On 8 March, International Women’s Day, women and men around the globe come together to rally, discuss and take action to stop violence against women and girls. The United Nations observes this year’s International Women’s Day with the theme: “A Promise is a Promise: Time for Action to End Violence against Women!” And the time is right: violence against women and girls is a rampant problem worldwide.

Violence against women and girls is a global pandemic, with up to seven in ten women facing physical and/or sexual violence from an intimate partner during their lifetime. The Asia Pacific Region is no exception. What is increasingly becoming important in violence prevention interventions is the understanding of the root causes of violence against women and girls, and the right ways to address them in the specific national and regional contexts because violence against women and girls is preventable, not inevitable.

In Asia and the Pacific four United Nations agencies –...

Promoting gender equality and ending violence against women and girls require a concerted effort to actively engage men and boys as partners and agents for change, according to the workshop to launch three studies on Masculinities and Gender Discrimination in Viet Nam, organized today in Ha Noi by the United Nations in Viet Nam, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, the Viet Nam Farmers' Union and Partners for Prevention, a UNDP, UNFPA, UN Women and UNV Asia-Pacific regional joint programme for gender-based violence prevention.

Addressing the event, Ms. Tran Tuyet Anh, Director of the Family Department, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism stressed that the studies launching today help us to understand better . the root cause of the problem, how we can stop violence before it happens and what influences across men’s lives drive certain equitable or inequitable attitudes and behaviours. These...

Partners for Prevention gave a keynote speech to gender advocates and researchers at the ‘Engaging Men in Building Gender Equality’ conference, which took place 28-30 November in Wollongong, Australia. The conference, aimed at understanding current work in the critical study of men and masculinities, was organized by The Centre for Research on Men and Masculinities (CROMM) in the University of Wollongong.

Partners for Prevention Programme Coordinator, James Lang, gave a keynote speech that outlined new data on men’s experiences and use of violence that has emerged as a result of Partners for Prevention’s multi-country study which interviewed more than 10,000 men and women across seven countries in the Asia-Pacific region to explore the connections between masculinities, gender and power. One outcome of the presentation was discussions on the different ways different theories of gender and masculinities can be applied to the P4P data set – very helpful food for thought for...

Vietnamese musician and gender-rights advocate Pham Anh Khoa has been selected as a member of the Secretary-General’s Network of Men Leaders to End Violence against Women. Mr Anh Khoa also serves as the goodwill ambassador for the Soul Nation campaign, which is supported by Partners for Prevention. Due to his strong track record of speaking out against violence against women and girls in Viet Nam, Partners for Prevention put forward his nomination to the Network.

“We need to break the cycle of violence,” Pham Anh Khoa said at the Asia-Pacific Regional Commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, held today in Bangkok, “ I believe respect, trust, understanding, love, equality and non-violence are key principles of a healthy relationship. There is no place for force and violence in love. True friends listen to and respect each other’s opinions. We (both men and women) should work towards making our relationships healthy”.

As...

There is a long history of social-cultural practices in Aceh that encourage volunteerism and are expressed through the traditions of meuseuraya (mutual cooperation between a few people) or gotong royong (mutual aid that is usually identified with the planting and harvesting of rice).

A newly available study, “Contributions of Volunteerism to the Prevention of Gender-Based Violence in Aceh” (Partners for Prevention, 2011) documents the history of volunteerism in Aceh from its cultural and religious customs, through the post-conflict and post-tsunami periods to current new behaviors and lifestyles of the younger generation that have resulted from greater mobility and increased familiarity and access to information and communication technology.

For the full story, see: http://...

Special Report: The Female Factor in the International Herald Tribune. By DIDI KIRSTEN TATLOW

BANGKOK — Mention “transforming masculinities” in Asia, and some might assume the topic is Thailand’s flourishing sex-change industry.

Yet a different effort to transform masculinities has started among civil society groups that have a goal that may be even more ambitious than physically transforming gender: They want to change how people think about “being a man” to break the connection between masculinity and violence that is the root cause of high rates of gender violence in the region.

The new direction is prompted by a realization that after years of trying to help the mostly female and child victims of domestic and gender violence, the situation is not improving. The logic is straightforward: prevention.

“To stop violence, you need to prevent it from happening,” said Somsouk Sananikone, a civil society activist from Laos, speaking after a recent...

