“O meu pai cuida. Tu és o meu Papá!” (My father cares. You are my dad!) is the title of the new materials package being distributed in Mozambique as part of the local MenCare campaign. The packet features primarily posters and flyers addressing gender equality and is aimed at semi-rural and urban Mozambican men. The idea is to to promote recognition and support for the positive role that father figures can play in children’s lives.
In Mozambique, women are overwhelmingly responsible for caregiving, a scenario that perpetuates norms about the “incapacity” of men to care for themselves and for others. The goal of the campaign is to advocate for laws, policies and public services to encourage and enable fathers and male mentors to invest more of their time and energy in the direct care of their children. These new practices would relieve women from the responsibility of being sole caregivers and give them an opportunity to pursue other interests.
Fanelo Ya Mina was inspired after attending the MenCare Global Meeting that took place in in June 2013, Cape Town, South Africa. With financial support from Sonke Gender Justice Network and MenEngage Africa, they tailored the global campaign to the Mozambican context. The organization had the support of ATEHOMENS, a “men engage task force” comprised of 26 representatives of local partner organizations.