Browse by Theme: Engaging Men & Boys

20 years after the Beijing conference the incidence of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) remains outrageously high with one in three women in the world condemned to experience physical or sexual violence in her lifetime. Nevertheless we should recognise and celebrate the progress that has been made, and highlight initiatives that are making a difference.

When I arrived in Yasubi, a small and industrious village in the Okapa district of the Papua New Guinea highlands, I could see that most of the services we normally take for granted – like electricity, running water, accessible roads – were absent. Most of the hard-working, coffee-producing families live in traditional round huts, with smoke from a wood fire rising through the grass roof so that, from outside, the structure looks like some huge vegetable just pulled out of a pot of hot water.

Goal 16 in the Sustainable Development Goals is one of the poor relations in the mix. Both more complex and contentious than many of the proposed 17, it seeks to secure peaceful and open societies as a global target, and is vital. However, to be truly transformational, and to have a chance of surviving the negotiations in 2015, gender has to be a core part of its formulation.

From 25 November to 10 December #16DaysofActivism, CARE country offices around the world will be joining with their partners and communities to raise voices to challenge gender-based violence. In a number of countries, men will be both a target group for activism – and activists themselves, helping to challenge the attitudes and norms that keep violence recurring.

After the global summit on sexual violence ended, CARE International UK’s conflict policy team set ourselves the task of making sure the interesting ideas we heard did not stop there. Over the next few months we will be scoping out plans for a regional campaign in the Great Lakes of Africa on changing male attitudes to women and sexual violence through the school curricula in each country as part of our focus on protecting and empowering women in conflict. Suggestions of reading or contacts and any tips very welcome.

On arrival in Rwanda I was struck by a small but significant detail. There on a notice board advising people on the usual emergency services contact numbers was one for gender-based violence. This,  as I learnt  in the course of my visit, was no isolated gesture but one of a number of related ways in which Rwandans are challenging traditional gender roles as a way to address a culture of violence.

CARE had a big role at the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict in June – and you’ve read on Insights what we think the Summit achieved, and what are the challenges ahead. But what is CARE doing now to turn the talk into action?