For the first time, provincial trainers of UNDP’s Gender Equality Project (GEP) in Afghanistan have received training on ending gender-based violence (GBV). The capacity building workshop was recently held in Kabul, and was jointly organised by UNDP, UN Women, UNAMA, and Ministry of Women’s Affairs, with technical assistance from Partners for Prevention. The training of trainers (TOT) workshop aimed to enhance the capacity of trainers on understanding GBV, and give an overview of effective approaches on the prevention of GBV and guidance on integrating GBV prevention into other programme areas. The workshop also provided a space for initial strategizing on how to develop locally relevant GBV approaches and coordinate efforts across the country.

The workshop was inaugurated by the Chairperson of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), the Deputy Minister of Women’s Affairs, a member of Parliament and Mr. David Akopyan, Deputy Country Director of UNDP....

The Regional Learning Community (RLC), a grouping of gender justice practitioners, activists and academics from the East and Southeast Asian region, are fostering greater critical consciousness and analysis of gender justice in the region. Over the past two years, the RLC has created an egalitarian, inclusive and empowering learning space for practitioners from the region to share their knowledge and experience. Thus, new knowledge on gender justice is generated by, for, and with community members from around the sub-regions. Emerging from this process, participants have produced a regional curriculum to enhance understanding of gender theory and gender justice and enhance the skills needed to apply this new knowledge.

The curriculum’s creation emerged from a series of consultations where local partners identified a need for learning tools based on local realities. The curriculum is designed to enhance the understanding of masculinities and gender-power relations in...

A school-based violence prevention project was launched on 9 July, in Da Nang, Viet Nam, by PyD in conjunction with the central city's Department of Education and Training. The project aims to create an enabling environment within schools for gender violence prevention and mitigation through advocacy among students, teachers, students' clubs, and policy makers.

The project will be implemented until 2014, with financial and technical support from the Spanish Agency for International Development and Partners for Prevention, with additional technical support provided by a team from the International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW) Asia office. The project’s approach and curriculum was adapted from the Gender Equity Movement in Schools (GEMS) model that has been implemented in India and has shown results.

"Working with children who are still forming ideas about gender and violence has proven to be an effective strategy for preventing violence later on in life," said...

The South Asian Network to Address Masculinities (SANAM) is offering a fellowship programme, 'Understanding Masculinities: Culture, Politics and Social Change,' to build a resource pool of men, women and transgender persons with the knowledge base and skills to challenge harmful masculinities in different social settings.

The fellowship is open to individuals from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka only. Twenty-five fellows will be selected based on their experience, prior engagement and commitment, personal history and expertise. The deadline for applications is 25 August 2012.

For more information on SANAM, see http://www.engagingmen.net/networks/sanam .

To apply for the fellowship programme, see...

Acts of sexual violence committed by truckers, honour killings and the migration patterns of Pakistani men after marrying western women - these were just some of the complex issues addressed in projects finalized by fellows who were chosen and trained by the South Asian Network to Address Masculinities (SANAM).

SANAM, supported by P4P, is designed to develop the capacity of young activists on masculinities, gender justice and GBV prevention in South Asia. Through an intensive learning course that, provides theoretical frameworks and promising practices on these issues, the initiative is enabling individuals and organizations to develop more critically engaged actions and successful projects .

Thirty SANAM fellows from Nepal, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan conducted and presented the findings from individual projects. In April, the Pakistani fellows joined together in Islamabad, at Quaid-i-Azam University, with a host of students, professors, civil society groups and...

Partners for Prevention is accepting applications from practitioners in the Asia-Pacific region to participate in a regional learning event focused on the primary prevention of gender-based violence. The "Asia-Pacific Regional Workshop: Introduction to Primary Prevention of Gender-based Violence" will take place 2–4 July 2012, in Bangkok, Thailand. The deadline for applications is 8 June 2012.

This three-day workshop will highlight promising global and regional approaches to primary prevention, and how to integrate prevention activities into ongoing programming. After the workshop, participants will know what primary prevention is, why it is important and be familiar with different approaches for implementing prevention interventions.

The workshop is targeted at practitioners and policy makers from Asia and the Pacific region who have an interest to learn about primary prevention or plan to have a primary prevention project/intervention. Participants will be drawn...

Across Cambodia hundreds of women and men are helping to save lives and build a more equitable future for the country. They are community volunteers working to end violence against women and girls (VAW/G). This video features five volunteers working for three civil society organizations in Cambodia: People Health Development (PHD), Gender and Development Cambodia (GADC) and the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) to raise awareness and change attitudes and behaviours towards VAW/G. These inspiring volunteers talk about what motivates them to volunteer, what changes they have seen in their community, and themselves. As parts of their work, these five volunteers participate every year in the white ribbon campaign, the largest global effort of men working to end VAW/G. Wearing a white ribbon is a personal pledge to never commit, condone or remain silent about VAW/G.

