MenEngage Alliance 2020-2024

Below are summaries as well as examples from each results area of Men engage Alliance Strategic plan 2021-2024. MOVEMENT-BUILDING Between 2021 and 2024, MenEngage Alliance networks served as a space for countless connections among actors working on different issues and strategies of social change. It helped strengthen collective actions towards feminist systems transformation through a critical masculinities lens, and by mobilizing men and boys as agents of change. Over the past four years, and global-MenEngage Alliance has functioned as a space at local, regional and global level, that brings together diverse actors and groups, while forging stronger partnerships across movements, and building a unique and very valued voice in the gender equality community (2021-2024 LHD Consulting Evaluation Report). In numbers this can be summarized as follows: 20 % growth in membership over the 4-year period, 92 countries with active member presence (up from 84 in 2020), 5000 participants in the 3rd MenEngage Global Symposium, 170 in-person regional and global leadership meetings and 83 online global dialogues held. Through the network, collective action has been enabled and below are a few examples: In South Asia, MenEngage Sri Lanka, through the national coordinator FISD, partnered with Asian Development Bank-ADB and organized a Sub-Regional Conference Deconstructing Masculinities: Engaging Men and Boys for Gender Equality and Social Inclusion in the Education Sector, bringing together over 115 activists and leading voices. This influenced ADB to conduct a regional analysis of their priority areas using a men and masculinities lens for which FISD and ADB brought together ICRWs Asia Regional Office, Equimundo and the MenEngage Global Secretariat in a partnership to conduct A Stocktaking of Initiatives in South Asia on Engaging Men and Transforming Masculinities to Achieve Gender Equality and Womens Empowerment. In the Caribbean, CariMAN members collaborated with UNFPA, Institute for Gender and Development Studies-UWI St. Augustine (IGDS), and the Caribbean Alliance of National Psychological Associations (CANPA) in a multi-year project which led to the design of the Caribbean Model of Behavioural and Cultural Change, that seeks to look beyond traditional intervention methods that focus primarily on law enforcement responses, examining deep-rooted cultural and social factors that normalize different forms of violence. In Africa, MenEngage Africa organised a two part series of SRHR Learning and Exchange Symposia in 2023 and 2024. These served as an important platform to bring together diverse practitioners, policy makers, community gatekeepers and young people in all their diversities to unpack youth involvement and participation in knowledge sharing and development of SRHR priorities in Africa. The 2024 symposium Promoting the realisation of SRHR and Gender Equality across Africa resulted in the declaration of Commitment to Uphold Zero Tolerance to Sexual Harassment, Abuse and Exploitation. IMPACTING POLICY Over the past four years, MenEngage Alliance has advocated at a wide range of human rights and development policy mechanisms, delivered political statements at global forums, provided evidence-based policy recommendations informed by members work, and built relationships with policymakers in UN agencies and governments. The network have worked to ensure that the agenda to transform patriarchal masculinities is included in policies and that it is aligned with feminist, anti-racist, economic and climate justice, feminist peace and decolonial frameworks to advance inclusion of men and masculinities in agreements for womens rights and gender equality. In numbers the work can be summarized as follows: 31 policies integrating gender-transformative approaches to engaging boys and men (9 national, 4 regional and 18 global); 24 policy and decision makers have demonstrably expressed awareness, support and uptake of gender transformative approaches to engage men and boys (at country, regional and global levels); 49 policy briefs has been published to give policy-makers and advocates critical tools to understand and influence how men and boys are incorporated into gender policies; 25 global policies have been influenced through formal submissions; 80 sign-on statements supported for solidarity with feminist advocacy recommendations has been made; 20 MenEngage delegations coordinated globally at international policy forums (UN, AU, EU). Below are a few examples of what the policy impact work of the network has led to: - UN General Assembly Third Committee Resolution 77/193 on Ending VAWG Resolution (2022) saw important gains in the inclusion of first-time language on the need for accountability in work with men and boys and roles and responsibilities of men and boys in eliminating VAWG. This follows a trend in policy-makers understanding of how work on men and masculinities must fit within broader aims to achieve gender justice, e.i. through ensuring accountability is woven into program and policy development. - At the annual Commission on the Status of Women (CSW65/66/67/68) MenEngage Alliance continued to work alongside feminist coalitions to hold the line and push forward feminist demands in global gender equality frameworks. While language gains at CSW have remained difficult for all feminist advocates, they have seen consistent improvement in the CSW agreed conclusions of language on working with men and boys, with negotiated outcome documents yielding one substantive paragraph addressing the roles and responsibilities of men and boys to addressing the thematic priority of CSW and moving away from watered down language on merely addressing the need to engage men and boys in gender equality. - At Generation Equality Forum (including in the Mexico and Paris Fora) MenEngage Alliance joined the Action Coalition for Feminist Movements and worked to embed feminist accountability frameworks in global commitments on engaging men and boys for gender equality. Engaging men and boys was a transversal pillar among the discussions of all the Action Coalitions (AC), with the AC on Ending GBV leading a session to explore work with men and boys towards this aim. The 