Engaging Men and Boys

Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment Program III (GEWEP III) Midterm Study GLOBAL SYNTHESIS REPORT (PROMEESS III)

Across six countries, this study examines the effect of a men’s and boys’ engagement intervention—aiming to change men’s and boys’ attitudes and behaviors around gender equality, women’s empowerment, and positive masculinities; including participants’ own masculine identity—and the state of civil society’s rights and protections, tracing improvement and erosion since 2020. Importantly, this is not an evaluation, rather this is a midterm study that comes alongside the Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment Program III (GEWEP) implemented by CARE International. Instead of evaluating this program, this study focuses narrowly on the attitudinal and behavioral impact of this model intervention for engaging men and boys. GEWEP also sought to contribute to the civil society space, and thus we conclude this study with a discussion of the unique experiences of women’s rights and women-led organizations that did and did not partner with GEWEP teams.
To generate this global report, the Research Team both drew on the six country reports which accompany this study and engaged in entirely new analyses. Analysis for this global report pooled data from all six countries, while using analytical techniques to identify where any one country unduly influenced findings at the global level. To strike this balance between common tendencies across countries, and differences between countries, this study takes care to identify and report country-specific results alongside global findings. This is especially true where we identified countries as unique outliers.
For the section on men’s engagement, the Research Team leveraged an experimental design, advanced statistical methods, and multiple sources and types of data, including a multi-country survey with 3,226 respondents, to investigate the relationship between men’s engagement, including their level of engagement (“treatment saturation”), in program activities and associated changes in their attitudes and behaviors towards women and girls, gender equality, violence against women and girls, and masculinity. Across six countries—Afghanistan, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Mali, Niger, and Rwanda—the Research Team explores common factors that influence treatment effect, positively and negatively.
Donor: NORAD Read More...

LEFTEMAP SISTA II: PROMOTING WOMEN’S ECONOMIC JUSTICE AND ENDING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS IN VANUATU

The Leftemap Sista II (LS2) project has been implemented by CARE Vanuatu since 2017 with funding from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) Australia NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP). The project purpose is “to support women, young women and girls, including those with disability, in rural and remote areas of Vanuatu to realise their rights to live free from violence, have increased economic opportunity and capacity to participate meaningfully in decisions that affect their lives in peace time and disaster.”1 CARE International in Vanuatu (CARE Vanuatu) commissioned a formative evaluation of the project in November 2021. The formative evaluation was required to assess progress against project outcomes for promoting women’s economic empowerment and reducing tolerance of VAWG and to produce actionable recommendations to inform the design of follow-on programming in line with the CARE Australia ANCP Design Framework.

The LS2 project has been implemented in Tafea - the southern-most province of Vanuatu – in 11 communities on the islands of Tanna and Futuna. The Tafea islands are characterised by their geographical isolation, environmental vulnerabilities, including a high risk of natural and geological hazards as well as slow onset hazards such as drought, strongly traditional culture, and limited service delivery by national government across all sectors – especially on the outer islands. Since the project Mid-Term Review in 2019, the LS2 project has been implemented to deliver two long-term outcomes, focussed on:
Outcome 1 – Women, young women and girls in Women’s Economic Livelihoods (WEL) groups in Tafea have increased access to and control over decision-making on economic resources at the household level.
Outcome 2 – Reduced tolerance of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) and better access to services for survivors. Read More...

Young Men’s Initiative (YMI) Impact Study Research

Since 2006, a coalition of local, regional, and international organizations has been promoting positive masculine identities under the banner of the Young Men Initiative (YMI). YMI is a regional program built upon CARE’s comprehensive and programmatic effort to fight interpersonal and gender based violence (GBV), as well as improve gender equality in the region and address preventative measures related to youth extremism and violence. The program is being implemented in municipalities and high schools in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Croatia, Kosovo*1, and Serbia. The heart of YMI is “Program Y” (youth), which focuses on transforming the school environment into one that promotes gender equality and a culture of non-violence. The core of Program Y’s intervention is a series of group educational workshops accompanied by social norms campaigns that promote a
critical and personal reflection on gender, masculinities, and health, with a strong focus on violence prevention. The objective of the impact study is to discover the changes that occurred in implementation sites in terms of the
perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors of young people in the period from 2014 until 2020 in key program areas: (1) gender attitudes; (2) violence prevention; (3) sexual and reproductive health; (4) alcohol and drug abuse; and (5) the prevention of sexual violence, as a result of the direct engagement of CARE and its partners. The study also aims to identify which methods and approaches Read More...