...

P4P is helping to test the use of social media platforms in campaigns to prevent GBV in the Asia-Pacific region. Social media can be a powerful tool for engaging young people with violence prevention efforts, but it has its limitations. The P4P regional project, “Engaging Young Men through Social Media for the Prevention of Violence against Women” - designed to raise awareness and motivate young people to take action to prevent GBV - has revealed practical lessons from three campaigns, on the effective use of social media tools for violence prevention. The three campaigns, implemented in 2011/2012, were conducted by Community the Youth Collective (CYC), a youth NGO from Delhi, India; Peace and Development Viet Nam (PYD), a Spanish NGO in Hanoi, Vietnam; and Eastern Campus, a public relations company in Beijing, China, that focuses on promoting social issues on college campuses.

P4P is currently developing a guide on Applying Social Media Tools for the Primary Prevention...

Partners for Prevention will hold a 'Skills Building Training on Qualitative 'Life History' Data Analysis in Asia and the Pacific.' The deadline for applications is 29 March 2012, and the training will be held on 26 April in Bangkok, Thailand.

Students, researchers, and practitioners from the Asia-Pacific region are encouraged to apply for this one-day training with internationally renowned scholar and activist on gender and masculinities, Professor Raewyn Connell. The workshop will be an opportunity to network and share experiences from research projects and initiatives focused on deepening an understanding of masculinities as a means of preventing gender-based violence and promoting gender equality.

For more information, see
http://partners4prevention.org/sites/...

Practitioners and donors working to prevent GBV came together for a regional consultation meeting held in Bangkok, in February. Participants reviewed current evidence of promising interventions from the Asia-Pacific region and explored issues at the heart of GBV prevention:

1) how to promote greater understanding of what prevention is and how it should be incorporated into interventions and policies as part of a holistic response to GBV;
2) how to support local innovation for prevention, while advocating for rigorous evidence-based programs;
3) how to improve processes for collaboration and coordination; and
4) how to address problems of continuity for long-term social change in the context of short-term project cycles.

In line with the moves to promote wider networking, participants discussed the need to improve collaboration mechanisms at the national and regional levels. “It is time to move from informal collaboration processes to a more formal...

New research in Bangladesh found that men who have been abused as a child are at least two times more likely to use violence against women later on in life. The survey, implemented by icddr,b, UNFPA and Partners for Prevention, is the first of its kind in Bangladesh. The research approach of interviewing men has provided cutting-edge knowledge on social norms, men’s attitudes and behaviours regarding gender and violence.

The study reconfirmed that a high proportion of men use violence against women, with 52% of men reporting using physical violence against an intimate partner, and 10% of urban and 15% of rural men reporting rape of an intimate partner. However, men also experience high levels of violence as children, with an astounding 22-37% of men reporting experiencing sexual abuse as a child and 16-21% reporting physical abuse.

“We need to break this cycle of violence, we need to ensure that all our children have the chance to live in a peaceful home and the...

During the 16 Days of Activism, from 25 November to 10 December 2011, Partners for Prevention will post a new blog each day on our website. Follow Partners for Prevention’s blog to find out how we are supporting an end to violence against women.

***

DAY 16 Supporting the ‘Good Men’ campaign in Cambodia

To promote the engagement and involvement of men in realizing gender equality in Cambodia, H.E. Sy Define, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Women's Affairs chaired the launch of the national ‘Good Men’ campaign. The launch took place coinciding with the 16-days campaign, an international event that aims at ending all forms of violence against women (VAW).

The Good Men campaign is a nation-wide communication initiative that targets boys and men throughout Cambodia. Its slogan is ‘Good men give value to women’. The ‘Good Men’ Campaign focuses on primary prevention or stopping violence before it starts. Its ultimate goal is to end violence against women...

Are your Filmmaking dreams hampered by a lack of a video camera? Let us help you…

Must Bol, a youth led campaign against gender violence, invites young filmmakers to participate in an online short film contest. At Must Bol, we believe that young people have something to say and can use films to express themselves. So borrow a camera to make a film and win your own Video Camera!

We invite young people to share creative cinematic expressions on one of the following:

• Body Image Issues (like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3rItSVR6jc)

• Gender Stereotypes (like http://mustbol.in/video-blog/dream-girl)

• Violence within Relationship (like...

