Engaging Men in Violence Prevention
Objective
We seek to undertake education, public awareness-raising, outreach, and community-capacity building activities to challenge negative attitudes of masculinity and consequently empower men to become meaningfully engaged in violence prevention.
Timeline
It is anticipated that this project will be undertaken over the 2020-2021 period, & years to come.
Why This is Important
We must shift toward a culture that engages men as participants and allies in violence prevention, and promote respect and safety for people of all genders. This engagement is critical to achieving sustained, transformational change.
Violence not only has negative long-term consequences for individuals and their families, but also for the community and the country-at-large. The roots of all forms of violence are founded in the many types of inequality which continue to exist and grow in our society – sexism, ageism, classism, heterosexism, and other biased attitudes. However, violence is a choice and is preventable.
Importantly, men can provide positive role models for young men and boys, based on healthy images of masculinity. Violence prevention cannot be achieved, in any substantive manner, in isolation of men.
Currently…
Our consultant will build on research and evidence which identifies effective strategies for their engagement. Our consultant will work closely and collaboratively with all 10 VP offices to ensure a successful project, to enable the desired outputs (materials, training and engagement strategies) and outcomes.
Areas of Focus
We intend to create a comprehensive document, literature and website review to encompass the following topics/issues/themes, which are critical for developing responsive awareness raising materials and outreach and engagement strategies to mobilize men in violence prevention.
- What challenges men to engage in violence prevention activities? While, on the surface, this may be self-evident, it is important that the depth and scope of challenges be identified and documented; this will include a review of the different factors which can impact the interest and depth of engagement, e.g., age, rural/urban community, culture, all of which must be considered.
- Approaches and initiatives which have been successfully employed elsewhere to: Deconstruct harmful definitions of masculinity and encourage and engage men in violence prevention.
- Effective practices for designing and delivering engagement sessions.
- Effective approaches to engaging men in violence prevention, successful initiatives which are being implemented in other jurisdictions.
- Tools and resources which can be referenced in the VPNL’s communications materials/training for further review by stakeholders and partners to learn more about the issues and relevant initiatives and potentially adapt for local use.
