Browse by Theme: Engaging Men & Boys

In Cambodia, employing women to promote and sell beer in entertainment venues has long been a common way to market beer brands (both regional and international). CARE International in Cambodia sought to address the stigma and safety issues facing women employed to sell beer by working with industry-wide stakeholders to change norms and practices, and achieve long-term impact at several levels.

In late April the MenEngage Alliance facilitated an online discussion to surface some of the more challenging issues around accountability when working with men and boys on women’s rights and gender justice. One of the things that I really appreciated from the dialogue was the focus on potentially negative impacts and men potentially accruing more power.

Remember one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes in recent history? 11 years ago, a Tsunami killed over 230,000 people in Asia and Africa, and devastated large parts of Indonesia, Thailand, India and Sri Lanka. The latter country was in the middle of a bloody civil war, which had lasted almost 30 years. Sri Lanka was not a good place to be, despite the beauty of its landscape and its people. 

50 per cent of DFID’s budget is now allocated to conflict-affected and fragile states. The UK government is also demonstrating a leading role on the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda with ambitious commitments made at the High-Level Review of UNSCR 1325. But is political commitment to WPS stuck at the global level? What is being done to improve the situation for women and girls on the ground?

“Two God’s heads cannot fit in the same pot” says a Rwandan idiom used to justify why women cannot head households. The words we use to describe and talk about gender and violence matter. And yet, when it comes to designing research questionnaires or interventions, the power of language can be forgotten, in our haste to get a programme going. But the potential for real change perhaps lies in the tiny idiosyncrasies of local language, even though it often takes time to uncover such nuances.

When a charity video starts to go viral you know something is up. As part of its contribution to the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, CARE Norway’s Dear Daddy film packs an emotional punch, and makes no apologies for dividing opinions.

As part of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign, youth of all genders from the Balkans to the Great Lakes of Africa are joining together to change their societies. CARE International believes we should build on this momentum to make 2016 the Year of Engaging Men and Boys in stopping gender-based violence - and that reaching young people through education is key.