In this analysis, Health Policy Plus examines the policy environment for male engagement in family planning across 26 USAID priority countries for family planning. The in-depth analysis examines national polices for reproductive health and family planning and/or gender, and offers priority policy actions that strengthen a supportive environment for engaging men and boys in family planning programs and services.

This resource serves as a policy framework for male engagement and shares examples of how the framework can be applied to strengthen the enabling environment for male engagement. The framework is organized around men’s and boys’ three overlapping roles in family planning: as contraceptive users, as supportive partners for family planning, and as agents of change.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to be a source of stress and have important mental health implications for all persons but may have unique implications for men. This paper discusses considerations for intervening in men’s mental health during and in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including current technology-based cyberpsychology options.

This report presents research on care work during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on structural barriers that prevent equitable distribution of caregiving between women and men. The report provides seven solutions—from the individual to the structural level—that need to be implemented to create a more care- and gender-equal world.

In episode two of the What’s a Man? Masculinity in India podcast, host Deepa Narayan, an award-winning researcher, explores what power means to young boys and men. Narayan highlights the most common responses about power from some of the 250 middle and upper-class boys and men interviewed before exploring the nature of power and its consequences in different models of masculinity.