MEN EMPOWERMENT PROJECT

STIPA developed a community-based Men Empowerment Approach (MEA) that aimed at creating a participatory environment where men and women; boys and girls worked together as equal partners in actualizing peaceful co-existence and development at both family and community levels.

The men, being an important stakeholder in the development process were targeted and transformed so that they not only be advocates and champions for change but also protectors of the rights of women and children and those able to encourage women to take up those roles that were previously unheard of. The leadership was also responsible and ensured that those who are likely to interfere with the rights of others were dealt with according to the law.

With the intervention of Men Empowerment Project, there has been a radical change as perceptions and attitudes of not only the men but also the women and girls and the development indicators including productivity, family harmony and reduction of rights abuses has been realized. These has not only been confirmed by the end-term evaluation conducted in the target areas but also from the testimonies of the beneficiaries and other stakeholders such as the government, NGOs and religious leaders that operated within the region.

Key Achievements

• Improved livelihoods as most beneficiaries engaged in meaningful economic activities in agribusiness and microenterprises. This contributed to reduced expenditures that often went into purchasing food items that reduced the hunger gap and increased nutritional status.
• The men in most of the communities embraced the ideas and supported their wives thereby reducing tensions and building family harmony
• Cases of gender based violence and discrimination have reduced and according to the local government officers, the community participation levels in development activities increased
• Children in schools and youth outside grasped the concept and propagated it amongst their peers making it the acceptable way of life in.