In case you missed it: CARING Webinar Series
MenCare recently hosted the fourth webinar in the CARING series, “Invest in Care and Measure It, Disaggregated by Gender, Social Class, and Age,” highlighting strategic recommendations from the State of the World’s Fathers 2023 report, with speakers from the Center for Global Development, International Labour Organization, and World Bank.
Watch the recording here.
All of the past CARING webinars are also available on our YouTube channel.
Partner Spotlight: World Vision Canada
World Vision Canada launches new MenCare Facilitators’ Training manual
As a partner in the MenCare Campaign, World Vision has been adapting the MenCare approach in diverse country contexts worldwide. The overall goal of the approach is to promote men’s involvement as equitable, engaged, non-violent fathers, partners, and allies for the eradication of gender-based violence, the achievement of gender-equality, and the promotion of family health and well-being. For more than a decade, World Vision Canada has adapted and implemented MenCare approaches in communities all over Africa and Asia by working with men and boys to challenge strong societal and cultural resistance to male involvement in promoting family health and well-being, and to carve out a space for men to be active agents of positive change in their communities. It continues to be a key strategy for engaging men and boys in the pursuit of gender equality and the advancement of the rights of women and girls.
World Vision Canada has recently produced the new MenCare Facilitators’ Training Manual. Born out of the need for a tool to engage participants in the MenCare approach, the manual was designed to equip men with critical knowledge and skills to help them become more active parents, equitable, non-violent partners, and champions of gender equality in their communities. It also seeks to engage men to work alongside women as partners and catalysts for gender-transformative change.
This manual gives all men the freedom to question dominant ideas about manhood and/or fatherhood and redefine their own type of masculinity that rejects rigid gender roles, denounces violence, respects women and girls, and shares decision‐making power and control over household resources without succumbing to cultural stereotypes. As fathers, this includes not devaluing or undermining daughters in favour of sons and ensuring that sons are raised to reject narrowly defined ideas about masculinity and to become allies and advocates for gender equality. All of this supports World Vision Canada’s vision of a more equal future for women and girls.
Using the manual, MenCare groups will go through 10 sessions. Each session aims to facilitate both interactive and participatory learning through specifically targeted activities and group discussions on topics covering gender equality, pregnancy and birth, sexual and reproductive health and rights, caregiving, violence and alcoholism and shared decision-making. Whether they are husbands, partners, fathers, brothers, sons, uncles, colleagues, employers, teachers, or peers, participants will learn about the critical role they play as men in advancing women’s health, social, economic and human rights.
The Manual was launched within WV in a webinar held on May 9, 2023 which was participated in by the Global Center, Support Offices, Regional and National Offices across the WV partnership. WV Canada Gender Technical Specialists led the presentation of the Manual, along with other MenCare resources based on implementation of the approach in major grants projects funded by Global Affairs Canada. On June 8, 2023, the Manual was shared externally through a webinar organized by the Canadian Partnership for Women and Children’s Health on Engaging Men and Boys for Gender Equality. In collaboration with Equimundo, WV Canada presented the MenCare approach along with the Manual and other MenCare resources, to a wide range of Canadian and international audiences.
Read the manual
Additional Resources:
Impact and Lessons Learned from Three World Vision Canada RMNCH/N Programmes
Impact and Lessons Learned from the World Vision MenCare Approach – Extended Report
Amplifying the Global Care Agenda
A look back at the Women Deliver Care Economy Pre-Conference in Kigali, Rwanda
Alongside organizations including the Center for Global Development, International Labour Organization (ILO),Global Alliance for Care, and many other organizations, Equimundo and MenCare co-hosted the Women Deliver Care Economy Pre-Conference convening this July in Kigali, Rwanda. The Pre-Conference allowed for in-depth discussions on different elements of the care economy, where we delved into the specific actions needed to advance the care economy.
Women Deliver published a synopsis of the Pre-Conference including highlights and insights, next steps and recommendations.
Read the synopsis
Further reading:
More News on Equal Care
- Opinion: “Can washing machines change the future? Bogotá’s new ‘care blocks’ show how.”
- Women still earn less than men due to enduring social norms regarding women’s responsibilities in the home and family, says Claudia Golding, this year’s Nobel economics prize winner.
- Don’t Ignore Social Norms When Designing Parental Leave Policies – Center for Global Development blog draws on State of the World’s Fathers 2023 data