Over 30 people from seven countries in Asia and the Pacific came together recently to develop effective and sustainable strategies to communicate findings from The Change Project in their advocacy, public awareness, community and programming activities.

The Change Project is coordinated by Partners for Prevention, a UNDP, UNFPA, UN Women and UNV regional programme for Asia and the Pacific. It aims to consolidate a pioneering body of research on masculinities and their connections to violence against women to inform evidence-based responses to violence prevention.

The meeting took place October 31-November 2 in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and brought together representatives from the UN, civil society, academia, and researchers from Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, Viet Nam; leading researchers from key international GBV research projects including IMAGES, the WHO Multi-Country Study on Violence against Women and the Medical Research...

The United Nations Secretary-General's UNiTE campaign has launched a T-Shirt Design Competition and are inviting young men ages 18 – 25 years old to use their imagination to prevent and end all forms of violence against women and girls and embody the concepts of equality, non-discrimination and respect in their designs. Five winners selected by twenty nine regional and five global judges, and one winner chosen by the Public Vote, will travel to New York to participate in the UN official observance of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, which will take place on 22 November this year at UN Headquarters. For more information, see:http://unitetshirtcompetition.org/en/home

Deadline for applications: 28 September 2011

Date and Venue: 3-5 November 2011 in Colombo, Sri Lanka

Partners for Prevention is accepting applications from practitioners from the Asia-Pacific region to participate in a regional workshop aiming at building practical skills for those implementing, planning or considering primary prevention projects/programmes.The workshop will also be an opportunity to network and share experiences from projects and initiatives focused on primary prevention of gender-based violence from the Asia and Pacific region.

Partners for Prevention is drawing upon resource people with extensive experiences and expertise in primary prevention of gender-based violence, prevention programming, and gender-based violence research. All participants will be planning or implementing a primary prevention project or strategy.

Participants will share knowledge and skills to:

•Design and coordinate primary prevention projects based...

The Model UN session on the constructive dialogue between the CEDAW committee and Chinese delegation was held in Beijing Normal University on May 28th. 30 student representatives from 10 first tier universities from Beijing and Shanghai participated in the activity. 5 students represented the CEDAW Committee members and the rest acted as Chinese delegates from 10 ministries of Chinese government.
As part of the project on ‘Engaging Young Men through Social Media for the Prevention of Violence against Women’, this offline activity enhanced gender awareness and the understanding of CEDAW among young people. Before the model session, student participants studied CEDAW convention and researched current gender issues in China and produced a comprehensive report on the progress the Chinese government has made in improving gender equality and the existing problems and challenges. During the model session, participants discussed the status-quo of gender equality including violence...

A group of young NGO activists from South Asia recently took part in an 18-day study programme in Nepal aimed at developing understanding on the political, social and cultural aspects of masculinities in relation to gender justice. The study programme was conducted by the South Asian Network to Address Masculinities (SANAM), with support from Partners for Prevention, and is part of SANAM’s Capacity Development Initiative in South Asia project.

The study programme was conducted 1-18 February in Nepal. Thirty people from various backgrounds of work and research on issues related to gender equality and masculinities from four countries in South Asia (Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan), along with one each from Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Philippines (totaling 33) participated in the study programme. Prominent experts from South Asia took part as resource persons.

The study programme used a training curriculum developed by SANAM that explores seven sub-themes: Conflict...

Must Bol is a call to young people to examine violence in their lives and speak out against it. The campaign is targeting youth in Delhi who are active and potential social media users, and uses creative media to generate thought-provoking discussions on gender and violence. The campaign has taken up issues of relevance to the inner circle of young people’s lives - self, body, family, peers, intimate relationships and workplace.

'In our engagement with young people we have witnessed how gender affects so many aspects of young people's lives and yet remains largely unquestioned. Violence emerging from gender goes largely unrecognized and routinised in many ways and even celebrated at times. There is great need for intervention and support, for placing gender in perspective and creating avenues for dialogue and discussion,' said Rama Rao, the facilitator of CYC’s Youth led Campaign. 'What is happening through this campaign is frank and open sharing of experiences and...

Engagingmen.net has launched the first issue of its community e-magazine, "16 Days of Activism: Our Collective Action". The e-magazine is available at www.engagingmen.net/e-magazine-issue-1 .

