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Men and Reproductive Health Programs: Influencing Gender Norms Prepared by


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Funding Sources


International Women’s Health Coalition has funded CMA since its inception in 1995. The MacArthur Foundation has provided support since 2000. The total budget for 2002 was $100,000.

Contact Information


Calabar International Institute for Research, Information and Development/CMA

90B Goldie Street

P.O. Box 915

Calabar, Nigeria

Tel: 087-234704

E-mail: ciinstrid@hyperia.com



Sources


Irvin, Andrea. 2000. Taking steps of courage: Teaching adolescents about sexuality and gender in Nigeria and Cameroun. New York: International Women’s Health Coalition.
Girard, Françoise, and Gary Barker. 2003. My father didn’t think this way: Nigerian boys contemplate gender equality. New York: The Population Council.
Whitaker, Corinne. 2003. Challenging inequities: The story of an anti-sexist and rights-based program for Nigerian adolescent males (PowerPoint and oral presentation). Presented to the Reaching Men to Improve Reproductive Health for All Conference, Dulles, Virginia.

Mobilizing Young Men To Care Project


(South Africa)

Overview


This project implemented by DramAidE (Drama-in-AIDS Education), a South African nongovernmental organization operating in KwaZulu-Natal since 1991, has the overarching goal of promoting gender responsibility to prevent HIV/AIDS among youth in response to school-based violence. The second phase of this project began in 2001. KwaZulu-Natal is the epicenter of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Africa. The target schools are disadvantaged ones in rural areas of the eThekwini, uMhlathuze, and Amahlubi regions in KwaZulu-Natal. Unemployment rates are very high, and most families sustain themselves through small-scale farming, informal trading, and factory labor. Traditional Zulu culture dominates the regions, which are highly stratified and patriarchal. Some more conservative elements of Christianity also have taken root in these areas. People typically do not openly discuss high-risk sexual behaviors with their children. Previous work conducted by DramAidE Youth Clubs, which had been established by the Act Alive project in the same schools, facilitated the work of the Mobilizing Young Men to Care (MYMTC) project.

Scope


More than 2,000 students and teachers were affected by this program. Volunteers were accepted from the student bodies of three secondary schools in KwaZulu-Natal: one in the Matubatuba region, one in the Hlabisa region, and the other in the Amatikulu region.

Objectives


The project has four main objectives:

  1. To create an environment in which young men can become more caring and socially responsive—which entails changing stereotypes, misconceptions, and value systems related to gender norms.

  2. To sensitize young men in order to improve their communication skills.

  3. To encourage boys to make healthy lifestyle choices in relationships.

  4. To galvanize boys’ resolve to be involved in health-related projects.



Audience


Male secondary school students in a poor urban area of South Africa.

Implementation


MYMTC uses a mixed-gender approach implemented in each school over the period of one month. A drama technique known as forum theater is used to facilitate discussions in an intensive series of fifteen workshops. This technique involves the audience in the outcome of the drama. One of the exercises involved the production and recording of an improvised three-scene play, with interchangeable outcomes to each scene, at one of the schools. This technique is called “stop-start” theater, and in the video the protagonist is stereotyped as the “typical Zulu male,” a powerful and dominant character, dismissive of any external criticism, with a number of sexual partners. A professional actor played this character and the boys and girls complemented his performance as well as those of other actors in the play. The audience and other actors are encouraged to challenge the Zulu male’s role. In order to achieve a multiplier effect at relatively low cost, recordings of the production were featured in other schools accompanied by discussions facilitated by staff from the University of Natal.

Evaluation and Outcomes


Three focus groups were held (one male-only, one female-only, and one mixed-gender) in an informal evaluation of the project, using the Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Program’s model of behavior change. Participants provided structured feedback after a period of introspection and reflection. The evaluation consists of an analysis of the participants’ feedback gathered during the focus groups and the facilitator’s observations. A specific outcome for each focus group is not given, and it appears that only the observations from the mixed-gender focus group are reported. This makes it difficult to understand the transformative processes undergone by the boys, because the facilitator’s perceptions and insights were likely to have been affected by input from the female participants. However, interviews with the boys did reveal that they became more open to ideas of gender equity.
An interesting finding was the facilitator’s observation of the phenomenon of “role reversal” and its effect on group dynamics. Some of the young girls took on “masculine” attributes as they felt more empowered, such as being more expressive and performing dances traditionally reserved for males. In turn, young boys became less open and vocal during discussions about sexuality in the presence of the girls. Therefore, despite the focus on boys, the project also had an effect on the girls.

Funding Sources


The United Kingdom’s Department for International Development funded this project through the British Council.

Contact Information


Professor Robert Morrell

Interim Co-Dean

Faculty of Education

University of Natal

Durban 4041, South Africa

Tel: (031) 260 1127



E-mail: morrell@nu.ac.za

www.nu.ac.za/DramAideE

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