MenEngage Africa Training Institute (MATI2022)

In collaboration with Akina Mama wa Afrika (AMwA) and Makerere University’s School of Women and Gender Studies, MenEngage Africa and Sonke Gender Justice organised the MenEngage Africa Training Institute (MATI) on Transformative Feminist Leadership for Women’s Rights. The training was held in Kampala, Uganda, from April 25th to April 30th, 2022.

Here’s a little Q&A with Ontlametse Raleru, MATI and Youth Leadership Coordinator (RPN) at Sonke Gender Justice, to learn more about this training.

Tell us about MATI.

The MenEngage Africa Alliance (MATI) is an initiative of the global MenEngage Alliance to create a training and leadership initiative within several geographical regions. The MenEngage Africa Training Initiative (MATI) was established to expand the skills and knowledge among female and male advocates, civil society practitioners, policymakers, and other stakeholders within Sub-Saharan Africa on engaging men and boys, and to build a regional network of future leaders and gender justice advocates.

MATI2022 was themed “Transformative Feminist Leadership for Gender Equality for Social and Structural Drivers.” Please share more about the theme and what informed this year’s theme.

Transformative feminist leadership is about challenging the existing power structures that have limited women and girls. This theme was informed by the need to challenge and transform the power that men have always had a long-standing approach to ending the inequalities that limit the realisation of gender equality. From a feminist perspective, challenging these injustices and oppressions from a feminist perspective requires that we engage with leaders from social and structural institutions that have contributed to limiting women’s rights; build the capacity of new feminist leaders; and provide an opportunity for debates on the best approaches to achieve a transformed agenda and vision for the world.

What’s the role of traditional, religious, and youth in attaining Transformative Feminist Leadership For Gender Equality?

The role of religion cannot be easily separated from gender inequalities, sexuality, and reproductive health. Religion offers its devoted, distinct beliefs and guides on gender issues and sexual and reproductive health matters. Religion, therefore, has a profound influence on the access to sexual and reproductive health and rights of its congregations. Many depend on them for guidance on interpersonal matters, and their participation in gender equality and sexual and reproductive health and rights will help their congregations to make informed and essential life choices and challenge the inequalities that have continued to limit women and the recognition of the rights to health, bodily autonomy, and self-determination for women.

What are the primary learning areas for the MATI2022, and why are they important?

Understanding Feminism – The pre-training evaluation and session reflections revealed that there are still misconceptions about feminism being solely a women’s concern, as well as a limited grasp of its significance. The workshops gave an in-depth look at feminism, its origins and relevance in the African setting, as well as the promotion of human rights. These insights are critical because using a feminist lens when working with communities is guaranteed to result in transformation.

Partnerships – This year’s MATI brought together religious leaders, traditional leaders and young activists and all three groups had an opportunity to learn together in real time; interrogate each other’s perceptions and identify the importance of working together to impact communities. 

Engaging men as allies – The course shared the importance of the need for men to actively participate in promoting gender justice by working side by side with women. Allyship is important because it demonstrates that men are not “taking up space” once again when a lot of power still rests within their hands.

What are some of the difficulties you’ve experienced while working with religious, traditional, and youth groups, and how have you dealt with them?

Deep-seated gender beliefs: Submissions from participants in several of the sessions revealed that they still retain deeply embedded gender perceptions (what men and women should and should not do) that perpetuate inequality. Fortunately, in such cases, the facilitators were able to initiate a debate about the implications of these perceptions for the status of women and girls, as well as gender justice in general.

How will you assist trainees in implementing what they have learned from MATI in the future?

Sharing of learning resources- We have created and shared a folder of all the presentations from the sessions and further reading materials for the participants to refer to in future, share with their networks and use when they reach out to communities. 

MATI COP – Participants will be invited to join the MATI Community of Practice where MATI Alumni will share experiences how they have used the learnings from MATI, stories of most significant changes. This platform, coordinated by Sonke will be a platform for cross learning for alumni which would enrich their programming.