Nurturing Young Men's Partnerships with Women

The project is grounded in the philosophy that people are motivated to change when they can see their participation in the larger picture, recognise the innate value of justice as their own need, and see personal gain in their effort. Thus, the strategy for engaging young men involves communicating the message that gender equity is important not only because it can reduce the injustices that women experience, but because it can also liberate men. SIDH uses a positive approach that emphasises that enabling women must not mean the "disempowerment" of men, and that stresses men's involvement in women's health issues as an essential part of their traditional responsibility to the family and a positive reflection on their leadership.

To craft specific communication approaches for addressing deeply-rooted gender patterns and the cultural and traditional values from which those patterns emerge, SIDH staff conducted qualitative research and engaged village youth in a participatory process. As a first step, 2 men and 2 women in their mid-20s were chosen as core "master trainers"; they were themselves trained to conduct field research. These trainers, along with other SIDH staff, then interviewed men, women, and young people in 4 Jaunpur Block villages to learn about their beliefs and values related to gender relations, social and economic aspirations, and women's health-seeking behaviours. SIDH notes that this participatory research was key: "Even though the master trainers were from villages that spoke the same language and had the same cultural traditions as the project's target villages, the research gave them new insight into the gender differences within their village culture." The staff used this data to design a 4-day training module titled "Men's Partnership in Women's Reproductive Health" (in Hindi and English), thoroughly pre-testing the module and then modifying it accordingly.

The training module draws on interactive, participatory processes to raise young people's awareness of the links between gender-related values and practices - as well as to help effect attitudinal and behaviour change. To foster youth participation, SIDH recruited young people in their villages, emphasising that the training was meant only for the brightest potential youth leaders. As a further incentive, a certificate that is considered essential for job interviews was provided to each participant who completed the training. Specifically,

• The module begins with the provision of information: an introduction to the concepts of "gender" and "sex" and provides statistics on discrimination at the societal level.
• The second day attempts to reach participants at a deeper cultural and emotional level, using popular idioms, traditional songs, current films, exercises, and discussion. One song from the training, ek nazaria tunhara aur ek hai hamara - I have a perspective and you have a perspective, there is no right or wrong reminds people to be patient with others and to respect the viewpoint of others, whether male or female.
• Day three of the module focuses on reproductive health, providing basic information about anatomy, reproductive cycles, and STIs including HIV. The male and female participants discuss this information in separate groups, then reconvene to discuss the sociocultural aspects of reproductive health through activities such as role-plays. Practices and misinformation in the local culture perceived as harmful are discussed, and corrections suggested.
• On the final day, the trainers work to create dissonance in young people's values and social beliefs by linking gender to universal justice, leadership, and responsibility in the home and village. (It is SIDH's philosophy that gender equity and reproductive rights are deeply rooted in a community's values, and that achieving gender equity involves challenging existing attitudes and cultural beliefs and raising awareness of gender discrimination in such a way as to create discomfort in both trainers and participants.) The trainers then ask each youth participant to make a personal work plan detailing how they will apply their newly learned attitudes toward men's involvement and gender justice to behaviour change in their own villages and homes.(Example: "Question: What will you do if your friends make a nasty comment about a girl or woman?" (Young man's answer:) "If I am sitting with my friends, then I will certainly protest. We have to look into how society functions. Why does it pick on the girls so easily, and why does it keep quiet when a boy does the same thing? Don’t boys also have bad habits?")
• To foster long-term behaviour change, SIDH's youth supervisors provided ongoing support by visiting the villages 2, 6, and 12 months after the training to meet with the young participants. They also provided a refresher course 3 months after the initial training so that young people could review what they had learned and share their experiences and difficulties.

While the 4-day training module was written as a stand-alone module, it is also a major component of a comprehensive non-formal educational curriculum that SIDH has developed to address low literacy rates among local children and women. Developed as part of SIDH's integrated community development programme, this curriculum is used as the basis for continuing courses, Sanjeevani, a one-year residential course, and Sanmati, short 7-day courses offered four times a year. Youth participation was a key strategy in this process; SIDH trained a team of village youth (17-24 years old) to work as teachers in the non-formal schools and as youth leaders involved in a range of social issues, including women's health, agriculture, energy, and village economy. It also formed education committees at the village level, set up literacy classes for women, and established libraries and youth groups. Related activities included forming women's groups and training women to participate in the political process by taking advantage of provisions for women in the amendment of the Panchayati Raj Act of 1993, which legitimises village government and expands the role of women, lower castes, and tribal members.

Gender, Reproductive Health, Youth, Women, Political Participation, Literacy.

A total of 261 village youth leaders in 42 villages were engaged in the training. SIDH cites the following qualitative evidence of impact on these participants: "Two areas of the training immediately affected youth leaders' attitudes and behavior. The first was the issue of seeing men and women and their roles as simply different and complementary rather than superior and inferior....The second area of significance was learning about reproductive health (male and female anatomy, women's menstrual cycles and pregnancy, and STIs) and the responsibility of men toward women in reproductive health. These topics traditionally are shrouded in mystery and shame....As a result of this understanding, the young women became more assertive in their decisionmaking regarding relationships and reproductive health. [Furthermore,] because of the training, many youth leaders are now seen by their peers as advisors or 'experts' in reproductive health. This new role has served to reinforce their self-esteem and led them to learn and share more about such topics."

In addition, SIDH claims that "staff members' lives were changed, sometimes significantly, by their participation. Challenged to question their own underlying values and social beliefs, male staff members often responded by resolving to make changes at home. Female staff members expressed themselves more in staff meetings as well as at home. Both male and female staff emerged with a wealth of knowledge on reproductive health issues and with a reinforced commitment to helping youth question underlying values and develop new paradigms for gender relationships."