Involving men in a project based on womens empowerment

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Involving men in a project based on womens
empowerment
Foto Domingo Giribaldi
Carmen Yon Leau September 2003
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ReproSalud in context
Perú urban and rural areas
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Implementing institution
Peruvian NGO Movimiento Manuela Ramos
25 years of
work for womens rights and gender equity using a
participatory approach.
Pre-Implementation Phase August 1995-1996
Design and test of methodologies and training
materials. Implementation Phases I - 1996-2000
Participatory educational activities. II-
2000-2005 Extension of educational activities.
Strengthening of advocacy strategy. Total
Cost US 36 million Funder USAID-Perú
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Target population
289,795 women 15-49 years old 130,250 men
15-59 years old
Who and where?

• Low-income population
• Primary school or illiterate
• Indigenous language
• Rural and periurban areas
  
• Highlands and jungle

Hard to reach population -cultural
differences, geographical isolation
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Goals and objectives

• Goals
• To improve reproductive health of low-income
  women and to establish more equitable gender
  relationships
• Objectives related to men
• To raise mens awareness about gender equity
• and womens rights
• To increase mens knowledge to prevent
• and deal with sexual and reproductive health
  problems
• Conf.Themes FP and RH from gender equity
  perspective, partners in maternal health,
  gender-based violence, gender norms in adolescent
  males.

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Guiding principles

• Gender equity and womens empowerment
• Advocacy for sexual and reproductive rights
• Community participation
• Horizontal relations among diverse cultures
• Flexibility
• Sustainability

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Strategy Overview
Coalitions
Women demanded the inclusion of men
Integrated projects advocacy education
Educational projects

Radio program to reinforce and to expand
educational contents
Self- assessment
Counterpart CBO (selected in a competition)
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Educational activities
2,844 community 67,464 men
promoters
Promoters carrying out of educational work-shops
with their male peers in community groups
Foto Melanie Hammond
Promoters adapting guidelines and organizing
educational work
Adults
Training male community promoters to conduct
participatory education
Training male trainers (includes reflection about
themselves as men)
Foto Claudia Allemant

• Adapting training materials
• (originally for women)

Young people
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Educational methodology of ReproSalud
Assuming commitments to disseminate
integrated knowledge and to carry out healthy
practices

Developing communications skills to share
learning and new perspectives with their peers
Introducing new knowledge and perspectives to
integrate their knowledge with biomedical
information and to take a new approach to the
problem (gender equity and womens rights)
Reflecting on their own perspectives, knowledge
and experiences related to gender roles and
relations, reproductive anathomy of men and
women, and reproductive health problems
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Structure of training curriculum for adults
II MODULES ON SELECTED TOPICS at least 3
Promoters and their male peers
4 s., 12 h.
5 s., 15 h.
2 s., 6 h.
5 s., 15 h.
Family planning and contra ception
RTIs and STIs
Violence and rights
Pregnancy and delivery
III. MODULE FOR DEVELOPING ABILITIES FOR TRAINING
AND COMMUNICATING 2 sessions, 6 hours
Prom.
Reproductive Tract Infections Sexually
Transmitted Infections
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Evaluation on expected outcomes
Baseline studies

• Qualitative
• Conceptual maps
• (self-analysis, tolerance, innovation,
  revaluation)
• Patterns of social relationships
• Paths to change and
• empowerment

• Quantitative
• Knowledge
• Opinions, values
• Attitudes
• Practices(decision-making, communication,
  health-protective practices, use of formal health
  services)

Health service statistics
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Monitoring activities and tools

• Supervisory visits to community promoters
• frequency at least 2 times per workshop
• activities review, observation, reinforcement
  
• Reports on activities
• achievements, difficulties, of participants
• Reports on participants
• name, age, educational level, occupation
• pre and post testing actual and increased
  knowledge
• Self-evaluation of Community Projects
• grade according to accomplishments (schedule,
• tests, participants, beneficiaries
  satisfaction)

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Examples of changes

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Stakeholders involved in making the project
successful

• Women leaders of CBOs manage projects, involve
  CBO members, advocate and negotiate with health
  care providers
• Local leaders provide legitimacy and community
  resources, help to convene men
• Health care providers incorporation of womens
  demand to facilities and carry out agreements
  negotiated with community leaders and promoters
• NGO Coordinators advocate at national and
  regional levels
• Donors provide technical and financial support

Community-based organizations
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Strategies used to overcome obstacles

• Advocacy, lobbying to effect changes in MOH
  policies regarding sexual and reproductive
  rights.
• Empowering a critical mass of users, sensitizing
  providers on gender issues, users rights, to
  achieve more equitable relationships with health
  providers
• Reflexive- participatory education (fears,
  rights,
• benefits for all) to address mens reluctance
  to womens participation.
• Convening participants by men with high
  legitimacy in the community, to overcome mens
  resistance to participate in educational
  activities.
• Radio programs to reach men (especially youth)
  who are displaced from communities

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Opportunities that ReproSalud built on

• Positive value placed on knowledge and education
  by hard to reach women and men
• Agreement among men, women and health providers
  about some priorities, for example, maternal and
  peri- natal mortality
• Interest of MOH in an educated demand and to
  work with community promoters
• Interest of some development agencies in
  promoting gender equity and community-based
  approaches to improve reproductive health

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Lesson Learned

• Before starting a new program, managers should
  consult women and men at the grass-roots level
  about their reproductive health and gender
  problems, avoiding reinforcement of oppressive
  gender relations.
• Empowering women and involving men in
  reproductive health programs is highly
  advantageous, and indispensable in conditions of
  marked female inequality for women.

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Lesson Learned

• Reflexive and participatory education helps men
  to express their own concerns and discover the
  importance of relationship and communication in
  reproductive health.
• Men need their own spaces to deepen their
  understanding about their health problems and
  gender relations with women and other men.
• Designers of sexual and reproductive health
  programs should give more consideration to
  masculinities.
• Creation of new values and ways of expressing
  male identity is a long-term challenge.