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Rwanda was the proud host of the second international MenCare+ partnermeeting in May 2014.

Preventing a fist-fight in a township was my first introduction to South Africa. With a group of community mobilisers promoting the MenCare+ fathers’ groups, we went into the Township of Kayelitsha near Cape Town to talk to men. We turned a corner and stood in the middle of a fist-fight of what seemed to be high-school ex-lovers. He was on the verge of hitting her.

I really need to write down my thoughts and reflections, cause I’m afraid I will lose it if I don’t start to download and share it soon. To free some space on my hard drive and to inform you on what’s going on inside of me.

These weeks gender equality activists and advocates from all over the globe are coming together in New York city where from 9 to 20 March the 59th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women is gathering. As Rutgers has ECOSOC status, we are allowed to speak in the plenary meeting.

Now is the time to imagine futures free from oppressions, injustice, war and violence and to develop concrete strategies for people and planet based on our shared humanity. The 2016 Forum is a process and space for re-imagining and co-creating these futures. “There is no such a thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.” -Audre Lorde

The family should be the ideal environment for children to grow into confident adults, ready to have healthy relationships and families of their own. But it doesn’t always work like this. Rutgers helps boys and men in their roles as sons and brothers, husbands and fathers.

Between 8-11 September 2016, Rachel Ploem will be representing Rutgers at the 13th AWID International Forum in Brazil, titled "Feminist Futures: Building Collective Power for Rights and Justice." In her blog, Rachel speaks of her excitement to engage in this global initiative of intersectional learning and exchange: an important step in realising an all-gender inclusive women's rights agenda.

The chances of knowing someone who had experienced sexual violence are high if you live in a small country such as Honduras. Few laws protect our girls and women, and current events show increased levels of impunity that are likely to undermine our rights.

New research in Rwanda reveals engaging men as they become fathers helps to transform male attitudes towards women, reduce gender-based violence (GBV) and increase time spent on unpaid care work. These promising results come two years after the MenCare+ programme, the precursor of Rutgers’ current Prevention+ programme that engages men and boys to end GBV.

Across the Prevention+ programme, we engage men and women to end the cycle of gender-based violence (GBV). Fathers can play an important part in that process. We see this in rural Uganda, where 61% of women experience GBV. Our partner Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU) engages fathers in positive parenting trainings and encourages them to support women’s economic empowerment. Sharing the realities of family life together, helps change attitudes these men may have and ultimately strengthens gender-equal parenting.

Sometimes, in the fight for sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), we forget to look in our own backyard. The debate on paternity leave in the Netherlands continues to be a hot-button topic, especially with the upcoming elections. Whereas maternity leave is considered to be an inalienable right, many people are divided or even undecided about the same rights for fathers. In trying to maintain a dialogue about this subject, it’s clear that a political, cultural and economic shift is needed in our country.

The Toolkit for Men can be used for counselling abusers who want to stop intimate partner violence and become a more respectful partner. This toolkit was developed and piloted in South Africa and Indonesia by Rutgers in partnership with 3 partner organisations in these countries.

he 2nd MenEngage Global Symposium 2014 - Men and Boys for Gender Justice will be held in New Delhi, India, from 10-13 November. Its purpose is to find ways to engage men and boys for gender equality so that society becomes more caring and non-violent and gender relations become more harmonious.

Girls are so foolish and silly, that they have to be beaten so they can get some good ideas in their brains. That’s what an 8 year old boy from India learned from his father and older brothers. He added that he was confused because his mother and sisters had told him: ‘All men beat their wives, one day you will do the same, and it’s what men do to be manly’. (Blog by Rachel Ploem because of the 2nd Men Engage Global Symposium in Delhi, India, 10-13 november 2014).

Group education for young and expecting fathers is one of the cornerstones of the MenCare+ program in Rwanda. Since 2014, more than 1,000 men and their partners have participated in 15 weekly sessions to promote men’s greater involvement in caregiving and in maternal, newborn, and child health.

Netherlands Minister of Social Affairs, Mr. Asscher, received the Dutch country report of State of the World’s Fathers at a daycare centre in Amsterdam on the morning of 17 June.

The Youth Week organized by Share-Net Netherlands and its members takes place from 26th – 30th of September at Humanity House, The Hague and De Balie, Amsterdam.

The MenCare+ programme aimed to engage men as equitable partners in maternal, newborn and child health, sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), caregiving, and violence prevention in Brazil, Indonesia, Rwanda and South Africa. This brochure contains a full detailed description of MenCare+ such as the programme objectives and used approach, programme components and interventions, and the Theory of Change.

This brochure gives a detailed overview of the MenCare+ interventions to engage men and boys in gender equality, violence prevention and in SRHR and MNCH, which have been implemented within the targeted communities.

This MenCare+ brochure focuses on the importance of gender-transformative approaches in relation to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and well-being of women and girls, men and boys. This brochure ends with clear policy recommendations.