Promoting Healthier Lifestyles among Youth in Bosnia and Herzegovina by Challenging Gender Stereotypes – Young Men Initiative Project II (YMI) External Evaluation

Young Men Initiative – “Promoting Healthier Lifestyles among Youth in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) by Challenging Gender Stereotypes II project’s overall goal is to increase the uptake of healthy, nonviolent and gender equitable lifestyles among young men and women in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Young Men Initiative II (YMI II) project builds upon CARE´s comprehensive and programmatic effort to fight interpersonal and gender based violence (GBV) as well as to improve gender equality in Bosnia and Herzegovina and address preventative issues related to youth extremism and violence. This project aims at scaling up and mainstreaming earlier achievements related to the implementation of the Gender Transformative Life Skills program, or short Program Y, via targeted advocacy and a close cooperation with relevant stakeholder through the support of movement/coalition building through the development of new alliances that engage parents and citizens in supporting gender equality focused life skills education program. Through a comprehensive analysis both of the project documentation and the information provided the individual interviews with over 20 project participants, this evaluation drew a set of conclusions, both from the perspective of best practices and key challenges, which consequently led to a set of recommendations for CARE International Balkans on how to continue making this important social change [31 pages]. Read More...

Covid-19 Digital Response Case Study

The case study captures and documents the process of YMI’s adaptation to the COVID-19 pandemic during the period March-July 2020 in countries in the Balkans (Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Albania, Croatia) and represents a unique contribution and source for other organizations that are going through the same process of adaptation [38 pages]. Read More...

MEN AND BOYS AS PARTNERS IN PROMOTING GENDER EQUALITY AND PREVENTION OF YOUTH EXTREMISM AND VIOLENCE IN THE BALKANS

The Men and Boys as Partners in Promoting Gender Equality and Prevention of Youth Extremism and Violence in the Balkans or the Young Men’s Initiative II (YMI II) project is a follow-up to CARE’s comprehensive and programmatic effort to fight interpersonal and gender-based violence (GBV), as well as to improve gender equality in the region and address preventative issues related to youth extremism and violence.

The Endline Assessment was carried out to contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the overall project progress, focusing on changes in knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors related to gender-based violence, gender equality, healthy lifestyles amongst young men and young women from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania and Kosovo* who participated in ‘Program Y’ in target schools in the period 2018-2020. The endline assessment examined the effects of project activities on: views regarding gender relations; health of young men and women, including mental health, use of psychoactive substances; knowledge about sexual reproductive health; experience of young people who suffered and perpetrated violence. Read More...

PROMOTING HEALTHIER LIFESTYLES AMONG YOUTH IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA BY CHALLENGING GENDER STEREOTYPES II – YOUNG MEN INITIATIVE PROJECT II (YMI II)

Young Men Initiative – Promoting Healthier Lifestyles among Youth in Bosnia and Herzegovina by Challenging Gender Stereotypes II or Young Men Initiative II (YMI II) project builds upon CARE´s comprehensive and programmatic effort to fight interpersonal and gender-based violence (GBV) as well as to improve gender equality in Bosnia and Herzegovina and address preventative issues related to youth extremism and violence. The project’s overall goal was to increase the uptake of healthy, nonviolent and gender-equitable lifestyles among young men and young women in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The endline survey is carried out to contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the overall project progress focusing on changes in knowledge, attitudes and behaviors related to gender-based violence, gender equality, healthy lifestyles among young men and young women from Bosnia and Herzegovina who were participating in the ‘Program Y’ in target schools in the period from 2018-2020. It assessed whether there were differences in attitudes, knowledge and behavior of young men and young women before and after the completion of the project activities in high schools. The endline survey examined the effects of project activities on the following spheres: views regarding gender relations; health of young men and young women, including mental health and the use of psychoactive substances; knowledge about sexual and reproductive health; experience of youngsters with suffered and perpetrated violence.
The project is organized and supported by CARE International, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the Oak Foundation. It was implemented with the cooperation of local youth and non-governmental organizations: Association “XY” (Sarajevo), Perpetuum mobile – Institute for Youth and Community Development (Banja Luka), NGO “Youth Power” (Mostar) and youth NGOs: Forum Theatre (East Sarajevo), New Vision, (Novi Travnik), Otaharin (Bijeljina), Zemlja djece u BiH (Tuzla), Proni (Brčko), Youth Club “Pod istim suncem” (Jablanica).
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