Africa

In South Africa, the end of apartheid in 1994 affected many things, including gender relations. Many men support government efforts to achieve the vision of a gender-equitable society as articulated in South Africa’s Constitution and Bill of Rights. However, men still face widespread pressures to express their manhood in more traditional ways, such as authority figures in relationships with their wives and children. While such traditional male norms give men greater decision-making power, they also limit who they are and what they can do. Many men fear being mocked—by men and women—if they enter the kitchen, care for their children or make decisions jointly with their wives. Some fear being seen as weak if they go to a health clinic because they are sick. They may feel pressure to have many sexual partners. And a substantial number are encouraged—by the examples of men around them and by society’s failure to fully implement laws on domestic and sexual violence—to abuse women and children. Harmful male behavior is interlinked with HIV risk and sexual and gender-based violence. But more men are rejecting the stereotypes of manhood in South Africa and are stepping forward to challenge gender roles that compromise their own health and well-being and that of their partners and their families.

Sonke Gender Justice Network created the Fatherhood and Child Security project to mobilize men to play an active role in changing traditional norms that are harmful to men, women and children. Among various activities, the program has an innovative approach to changing norms and behaviors through digital storytelling, which uses the media to give adults, youth, and children an opportunity to share their experiences with violence and HIV. Read the full case study, “Allowing Men to Care: Fatherhood Project in South Africa,” to learn how the organization designed a program to reduce HIV transmission and address related problems, such as gender-based violence, women’s overwhelming burden of care and the preponderance of children in need of care and support.

Livingstone, Zambia, is a bustling border town, filled with truck drivers, immigration officials, money changers and many others who live there or pass through to take advantage of the town's economic opportunities. With eight neighboring countries, similar towns dot the country's borders and major transportation routes, which are the heart of the nation's agriculture, mining and trading activities. Yet economic opportunities are also what make these towns hotbeds for the HIV epidemic. Zambia's HIV prevalence was an estimated 14 percent: 16 percent among women and just over 12 percent among men. In areas along the borders, the rates are much higher.

Poor women from Zambia and neighboring countries come to these towns to sell sex, using what they earn to feed themselves and send their children to school. These women are vulnerable to HIV and violence because of their limited power with clients. The illegal nature of their work makes it harder for them to access services to protect themselves. Their clients—truck drivers, vendors and traders, as well as uniformed personnel such as police officers, immigration officials and military servicemen—return home to their wives and other partners, spreading HIV throughout towns and across borders.

Corridors of Hope worked closely with these groups to provide HIV prevention information as well as health services through clinics and mobile units. Key to its efforts was a behavior change and communication strategy that engaged directly with sex workers, their clients and the broader community to change risky sexual behavior. Read the full case study, “Risky Business Made Safer: HIV Prevention in Zambia's Border Towns,” to learn more about the program’s efforts to reduce HIV among most at-risk groups and the general population.