India, Kenya, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, and Uganda.

In 2009, the Coalition on Men and Boys (UK) published its ground-breaking report ‘Man Made: Men, masculinities and equality in public policy’. The report provides a unique, in-depth picture of the circumstances and needs of men and boys in England and Wales, and the issues they currently face. Focusing on the key themes of work, fatherhood, health, education and violence, ‘Man Made’ analyses how public policy can support and engage with men and boys effectively, and outlines practical proposals for reform.

The key messages from the report are that:

Why include men in gender equality and anti-poverty work? What works with men in practice? What is the impact of including men in gender analysis and action? How should organisations develop work with men?

This collection edited by Sandy Ruxton (Oxfam, 2004) provides a wide-ranging discussion of work with men to build gender equality. The entire book is available below.

This special issue of the journal Critical Half focuses on ‘Engaging Men in “Women’s Issues”: Inclusive approaches to gender and development’. Published in 2007, it includes the following articles:

Involving Men in Gender Practice and Policy / M. Flood.

The promising case stories presented in this report show insights of some powerful program initiatives carried out in Ethiopia, India, Nicaragua, South Africa and Sweden regarding working with boys and young men to end violence against girls and boys. Moreover, the key challenges and difficulties boys and men meet when they want to change their behaviour and attitudes and fight inequalities are also briefly presented in the report.

The Movement of Men Against AIDS In Kenya (MMAAK) is launching a new publication at the forthcoming ICASA in Abuja. "Men can make a difference" is part of MMAAK's important work in challenging men's role in both the spread and prevention of HIV.