A Manual For Engaging Men in Fatherhood, Caregiving, and maternal and Child Custody

Programme P comprises of three sections. Section I addresses fatherhood in the health sector. It is designed to help health care professionals engage with men in the health sector and promote active fatherhood. It focuses on the interaction between professional and father from prenatal through postnatal stages and how to encourage their participation in caregiving until the child is 4 years old.

While Section I focuses on work with health professionals such as doctors, nurses and midwives, Section II is for those who want to facilitate groups of fathers and couples to create spaces for reflection around masculinity and fatherhood. Ideally, positive messages delivered in the consultation space would be reinforced in the groups, and vice versa. In health centers providing group education for expectant and existing fathers, providers should also assist in recruiting participants by making referrals available to the groups. Section II provides the content, methods and guidelines necessary to facilitate group sessions with fathers who accompany their partner to prenatal (antenatal) care visits. Many of these activities can also be conducted with couples, allowing mothers and fathers to share and learn together.

Finally, Section III is designed for health sector workers and activists who are interested in developing and implementing social-awareness-raising activities in their community that promote the benefits of active fatherhood as a way to achieve gender equality, benefit children, and improve the lives of men and women. It is meant to complement Section 2, in that the activities in this section can be carried out with the men in the fathers groups. However, some groups may not feel comfortable engaging in public activities, so it is important to take this into account. Regardless, many of these activities do not rely on engaging fathers group participants but, rather, individuals and organizations who want to raise larger-level awareness of how engaging men in care-giving promotes gender equality.

In 2015, ABAAD carried out a residential training for 25 frontliners from different local and international NGOs who are working on the ground with youth and parents. The objective of this training was to familiarise participants with the training manual and its implementation. Over the course of three days, the front-liners were introduced to the concepts of gender, gender socialisation, engaging men and masculinities, as well as how to engage fathers in positive disciplining and modern education techniques