This issue of The Soul Beat contains programme experiences, strategic thinking documents, and resources that highlight the use of communication to support the involvement of boys and men in initiatives that deal with violence against women, reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, and the role of men as fathers.

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PROGRAMME EXPERIENCES

1. Padare/Enkundleni Men's Forum on Gender - Zimbabwe
In an effort to prevent HIV/AIDS, improve sexual health, and prevent violence against women in Zimbabwe, Padare/Enkundleni Men’s Forum on Gender seeks to encourage men to reexamine notions of masculinity in order to initiate change in their sexual behaviour and in their relationships with women. The organisation holds education programmes in schools and at sports events and convenes groups of men to discuss and challenge prevailing sexual attitudes and behaviour which perpetuate sexual behaviour that contributes towards the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Contact padare@mweb.co.zw OR kmgt@mweb.co.zw OR info@padare.org.zw

2. African Fathers Initiative - Nigeria, South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe
This initiative aims to be a continent-wide institutional base for the generation, collection, and dissemination of knowledge and skills about responsible and involved fatherhood across all races and faiths in Africa. The organisation runs a pan-African website, conducts social marketing, generates publication templates, conducts workshops, and provides support for the formation of in-country chapters of African Fathers who can carry out on-the-ground action and campaigning.
Contact Trevor Davies Contact trevor@africanfathers.org OR Ngunyi Wambugu Contact ngunyi@africanfathers.org

3. One Man Can Campaign - South Africa
This campaign, initiated by Sonke Gender Justice, aims to support men in promoting gender equality, ending domestic and sexual violence, and reducing the spread and impact of HIV/AIDS. The campaign works by providing action sheets and materials that will help men take action in their lives and in their communities to promote healthy relationships based on a commitment to gender equality. The campaign is intended for sports coaches, fathers, interfaith leaders, teachers, and youth.
Contact Dean Peacock dean@genderjustice.org.za OR Bafana Khumalo bafana@genderjustice.org.za

4. African Transformation - Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia
This project aims to promote gender equity, participatory development, and community action by bringing women and men together in a participatory workshop-style setting to explore and discuss how various aspects of gender impact on their health and well-being. This includes discussing harmful and positive social norms and expectations, as well as assumptions around gender roles and responsibilities. The project involves a series of profiles in print, audio, and video formats of men, women, and couples who have overcome gender barriers and, by doing so, became role models. These profiles are presented in workshops with the help of a facilitators guide.
Contact Jane Brown jbrown@jhuccp.org

5. "Permanent Smile" Vasectomy Campaign - Ghana
In 2003, the Ghana Health Service and EngenderHealth initiated a project to introduce and expand vasectomy services in a range of public- and private-sector health facilities in metropolitan Accra and Kumasi. Seven providers were trained in no-scalpel vasectomy (NSV), and staff at 7 sites were trained to give information on vasectomy and to offer male-friendly services. The goal was to increase their ability to work with men and to increase their comfort level in doing so. To spark demand for vasectomy, a communication initiative was designed to serve as a catalyst for men considering vasectomy to take the final step by accessing services, as well as to raise awareness of vasectomy as a contraceptive option. Project activities included a media campaign, community outreach by clinic staff, use of satisfied clients as spokespersons in the community, and a telephone hotline.
Contact Nicole Rajani nrajani@engenderhealth.org OR info@acquireproject.org

6. Fatherhood Project - South Africa
Led by the Child, Youth, Family and Social Development research programme at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), this project works to support the involvement of men in caring for children. Based in Durban, South Africa, the project aims to recognise, encourage, and support men's care and protection of children by stimulating debate and discussion, as well as by portraying positive images of fatherhood through photography and other media.
Contact J Ngunyi Wambugu jwambugu@hsrc.ac.za

EVALUATION

7. Engaging Men and Boys in Changing Gender-Based Inequity in Health: Evidence from Programme Interventions

This review assesses the effectiveness of programmes seeking to engage men and boys in achieving gender equality and equity in health. The review analysed data from 58 evaluation studies of interventions with men and boys. Interventions were rated on their gender approach, using the following categories: gender-neutral - programmes that distinguish little between the needs of men and women, neither reinforcing nor questioning gender roles; gender-sensitive - programmes that recognise the specific needs and realities of men based on the social construction of gender roles; or gender-transformative - approaches that seek to transform gender roles and promote more gender-equitable relationships between men and women.

STRATEGIC THINKING

8. Engaging Men and Boys To Achieve Gender Equality: How Can We Build on What We Have Learned?

This summary document discusses the proceedings of a seminar held May 29 2007 in Washington, DC, United States (US), to discuss the importance of working with men and boys to promote healthy lifestyles among women and men, learn about what is happening in the field with this approach, and develop a consensus on how to move forward. A presentation from the Stepping Stones project in South Africa, which uses participatory learning to build more gender-equitable relationships between men and women, showed that, due the project, both men and women reported increased condom use, less transactional sex, less substance abuse, and greater communications among couples.

9. Working with Young Men to Promote Sexual and Reproductive Health
by Kim Rivers and Peter Aggleton
This report explores the issue of young men's sexual health in developing countries. According to the authors, work involving young men and sexuality has been largely neglected. Research conducted by the Safe Passages to Adulthood programme on three different continents produced many of the same conclusions. Similar cultural attitudes often lead women to submit to men which leads to unprotected sex. Often men trying to be "manly" are pushed to be fearless and take risks. According to the findings, men are also more inclined to have several sexual partners and to use drugs. The report also describes men's behaviour and attitudes regarding their own sexual health and how it affects the health of their partners.

