MenCare’s August 2018 newsletter brings you updates from Bulgaria, Eswatini, Georgia, Italy, Netherlands, Nigeria, Russia, South Africa, Uganda, United States, and around the world. Learn more about the research, programs, and campaigns our partners are leading to engage men in fatherhood and caregiving worldwide.
We asked 100 MenCare partners, practitioners, activists, and researchers from 50 countries to provide advice for fathers. What emerged was an abundance of thoughtful recommendations for gender-equitable caregiving for fathers and for all male caregivers, including those men who play influential roles in children’s lives as family members, teachers, coaches, and more... Continue Reading
MenCare global co-coordinator Sonke Gender Justice (Sonke) and the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) launched the inaugural State of South Africa’s Fathers report on July 12, 2018 in Pretoria, South Africa. The report coincides with an important moment in the country’s history in which key amendments to South Africa’s labor law will allow for better parental leave... Continue Reading
The Netherlands is on its way to a more equitable parental leave policy, allowing fathers to spend more time with their newborn and infant children. This policy change is largely thanks to a collaborative effort led by MenCare partner Rutgers in direct partnership with WOMEN Inc. alongside other women’s rights... Continue Reading
A father’s early influence on a child in Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), be it positive or negative, impacts the child’s physical, emotional, and psychological development for years to come. With this in mind, MenCare partner Kwakha Indvodza conducted educational workshops with expectant and first-time fathers... Continue Reading
South Africa eagerly awaits the signing of its new Labour Law Amendment Bill, which will provide an increase in paid leave benefits for all new parents. The bill was passed by the country’s National Assembly in 2017; it is expected to be approved by the National Council of Provinces and signed by President... Continue Reading
London-based think tank Emerging Europe awarded the MenCare campaign in Georgia first place in its Equality-Friendly Initiative of the Year 2018 contest in June. Part of the inaugural Emerging Europe Awards, the Equality-Friendly Initiative of the Year recognizes projects that teach tolerance and open-mindedness in Central and Eastern Europe, promoting social inclusion and... Continue Reading
MenCare partner väter aktiv is implementing the “Fathers Without Borders” (“Papa grenzenlos - Papa senza confini”) project in South Tyrol, Italy to engage migrant fathers in shared parenting and caregiving, supporting these dads in becoming more involved in family life and in the South Tyrolean community... Continue Reading
Society’s rigid expectations about men’s and women’s roles in care often keep fathers from being fully involved in their children’s lives. In Bulgaria, the MenCare campaign is challenging these inequitable norms and stereotypes in order to better engage men as equal caregivers at school and at home... Continue Reading
Ejike and his wife, Beatrice, live together in Edem, Nigeria. Ejike is a teacher in a community with many rigid, deeply held practices and beliefs. When Ejike was a young man, however, people like his English teacher Mr. Smith instilled in him a deep respect for women and women’s equality that he carried with him into adulthood... Continue Reading
In April 2018, the author shared a version of these remarks at a “Comm Talk” as part of the 2018 International Social and Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) Summit. Nina Ford is a Communications Officer with Promundo-US and has been working on MenCare global communications since 2014, sharing stories and research emerging from partners in over... Continue Reading
Read the report in English, Russian, and Swedish here.
Uganda
The MenEngage Uganda Network and Sonke Gender Justice, in collaboration with the Embassy of Sweden in Kampala, hosted an event in June 2018 to launch the 2017 State of the World’s Fathers: Time for Action report in Uganda.
What keeps dads in the United States from taking parental leave and being the fully involved caregivers they want to be? Promundo and Dove Men+Care carried out a new study, Helping Dads Care, to find out.
What early parent education programs are out there to support fathers during the prenatal and postnatal periods? New research examining this question, published in June 2018, suggests that there are not that many.
What do China, India, South Sudan, and the United States have in common? They are among the 92 countries where there is no national policy that allow dads to take paid time off work to care for their newborns.
Learn more in NPRhere, and view a World Policy Analysis Center map of paternity leave around the world here.
This advocacy brief for Eastern Europe and Central Asia explores how individual beliefs and practices related to unpaid care – as well as weak societal support for shared caregiving – impact gender equality at the household level. It contains key recommendations and advocacy “action points” on how to transform the state of fatherhood in the region.
Encouraging Attendance and Engagement in Parenting Programs
What does it take to design mobile technology to support fatherhood programming? Find out in this brief about the DadTime smartphone-based application, designed to support engagement with and attendance at a parenting program called Just Beginning.
Global 
