MenEngage Africa Newsletter 2013/4

The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), as described by UNWomen, is “a global policy-making body, and a functional commission of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), dedicated exclusively to the promotion of gender equality and the advancement of women.

Micheline is extremely experienced in working on GBV in conflict settings, and has been engaged in fighting for women’s rights since she was a young girl. She has worked for United Nations in Burundi helping to gather information on GBV during the Burundian civil war and its aftermath, and worked as a Human Rights Assistant handling cases of GBV and working together with UNICEF in Burundi. She has also assisted female ex-combatants left behind by disarmament, demobilization and reintegration, who are often not included in the DDR programs even though they participated in the war.

In August 2012, Sonke Gender Justice Network, the MenEngage Africa Network and the Women’s Health Research Unit at the University of Cape Town hosted the first ever MenEngage Training Initiative course entitled ‘Masculinities, Leadership and Gender Justice in Sub-Saharan Africa’. This exciting new initiative was established to expand the skills and knowledge of female and male advocates, civil society practitioners, policy makers and other stakeholders in sub-Saharan Africa on ways to garner the greater involvement of men and boys in gender equality, but also with the aim of building a strong network of future leaders and gender justice advocates.

The GBV/HIV Knowledge Sharing Hub is an online information sharing and learning platform that addresses the linkage between gender-based violence and HIV.

The strength of the MenEngage Africa Network lies in its capacity and willingness to collaborate with others across all sections of society, with the goal of combatting the high levels of gender-based violence present in the region. In two recent awareness-raising campaigns, Sonke Gender Justice had the privilege of working alongside other activists and organisations who are also working to transform their communities and end violence against women and girls.