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Family planning programs have perhaps evolved the most, from historically focusing exclusively on women to now involving men as agents of change. Following the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, many programs viewed men as obstacles to family planning and involved them simply as allies in the goal of increasing contraceptive prevalence among women. Gradually, programs emerged that factored in men’s own reproductive health needs, making services more attractive to men, improving men's access to services and information, and increasing providers’ comfort in working with men.

Family planning programs have perhaps evolved the most, from historically focusing exclusively on women to now involving men as agents of change. Following the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, many programs viewed men as obstacles to family planning and involved them simply as allies in the goal of increasing contraceptive prevalence among women. Gradually, programs emerged that factored in men's own reproductive health needs, making services more attractive to men, improving men’s access to services and information, and increasing providers’ comfort in working with men.

Programs have also come to recognize the crucial role that men play in women’s successful contraceptive use, and have responded by providing better couple counseling, promoting partner communication, and improving men’s knowledge of the range of available contraceptives and their potential side effects. Male engagement in family planning has most recently come to mean more than achieving fertility goals and providing clinic-based services for men: engaging men can improve reproductive health and rights for men, women, and the entire family. As a result of this expanded view of male engagement, programs now vary greatly in the approaches they take to working with men.

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Program Examples

• Population Council. Getting Men Involved in Family Planning. Experiences from an Innovative Program (April 1998).
• Population Council. Men as Supportive Partners in Reproductive Health. Moving from Rhetoric to Reality (2000).

Men in Agrarian Settings:

• Population Council, Institute for Reproductive Health at Georgetown University, and Research Institute for Mindanao Culture at Xavier University. Enhancing NGO-LGU Collaboration in Family Planning: Using Community Workers to Reach Men in an Agrarian Setting (December 2001).
• Reproductive Health Outlook (RHO). Men and Reproductive Health (accessed online June 15, 2005).

Men as Clients and Community Leaders:

• JHUCCP, PRISM Project Male Motivation Campaign. Impact of a Male Motivation Campaign on Family Planning Ideation and Practice in Guinea (April 2002).
• JHUCCP and the Jordanian National Population Committee. Men in Jordan Get Involved in “Together for a Happy Family”  (January 2003).

Men as Clients and Partners:

• Center for Global Initiatives (GI), University of North Carolina. Vasectomy and National Family Planning Programs in Asia and Latin America (accessed online October 2007).
• EngenderHealth. Involving Men as Partners in Reproductive Health: Lessons Learned from Turkey (June 1999).
• Engenderhealth. A Successful National Program for Expanding Vasectomy Services: The Experience of the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (May 1995).
• EngenderHealth. Vasectomy in Kenya: The First Steps (September 1993).
• EngenderHealth, ACQUIRE Project. “Get a Permanent Smile”: Increasing Awareness of, Access to, and Utilization of Vasectomy Services in Ghana (December 2005).
• EngenderHealth and IPPF/WHR. Five Case Studies for the Symposium on Male Participation in Sexual and Reproductive Health: New Paradigms (October 1998).
• FHI, EngenderHealth, and the ACQUIRE Project. Expert Consultation on Vasectomy (December 2003).
• FHI,YouthNet. Reaching Out-of-School Youth with Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS Information and Services (2004).
• JHUCCP. Involving Men in Family Planning: The Zimbabwe Male Motivation and Family Planning Method Expansion Project, 1993-1994 (January 1996).
• Planned Parenthood. Vasectomy (accessed online October 2007).
• Population Council. Bangladesh: Offering Reproductive Health Services for Men Improves Clinic Utilization. OR Summary No. 47 (August 2004)
• Population Council. Integration of Reproductive Health Services for Men in Health and Family Welfare Centers in Bangladesh. Final Report (September 2004).
• Reproductive Health Outlook (RHO). Men and Reproductive Health Program Examples.
• University Center for International Studies (UCIS), University of North Carolina.Vasectomy and National Family Planning Programs in Asia and Latin America (accessed online June 15, 2006).
• University of California San Francisco. Family Pact Program: Fact Sheet on Male Services (accessed online on June 15, 2006).

Programmatic Tools

Men as Agents of Positive Change

• IGWG. Implementation Guide on Reaching Men to Improve Reproductive and Sexual Health for All (2004).

Men as Clients:

• EngenderHealth. No-Scalpel Vasectomy: An Illustrated Guide for Surgeons, Third Edition (2003).
• The Japanese Organization for International Cooperation in Family Planning. A Guidebook for Operationalizing Male Participation and Other Gender Issues in Community-Based Sexual and Reproductive Health Programs (2000).
• JSI Research and Training Institute. Putting Males Into the Family Planning Picture. A Guide to Help Improve Family Planning Services for Males (accessed online October 2007).

Research and Evaluation

• The Alan Guttmacher Institute. In Their Own Right. Addressing the Sexual and Reproductive Health Needs of Men Worldwide (2003).
• The Alan Guttmacher Institute. International Family Planning Perspectives,“Operations Research on Promoting Vasectomy in Three Latin American Countries.” (March 1996).
• Center for Global Initiatives (GI), University of North Carolina. Vasectomy and National Family Planning Programs in Asia and Latin America (accessed online October 2007).
• EngenderHealth. Contraceptive Sterilization: Global Issues and Trends (2002).
• EngenderHealth. Resources on Vasectomy (accessed online on June 15, 2006).
• FHI, Network. Men and Reproductive Health. (Spring 1998, vol. 18, no. 3).
• Hawkes, S. Sexual Health Exchange 1998, no. 3, “Providing Sexual Health Services for Men in Bangladesh.”
• JHUCCP, Population Reports. Men’s Surveys: New Findings (Spring 2004).
• Population Council. Using Men as Community-Based Distributors of Condoms (January 2002).
• University Center for International Studies (UCIS), University of North Carolina.Vasectomy and National Family Planning Programs in Asia and Latin America (accessed online June 15, 2006).