2024 GEF Accountability Report highlights the work of MenEngage Alliance on working with men and boys to counter the backlash faced by feminist movements as a promising practice. - At the annual Conferences of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27/28/29) MenEngage Alliance have been supporting climate justice activists and drawing attention to the links between masculine norms, patriarchy, and the climate crisis. In 2024 engaging men and boys was included in the COP29 decision document, encouraging all Governments to include work with men and boys in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in the context of climate change (FCCC/CP/2024/L.12). This win in policy advocacy offers many opportunities to support Governments in implementing strategies to work with men and boys within their Gender Action Plans for climate change, as part of the Convention. - The Working Group on Discrimination Against Women and Girls, with the support of MenEngage Alliance, published the position paper: Mens Accountability to Gender Equality, further anchoring macro-political recognition of this critical transversal strategic approach for transformative work on masculinities. MenEngage Alliance members collaborated closely with national and regional feminist movements to influence policy agreements and implementation, and to counter legislative rollbacks on gender equality all around the world. Some examples of concrete national and regional policy gains include: - In Kenya (2023) the Alliance supported feminist-led advocacy that secured new government funding for gender-transformative GBV prevention programs. - In Nepal (2023) a MenEngage Steering Committee member led the development of the National Strategy on Male Engagement to end GBV in partnership with UNFPA and the Ministry of Women, Children, and Elderly Affairs. - In Brazil (2022-2024) the national MenEngage network joined feminist organizations to block legislation aimed at removing gender equality education from school curriculums amid rising anti-gender movements. - In Pakistan (2024) founding member Rozan spearheaded efforts to develop a National Strategy on Male Involvement to address GBV, set to be finalized in 2025. - In Sri Lanka (2022-23) the national coordinator and members contributed technical expertise to integrate male engagement into the National Action Plan on addressing SGBV. - Across South Asia (2022-2024) the regional MenEngage network provided policy guidance to ensure masculinities work in national GBV action plans is grounded in feminist principles, moving away from male-centered leadership models. - Resolution 2480 (2023) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, was influenced through the advocacy by MenEngage Europe on the resolution on The role and responsibility of boys and men in stopping gender-based violence against women and girls, which lays out a progressive framework including calling on men, including men in positions of political, economic or social power, to be part of the response and participate in changing mindsets, behaviours and social norms in order to prevent and combat gender-based violence ELEVATING ACCOUNTABILITY A cornerstone of MenEngage Alliance is a shared commitment to how work with men and boys on gender equality should be carried out. If designed and implemented poorly, even well-meaning initiatives can reinforce inequalities that disproportionately impact the most marginalized communities, including women, girls and gender-non conforming individuals. Over the past four years, members of MenEngage Allianceas well as the global leadership have dedicated substantial time to develop guidance for stronger practices of accountability for the field. These include actively seeking feedback from womens rights groups, fostering spaces for critical reflection on their work, and implementing measures to prevent and address harm. This effort of the Alliance on setting accountability standards and practical guidelines has been crucial for the broader field of working with men and boys, and is well appreciated within the feminist movements. The work to elaborate a joint accountability framework involved 300 people in developing the updated Accountability Framework (through dialogues & survey), 67 Accountability dialogues and 500 practitioners reached for capacity strengthening on accountable practices. The MenEngage Accountability Framework, were formally adopted by the Global Board in April 2022. The Alliances regional networks facilitated the adoption of contextualized accountability mechanisms to ensure that accountability is not just a theoretical concept but an active practice in the network: - Latin America (2023): The Latin American network, supported by experts from the womens rights movement, developed a regional analysis of the networks efforts on transforming patriarchal masculinities and working with men and boys in gender and social justice. The assessment provided insights and strategies to strengthen on how men and masculinities-related initiatives in the region can better adhere to intersectional feminist principles. The findings and recommendations inform the work-plans of the regions going forward. - Africa (2022-2024): The Alliance worked with grassroots movements to integrate accountability measures into masculinities programs addressing GBV and reproductive justice. - South Asia (2023-2024): In response to concerns about masculinities work being co-opted by male-dominated NGOs, the Alliance facilitated cross-movement dialogues to reaffirm feminist leadership in this space. BUILDING KNOWLEDGE & EVIDENCE The past four years MenEngage Alliance stepped up its role as a facilitator of peer-led learning, both within and beyond the immediate network. Between 2021 and 2024, MenEngage Alliance took the fields knowledge-base steps forward with new reports covering some of the latest practical insights on priority and the building of a library of recorded webinars that dig deeper into these, and many other, critical topics. MenEngage Alliance further piloted CoLab sessions focusing on preventing and ending violence against women in partnership with UN Women, and another on applying decolonisation to the work of the field. The sessions was