Report of the participation of RWAMREC to the Africa MEnEngage Symposium

Introduction

From 5 to 9 October 2009, RWAMREC and the Rwanda MenEngage Network participated to the MenEngage Africa symposium organized by the Africa MenEngage Network in collaboration with the Global MenEngage Alliance and Sonke Gender Justice Network. The symposium was held at the Turbine Hall, Newtown in Johannesburg, South Africa. The symposium brought together organizations and policymakers from across and outside Africa to build civil society organizations and Government capacity to work with men and boys to promote gender equality and thus respond to Gender -Based Violence (GBV) and HIV/AIDS Among others.

Objectives of the Africa MenEngage Symposium

• Developing shared vision of the need for work with men and boys in Africa and the policy, programming and action required;
• Strengthening participants’ ability to implement multi-faceted approaches to working with men and boys on gender and HIV/AIDS;
• Developing country and region-specific work-plans with clear, time-bound activities, outputs and outcomes;
  
• Building and strengthening the MenEngage Alliance, the Pan-Commonwealth Civil Society Network on HIV/AIDS and the Commonwealth Women’s Network in Africa.

The Symposyium

The theme of the Symposium was: strengthening Civil Society and Government capacity to work with men and boys to respond to Gender Based Violence and HIV across Africa. The symposium included a range of presentations, skills building activities and Work-plan development from various MenEngage Networks in Africa. So far there are 8 active MenEngage in Africa. These include: MenEngage Rwanda, South Africa, Mozambique, Kenya, Tanzania, Namibia, Ethiopia and Zambia. There are other MenEngage Networks in Africa that are not yet strong and that need to be strengthened. The MenEngage Africa will be strengthening Networks at country level.

Lessons learnt

• There is increased interest and international instruments around engaging men. Men Engage approach is working in Africa, Asia and Latin America. There is clear evidence that this is a lived reality.
• The challenges: small scale; clear need to work with policy makers, traditions keepers and religion leaders to take work to scale and increase its impact.
• It is important to mainstream Gender, gender based violence and HIV and AIDS in all programmes we undertake. UNDP SA is preparing a guide for the mainstreaming which is useful to share appropriate tools must be developed for accurately addressing the issue of GBV and HIV and AIDS. Sonke gender justice is preparing an important film-tool on condom awareness campaign which shall be used in convincing men of the usefulness of using it.
• Media need to improve their ways of working especially in analyzing the root causes of gender based violence rather than treating its effects
  

Outcome of the participation of RWAMREC and MenEngage Rwanda to the Africa MenEngage Symposium

• Visibility of the Rwanda MenEngage Network: MenEngage Rwanda presented its background, work plan and next steps including the research on masculinity to be funded by UNDP Rwanda.
• Networking with other MenEngage Networks across Africa and other parts of the world: Meeting with coordinators of MenEngage country networks in Africa. We also met the coordinator of MenEngage India and Brazil. Men Engage India is ahead in engaging men and boys in violence prevention, HIV and Aids and post conflicts at community level. The MenEngage India extended an invitation to MenEngage Rwanda to make a study tour in India to learn about their work.
• Discussions with relevant representatives on how MenEngage Rwanda can contribute to establishment of MenEngage Networks in Burundi, DRC and Congo Brazzaville.
• Sub-Grants: MenEngage Rwanda will also benefit from the grant allocated to the implementation of the work plan and recommendations from the symposium.
• Technical assistance: Africa MenEngage promised technical assistance to MenEngage Rwanda
  
  Conclusion and Recommandations

The participation of RWAMREC and the MenEngage Rwanda to the Africa MenEngage symposium was important and fruitful. There is a need to sensitize members of the MenEngage Rwanda on the Johannesburg Declaration and Call to Action. There is also a clear need to work with policy makers to take work to scale and increase its impact.

To view pictures of the symposium, click here.
To view the Johannesburg declaration, visit the Global MenEngage Web site and Sonke Gender Justice Network web site