MANthan: A gender equality promotion program where men and boys take the lead in promoting gender equality

WHAT ARE WE SETTING OUT TO DO?

ICRW aims to challenge norms of masculinity, institutional practices, behavior, and approaches in 12 panchayats and 30 villages in two blocks of Jamtara district. A multi-pronged approach is envisioned to create a transformative path for a continuous change process in these villages where ICRW and partner organizations are already working towards empowering adolescent girls. The program aims to validate the transformation process at both individual and group levels. The program also encourages open dialogue among men and women from all age groups and between parents and children, particularly between fathers and sons. Another focus area of the program is to provide leadership guidance to men and boys interested in volunteering, promoting gender equality, and engaging and collaborating with other key institutional community stakeholders to support positive engagement.

WHAT METHODS ARE WE USING?

We undertook an extensive and systematic mapping of the various developmental issues in the rural areas of our project sites. This mapping exercise provided a blueprint or an outline of a framework on how gendered various developmental problems are and how we would collectively engage men and boys and identify their roles in synchronization with women and girls who are already involved in those issues in their respective communities. The project has allowed us to present ideas of patriarchy, masculinity, and traditional ideals in front of the communities in new, innovative, and unique ways. This project also allows us to understand how different religions, castes, economic statuses, and other social norms are associated with gender discrimination or inequality and how they find varied and diverse expressions. Till February 2025, we selected nearly 75 youths from the intervention sites who willingly joined us and showed their heartiest interest in doing something for their community. We called them “Village Champion (VC)”. After several rounds of interaction, training, and orientation, nearly 50 Village Champions are actively working with us. Selecting and sustaining VCs are ongoing processes of the project to continuously bring new and innovative thoughts to the project.

ACHIEVEMENTS

A couple of exciting outcomes at this stage of our intervention with such village champions include how they have responded to the series of workshops and engaged with each other most critically, often challenging and contesting each other. There was never unanimity, nor a complete disagreement on the need to promote equality. Priorities or entry points to address gender inequality were never the same for all, which was exciting. The other exciting outcome for us has been how tangibly village champions have identified different pathways to promote gender equality in their respective communities. Most of them considered their communities’ most pressing developmental needs/issues as entry points. These Village Champions have, over the last one and half years, undertaken a number of activities and initiatives for their communities. They prepared their own strategies to address those issues creatively and innovatively. However, before finalizing the strategy, they conducted informal community-based surveys to identify the nature and magnitude of the problem and determine the acceptability of the intervention they are planning. It is exciting to see how they are taking several steps to create awareness and mobilize community on these issues. Some of them also initiate collective action to demand from the panchayat to initiate a systemic response to gender issues.

Some important achievements of Village Champions through their engagement with schools, governance structures (PRI), and communities include the readmission of dropout girls into schools, initiation of free tuition centers for adolescents, organizing community-level meetings, rallies, street theatres, etc. for sensitization and providing linkages to adolescents through govt schemes for skill building training programs, etc. These process-level outcomes show an encouraging way forward for the future. To date (February 2025), these village champions have created an additional network of more than 250 youths working together to promote gender equality in their respective villages.

CHALLENGES

The most challenging issue we have faced or often experience is the general apathy of the community towards issues of gender equality. Maintaining a consistent dialogue with community on this issue has been challenging. Inequality and caste hierarchy is deeply entrenched within these communities. While a mass campaign on girls’ education and child marriage is acceptable, a campaign that promotes overall equity and equality is challenging to navigate. Similarly, our Village Champions, who are already constrained in their employment and livelihood, often struggle with their insecurities and dilemmas when working on issues like equality. We know that structural inequalities are deep and a significant challenge for us. However, we think the snowballing of village champions into creating a larger network of such men and boys will keep up the momentum and eventually create a scale impact.

Project Team: Sakti Prasad Ghosh (Assistant Director – Program and Communication), Nasreen Jamal (Assistant Director – Programs), Paras Verma (Senior Technical Specialist – Monitoring and Evaluation), Triloki Nath (Senior Associate – Program and Research), Priya Pandit (Field Facilitator), Tapas Samaddar (Field Facilitator), Pratima Mirdha (Field Facilitator)