Asia

The Men and Gender Equality Policy Project (MGEPP), coordinated by ICRW and Instituto Promundo, was a multiyear effort to build the evidence base on how to change public institutions and policies to better foster gender equality and to raise awareness among policymakers and program planners of the need to involve men in health, development and gender equality issues.

Project activities include:

• What Men Have to Do with It: Public Policies to Promote Gender Equality, a multicountry policy research and analysis
• International Men and Gender Equality Survey (IMAGES), a quantitative household survey carried out in 2009 with men and women in six countries (additional countries are implementing the survey in 2010 and thereafter)
• Men who Care, an in-depth, five country qualitative study of men involved in gender activisim and/or non-traditional caregiving roles such as day-care workers

Countries that participated in the project include Brazil, Chile, Croatia, India, Mexico, Rwanda, South Africa and Tanzania.

The project's multiple research components provided policymakers with practical strategies for engaging men in relevant policy areas, particularly in the areas of sexual and reproductive health, gender-based violence, fatherhood, maternal and child health, and men's health needs.

Investing in women is recognized not only as the right thing to do but also the smart thing to do. Mounting evidence demonstrates that increases in women’s income lead to improvements in children’s health, nutrition and education. But more rigorous evaluation of projects aimed at women’s economic development is crucial to maintain their support and apply lessons learned to future projects. To address this need, ICRW is working with UNIFEM and the World Bank to demonstrate and measure the impact of women’s economic development programs on women’s empowerment and broader development goals.

The Results-based Initiative is implementing six innovative projects aimed at increasing women’s economic capacity. The projects include providing time-saving technology to bamboo handicraft producers in Laos and Cambodia and business support services to women micro-entrepreneurs in Peru. ICRW, with local partners, will measure the projects’ impact on women’s decision-making capabilities, control over resources, personal security and autonomy. ICRW anticipates that the resulting best practices and lessons learned will generate further action on women’s economic empowerment as a priority area for development programs overall.

The Parivartan program aims to reduce gender-based violence by working with men and boys through India’s popular sport of cricket. The program was based on Coaching Boys Into Men (CBIM), an initiative of the United States (US)-based Futures Without Violence (formerly Family Violence Prevention Fund) that engages coaches as positive role models and trains them to deliver messages to their male athletes about the importance of respecting women and understanding that violence never equals strength. Based on lessons from implementation of CBIM in the US, the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) developed and piloted an India-specific, cricket-based adaptation of the program: "Parivartan", which means transformation. The Mumbai-based program engaged cricket coaches and mentors in schools and the community to:

• Raise awareness about abusive and disrespectful behavior;
• Promote gender-equitable, non-violent attitudes; and
• Teach skills to speak up and intervene when witnessing harmful and disrespectful behaviors.

Findings from the study have been very encouraging—they have demonstrated a distinct positive shift in the attitudes of athletes as well as coaches and mentors towards gender equity and violence against women. Alongside the change in attitudes, there is a promising indication of behavioral change as well; however to sustain and amplify the translation of attitudinal change into behavioral change, a sustained long-term investment in the Parivartan program is an imperative.