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Male Engagement Task Force

Co-Chairs

  • Dominick Shattuck, Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs and Breakthrough ACTION, dshattu1@jhu.edu
  • Courtney McLarnon-Silk, Institute for Reproductive Health, Center for Child and Human Development, Georgetown University, cjm296@georgetown.edu

E-Group: MaleEngagement@googlegroups.com

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Description

Established in 1997, the Interagency Gender Working Group (IGWG) is a network comprising non-governmental organizations, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) cooperating agencies, and USAID’s Bureau for Global Health. The IGWG promotes gender equity within population, health, and nutrition programs with the goal of improving reproductive health and HIV/AIDS outcomes and fostering sustainable development.

The Interagency Gender Working Group’s Male Engagement Task Force (METF) is an information, advocacy, and knowledge exchange network on what it means to engage men and boys in health promotion and gender equality. The METF aims to explore why we should engage men and boys, what are the benefits, how to do it, what works and doesn’t work, and what modalities of health services can better reach and include men and boys. The diverse health areas addressed include family planning (access, delivery, uptake, utilization, FP methods), sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), maternal newborn child and adolescent health (MNCAH), breastfeeding, gender-based violence (GBV), HIV/AIDS (prevention, testing, treatment, care, adherence), malaria, and tuberculosis. The METF will consider relevant efforts to understand and address these health areas across social and behavior change (including shifting social and gender norms), service delivery, research, and policy.

Objectives

  1. Provide a platform for sharing good practices and lessons learned from work to promote engagement of men and boys in health promotion and gender equality, including adoption of more equitable social and gender norms, roles, and identities that support healthy behaviors.
  2. Mobilize and strengthen linkages among people and organizations working on male engagement to close gaps in health disparities, increase uptake of services, and reduce inequalities that are rooted in gender-inequitable norms, roles, and identities (e.g., harmful masculinities).
  3. Increase knowledge of evidenced-based approaches and strategies for working with men and boys as users, clients, partners, and advocates in health promotion and gender equity, as well as in new or emerging areas, including with people and organizations not routinely reached.

 Indicators of Success

  1. Increased fluency and ability of METF members, USAID headquarters and mission staff, CDC staff, and other implementing partners, around best, leading, promising, and emerging practices for effective engagement of men and boys in health and gender equity.
  2. Increased partnerships, collaboration, and consensus on effective ways to engage men and boys in health and gender equity.
  3. Increased number of implementing partners conducting male engagement work.

Standing Activities

  1. Host at least two networking meetings per year to showcase developments in the field. Events will be organized around specific themes (e.g., FP, HIV/AIDS, MNCAH) and strive to feature presenters who can showcase different approaches and strategies for addressing each theme (e.g., advocacy, theory/evidence, implementation).
  2. Produce at least one product per year that summarizes key learnings collated through METF on engaging men and boys in health and gender equity.
  3. Manage the Male Engagement Google Group and regularly share content on engaging men and boys across health and development areas.

Related Resources

View a curated list of key resources related to 1) Men, Masculinities, and Health, 2) HIV/AIDS, 3) Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health, and 4) Family Planning and Reproductive Health, here.