Sonke and MenEngage Report to NORAD

Sonke and the MenEngage Alliance have made enormous progress against the three objectives they were funded to pursue by NORAD:

1. Building the operational and programmatic capacity and sustainability of both Sonke Gender Justice in South Africa and MenEngage networks at the national, regional and global levels so that they can better increase men’s involvement in preventing gender based violence, improving sexual and reproductive health and rights, and advancing gender equality.
2. Developing and sharing three interrelated advocacy campaigns to be adapted and implemented at the national and regional levels to i) increase men’s support for sexual and reproductive health and rights, ii) engage religious leaders and faith-based organisations to increase their proactive support for gender equality, SRHR and LGBTI rights; and iii) engage men as involved, non-violent fathers and caregivers.
3. Developing more effective Sonke and MenEngage communications strategies, including: new, updated and extended database, a more complex and updated website, social media strategies and engagement with key media platforms.

Both Sonke and the MenEngage Alliance are now stronger than they were at the beginning of the grant, the MenCare and SRHR campaign have grown substantially in both reach and impact, including through in-depth work with religious leaders in South Africa, Swaziland, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Similarly, the communications infrastructure has been dramatically improved, with a new MenEngage Alliance website now in place, regular MenCare newsletters going out to thousands of people, and a template in place for monthly MenEngage news “blasts” that provide people across the globe with detailed updates on MenEngage activities.