Involving men and boys in family planning (FP) and sexual and reproductive health (SRH) benefits them personally and positively impacts their partners, families, and communities. Research indicates that participation in FP/SRH programs by men and boys can lead to fewer unintended pregnancies, better maternal health, a reduction in sexually transmitted infections like HIV, and progress toward gender equality. The Male Engagement Compendium is a resource for program implementers, researchers, policymakers, and government officials to advance their knowledge through accessing tools and resources that will improve the engagement of men and boys, reinforcing key components from the Know, Care, Do Theory of Change.
Learn more about how Breakthrough ACTION developed and organized the Male Engagement Compendium by checking out the Companion Guide.
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This small group communication tool serves as a guide for facilitators to prompt discussions and activities about men and boys’ engagement in family planning and maternal, newborn, and child health. The guide is based on the education through listening approach and adult learning principles to encourage open dialogue and discussion.
Resource Type: Facilitator Manual
SBC Approaches: Small Group Sessions, Gender-transformative
Role in Engagement: Client/User, Partner
Component of Engagement: Know, Care, Do
This manual provides step-by-step guidance for facilitators to engage participants in the MenCare approach, equipping men with critical knowledge and skills to help them become more active parents, equitable, non-violent partners, and champions for gender equality in their communities. This Manual seeks to engage men to work alongside women as partners and catalysts for gender-transformative change. It challenges the strong societal and cultural resistance to male involvement as contributors to family health and well-being, and to provide a tool to increase men’s accountability and engagement to influence positive decision making, particularly on health seeking behaviours and utilization of reproductive health […]
Resource Type: Training Guide
SBC Approaches: , Gender-transformative
Role in Engagement: Agent of Change
Component of Engagement: Know, Care, Do
This course is intended for program implementers who are working to increase and improve the engagement of men and boys in FP programs and services. Course participants will deepen their understanding of what engaging men and boys in FP means and how programs and services can engage them in supportive, affirming, and gender equitable ways. Throughout this course, participants will familiarize themselves with the Know, Care, Do theory of change and case studies that guide the design and implementation of programs and services that engage men and boys in FP and sexual and reproductive health across their life course and […]
Resource Type: Online Course
SBC Approaches: , Community Engagement, Gender-transformative, Service Delivery
Role in Engagement: Client/User, Partner, Agent of Change
Component of Engagement: Know, Care, Do
Many Ways of Being is a sex education program for young people of all gender identities, ages 15 to 19, aiming to promote healthy, consensual, and violence-free relationships among youth while reducing the incidence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unplanned pregnancy.
Resource Type: Facilitator Manual
SBC Approaches: Gender-Transformative Approaches, Life Skills, Small Group Sessions,
Role in Engagement: Client/User, Partner, Agent of Change
Component of Engagement: Know, Care, Do
The Journeys of Transformation (JoT) program was first created and implemented in Rwanda to engage men as allies in women’s economic empowerment. Through 2020 and 2021, Equimundo and Global Communities adapted JoT and evaluated its impact on rural and indigenous men and women in Guatemala. The adapted program comprises 13 group learning and discussion sessions based on a curriculum that promotes men’s acceptance and support of their female partners’ economic empowerment by addressing gendered barriers to women’s economic empowerment.
Resource Type: Training Guide
SBC Approaches: Life Skills, Small Group Sessions, , Community Engagement, Gender-transformative
Role in Engagement: Partner, Agent of Change
Component of Engagement: Know, Care, Do
The SKILLZ No Means No curriulem is a collection of 12-sport-based modules for boys, with the aim of preventing sexual violence. Male youth educators called “Instructors” deliver the curriculum to boys ages 9-14 in various settings including schools, youth groups and through community-based channels. To access this curriculum, please contact GrassrootSoccer (innovations@grassrootssoccer.org).
Resource Type: Facilitator Manual
SBC Approaches: Small Group Sessions
Role in Engagement: Agent of Change
Component of Engagement: Know, Care, Do
Families for Life aims to strengthen, equip and protect couple relationships and families, especially in making decisions about reproductive health, family planning, and the balance of power within families.
Resource Type: Facilitator Manual
SBC Approaches: Gender-transformative, Interpersonal Communication
Role in Engagement: Partner, User
Component of Engagement: Know, Care, Do
The Integrating a Life Course Approach in Programming with Boys & Men for Greater Gender Equality tool (“Reflection and Action Tool” for short) helps users apply a life course approach to programming with boys and men. Its purpose is to apply the life course to more effectively engage men and boys across development sectors to improve gender equality. The Reflection and Action Tool provides a framework for reflecting on the life course across three program phases: design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation.
Resource Type: Technical Guide
SBC Approaches: , Gender-transformative, Monitoring and Evaluation
Role in Engagement: Client/User, Partner, Agent of Change
Programme Ra is the adaptation of Equimundo’s Program H in the Middle East. Programme Ra was adapted for the Lebanese context with ABAAD–Resource Center for Gender Equality in order to promote discussion about gender with young men living in Lebanon. The second (or amended) edition of Program Ra goes beyond just addressing sexual and reproductive health and rights issues and seeks to focus on including a set of issues that feature topics related to comprehensive sexuality education.
Resource Type: Facilitator Manual
SBC Approaches: Small Group Sessions, , Gender-transformative
Role in Engagement: Client/User, Partner, Agent of Change
Component of Engagement: Know, Care, Do
This design primer details the components of the behaviorally informed intervention used in The Scale-up and Capacity Building in Behavioral Science to Improve the Uptake of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Services (SupCap) project in Uganda. Users of the guide will be able to (1) implement the game “Together We Decide”: a game for male partners of postpartum women to encourage contraceptive uptake; (2) distribute child spacing planning cards, which are designed to prompt and encourage conversations between couples about child spacing; and (3) view text messages sent to health workers to encourage discussions about family planning with male and […]
Resource Type: Toolkit
SBC Approaches: Small Group Sessions, Provider Behavior Change, Interpersonal Communication
Role in Engagement: Client/User, Partner, Agent of Change
Component of Engagement: Care, Do