10. Working With Men, Responding to AIDS: Gender, Sexuality and HIV - a Case Study Collection
The International HIV/AIDS Alliance produced this collection of 13 case studies in an effort to help education and prevention programmes conduct work with men on HIV/AIDS related issues. It presents experiences and lessons from a range of different projects which are working with men. This collection, which includes case studies from Botswana, Morocco, South Africa, and Zambia, hopes to offer inspiration, ideas, and models for working with men in different cultural environments. The case studies describe not only HIV/AIDS projects that are working with men, but also other kinds of projects that address other issues and problems relating to men such as gender identity, sexuality, and violence.

11. Three Case Studies: Involving Men to Address Gender Inequities
This publication, published by the Interagency Gender Working Group (IGWG), highlights 3 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 evolved and developed during the process of implementation and continue to evolve as they continue to work within their respective communities. All include a sequence of ideas and activities that draw participants into the change process. All require facilitators of the community process to also be participants and to acknowledge, face, and resolve their individual challenges related to the programme. These are participatory processes that involve communities as leaders and participants at the same time - bringing out linkages between individual behaviour and community norms.

12. Young Men and the Construction of Masculinity in Sub-Saharan Africa: Implications for HIV/AIDS, Conflict, and Violence
by Gary Barker and Christine Ricardo
This working paper from the World Bank examines the role of gender for young men in Africa, particularly as it relates to HIV/AIDS, conflict, and violence. According to the paper, gender is increasingly used as an analytical framework in programme and policy development related to youth. In most such analyses, gender refers specifically and often exclusively to the disadvantages that women and girls face. The authors state that a gender perspective and mainstream conceptualisation of gender have too often ignored the role of gender in the lives of men and boys. According to the authors, 2 of the most pressing social issues in Africa - conflict and post-conflict recovery, and HIV/AIDS - are directly related to how masculinities are socially constructed. The aim of this paper is to explore what a gender perspective means, as applied to young men in Africa, when focusing on conflict, violence, and HIV/AIDS. It explores the construction of manhood in Africa and argues for the application of a more sophisticated gender analysis that also includes men and boys.

13. Men's Talk about "Women's Matters": Gender, Communication, and Contraception in Urban Mozambique
by Victor Agadjanian
This study investigates the role of men in reproductive and contraceptive changes in urban Mozambique by analysing man-to-man communication on family planning issues. According to the author, the literature on issues related to family planning in sub-Saharan Africa does indeed recognise male partners' opinions and choices as an important factor in shaping couple's reproductive and contraceptive practices. However, the author states that previous research has rarely investigated the precise mechanisms in which the opinions and attitudes of men on these issues are formed. This study indicates that the role of man-to-man informal social interaction, especially verbal communication, is crucial in forming men's family planning-related knowledge, attitudes, and preferences.

MATERIALS

14. Men: Telling it Like it is - Volume 1 [DVD]
EngenderHealth/Men as Partners produced this educational tool which focuses on "redefining masculinity" in the era of gender-based violence, HIV, and AIDS. The 10-minute DVD, the first in the series called "Men: Telling it Like it is...", follows 3 characters who take the audience through their experiences with HIV and what it means to "be a man" in a democratic South Africa. The characters highlight key HIV prevention messages related to getting tested for HIV, choosing abstinence, and confronting sexual harassment.

15. Men As Partners: A Program for Supplementing the Training of Life Skills Educators
by Andrew Levack
Published by EngenderHealth and Planned Parenthood Association of South Africa (PPASA), this manual was produced to be used within EngenderHealth's Men As Partners (MAP) programme, a global initiative designed to work with men on reproductive health issues within a gender framework. PPASA and MAP facilitators use the manual to lead workshops with groups of men and mixed-gender groups. The manual begins with an overview of the MAP programme and philosophy, and offers tips for designing a training programme. It then provides training activities and exercises as well as information on various health issues such as gender and sexuality, male and female sexual health, and HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections. The final sections examine violence, awareness of sexual violence, and domestic violence.

16. Working with Men for HIV Prevention and Care
According to this publication, engaging men as partners is a critical component in AIDS prevention. This document was produced in order to help those working with men, specifically in the field of HIV prevention, and more broadly in the areas of improved sexual and reproductive health. The 12 projects covered here were selected because they represented a diverse range of interventions with men. The document assumes that an analysis of the strategies and lessons learned would provide insights into men's needs associated with HIV/AIDS and their general health, and effective approaches for working with men.

17. Baba: Men and Fatherhood in South Africa
by Linda Richter and Robert Morrell (eds.)
In this book, authors from a range of backgrounds and disciplines explore the centrality of fatherhood in the lives of men and in the experiences of children. The book aims to provide answers to some of the most difficult questions about fatherhood in South Africa: Who is a father? What does it mean to be a father? Is it important for fathers to do more for children in a world that assumes that mothers take the primary parenting role? Do different people understand fatherhood in different ways? What evidence is there of new fatherhood styles emerging in South Africa?

18. SysteMALEtizing: Resources for Engaging Men in Sexual and Reproductive Health
This document lays out key resources for working with men on issues related to sexual and reproductive health. It provides programme reviews, case studies, evaluations, policy examples, and tools for each of 5 substantive areas: family planning/contraception; maternal and neonatal health and fatherhood; male identities and roles; sexually transmitted infection (STI) and HIV/AIDS prevention, diagnosis, and treatment; and gender-based violence.

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