recorded in three different languages and made publicly available to everyone via MenEngage YoutTube Channel - generating a total watch time of 771 hours over the year. In 2024, the Alliance further launched an online course co developed with CREA, exploring the concepts of power, patriarchy, and feminism and why they are essential for anyone working with men and boys to advance gender justice. The course is structured across three modules, combining video lectures, presentation graphics, written exercises, and quizzes to reinforce key ideas. Designed to take around 12 hours to complete, it garnered interest, with over 750 enrolments so far. RESISTING BACKLASH While advancements in the rights of women, girls, and LGBTQIA individuals have progressed in the last decades, more recently the surge in far-right, nationalist, white supremacist, and religious fundamentalist movements has notably led to rollbacks across the globe. Over the past four years, this alarming trend has accelerated and become an increasingly critical concern, including for MenEngage Alliance members. In response, the network has created spaces and opportunities for members and partners to collaborate, resist these setbacks, and develop proactive strategies to defend and advance gender equality and human rights. As an example, in 2023-2024 members from around the network contributed to a cross-regional consultation, sharing how backlash manifests in their local contexts and brainstorming strategic next steps to address these challenges collectively. These insights have been captured in a report to be published in 2025, and inform the collective strategies as MenEngage Alliance. Another example is the Alliance-wide #HowToTalkWithMen campaign (2023 & 2024). The campaign tapped into the unique strength of the MenEngage Alliance; the voices and expertise of members working every day at the grassroots of work to call men and boys in on the work for gender justice for all. Members across the network came together in two participatory planning sessions, and materials have been translated into eight languages including Korean, Albanian, and Turkish. Through the campaigns videos and social media posts, members have been able to empower individuals around the world to have bold, transformative conversations with men and boys about gender justice. STRENGTHENING GOVERNANCE As the 2021-2024 LHD consulting Evaluation notes, the attention to governance, building up values and meaningful membership engagement can by nature be invisible and underappreciated, but it has contributed significantly to the professionalism of the Alliance, the delivery of its advocacy and policy wins, the credibility of its voice and ability to forge strong partnerships. During the reporting period all the regional networks and around 75% of the country networks have received direct support from the MenEngage Global and Regional Secretariats, through financial support, capacity strengthening activities, technical support particularly on accountability and advocacy efforts, networks strengthening, and membership engagement. MenEngage Global Alliance played a role in mobilizing resources, albeit small. Throughout the 4 year-period, the regional networks continued to receive sub-grants for the development and implementation of their localized plans. As these are core-grants, they serve to support key network functions that enable collective work, such as resources for a designated regional secretariat in all the regions; Caribbean, South Asia, Europe, Latin America, MENA and North America), including for strategic initiatives and convenings in Africa (MenEngage Africa regional network has its own direct funding support from Sida under the global strategy for Gender Equality). YOUTH LEADERSHIP For the strategy period a youth leadership strategy 2021-2024, was developed by a Youth Reference Group. It provides a roadmap for youth engagement and leadership across MenEngage Alliance. By the end of 2024, the Youth Reference Group composed of 15 representatives from across all the regional networks is well established, they hold seats in every global working group of MenEngage Alliance, as well as the Global Board. The Global Secretariat also introduced a dedicated role within its team focused on fostering and coordinating youth engagement and leadership at all levels of the Alliance, to ensure that young voices and organising remain central to the work moving forward. In 2023, a cohort of young activists and leaders from around the global network joined hundreds of youth voices at CSW67 at the UN in New Yorkincluding at the Inaugural Interactive Youth Dialogue that took place. PRIORITY ISSUES The network have focused on the following priority issues: GBV, SRHR, Climate justice, Caregiving (WEE), SOGIESC diversity, Feminist peacebuilding (WPS) and Racial justice and decolonisation. The network have worked with the priority issues both in their internal work (such as for example in core principals and in the accountability framework of the network) and as topics and thematic priorities for collective action, knowledge and evidence building and advocacy work. This has resulted in policy recommendations, collective campaigns, statements and research collaborations to ensure that intersections of masculinities and systemic oppression and the importance of engaging men and boys and transforming masculinities are integrated in the mentioned areas (which has been exemplified above).

Priority Issues and the four Results Areas set out in the 2021-24 Strategic Plan: 1. Strengthened MenEngage Alliance Networks & Leadership 2. Accountable Policy Advocacy and Political Voice 3. Effective and Strengthened Programming 4. Strengthened Movement-Building Approaches These results areas or strategic pillars form the framework for advancing the mission of MenEngage Alliance to transform unequal power relations and dismantle patriarchal systems by: Transforming patriarchal masculinities and rigid social norms around manhood; Working with men and boys through intersectional feminist approaches; Building inclusive alliances from local to regional to global levels; and Fostering joint actions in partnership with women's rights, gender- and other social justice movements.