The e-magazine includes news, photos and video highlights of campaign activities conducted by Engagingmen.net members from around the globe, including community outreach activities, policy and advocacy campaigns, social media activism and youth mobilisation initiatives. The campaign activities highlighted in the e-magazine took place during the 2010 16 Days of Activism, between 25 November and 10 December. These events called for the elimination of all forms of violence against women, including the importance of involving men in the prevention of violence against women.

The Engagingmen.net (EMN) Community E-magazine series is designed as a forum for EMN members to reflect on...

James Lang, Coordinator of Partners for Prevention, gave a seminar at UNDP Headquarters to discuss the successes and challenges of the UNDP, UNFPA, UN Women and UNV regional joint program that includes the core strategy of working with boys and men to prevent violence against women in Asia and the Pacific.

The event was made accessible within the UN family as well as to the public in real time via www.ustream.tv. Participants logged in from Antigua, Canada, Mexico, Pakistan, Guyana, and Fiji, and were able to post questions and hear the responses to them.

To watch the video, see: (http://www.engagingmen.net/video/sysop/2011/01/presentation...

Activists and practitioners working for gender justice and violence prevention in East and Southeast Asia and the Pacific met in Bangkok recently to outline a collective approach for knowledge creation and sharing across the region.

“By pulling together regionally and developing a body of knowledge and strategies for action that is pertinent to the experiences of our countries, we will strengthen and inspire our work and ultimately empower ourselves and those we work with” said Undarya Tumursukh, the National Coordinator of Mongolia Feminist Network.

“Our work is about transforming communities, attitudes, and behaviors on masculinities as a way to prevent gender-based violence,” said Nur Hasyim, Coordinator of the Men’s Programme of Rifka Annisa in Indonesia, “It is important to collectively improve our understanding, perspective, skills, and strategy on how to challenge masculinities and patriarchies.”

Participants outlined the plan to develop a regional...

Partners for Prevention, in collaboration with the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD) is conducting research aimed at exploring the challenges Parliamentarian’s face in moving prevention policy forward, and developing a deeper understanding of how they can be supported in the key roles they can play in GBV prevention in their countries.

P4P recently interviewed MPs at the Regional Women Ministers’ and Parliamentarians Conference, “Review of Parliamentarians’ Actions and Legislations on the Elimination of Violence against Women,” on 21 -22 October , in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. At the conference, Partners for Prevention also gave a presentation about how to engage boys and men in the prevention of violence against women in the session “Men in Action on Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls”. Over 90 parliamentarians from 19 Asia-Pacific countries participated in the conference. The conference was organized by AFPPD in cooperation with...

Prevailing views on manhood in Cambodia are similar to those found in communities around the world: men are expected to be dominant over women and the main breadwinners within the household. According to a recent study conducted by Gender and Development for Cambodia (GADC), some men also believe that men can use violence against women when their gendered roles are challenged.

The study - Deoum Troung Pram Hath in Modern Cambodia: A Qualitative Exploration of Gender Norms, Masculinity and Domestic Violence – examines the links between masculinity, gender, and domestic violence and aims to help identify effective means of preventing violence against women and children. The study was conducted with support from Partners for Prevention, the International Centre for Research on Women with additional funding from the UN Trust Fund for Ending Violence against Women.

A dominant view held by the respondents is that violence committed by men at home is seen less negatively...

The South Asian Network to Address Masculinities (SANAM) has developed a curriculum for practitioners in South Asia to foster commitment to work with boys and men to challenge gender-based inequalities and violence. The curriculum promotes a reflective mode of thinking that enables boys and men to challenge their own attitudes and behaviour patterns at an individual level – and then to apply their skills and passion to help inspire changes within communities and organizations.

SANAM consists of academics, practitioners, trainers and activists from around South Asia with diverse experience and expertise on masculinities and gender. SANAM has developed innovative strategies for deepening knowledge and inspiring change including an 18 day emersion in the curriculum and a mentorship plan to match experienced members with young practitioners who will be engaged throughout 2011 in implementing new activities in their local environment.

The curriculum includes a focus on...

Partners for Prevention recently launched Engagingmen.net, a new practitioners' portal for people around the world who are interested in engaging boys and men in gender justice. As of December 2010, around 600 individuals from around the world have become members of the web based portal. Members come from diverse backgrounds but share common interest in issues including women's empowerment, the prevention of violence against women, stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS, promoting responsible fatherhood and healthy relationships, and more.

This interactive site aims to help practitioners develop and expand their knowledge on involving boys and men in supporting women’s empowerment and ending violence against women. The site includes a large online library of resources on gender justice, including toolkits, training manuals and research reports. It also provides special pages and topical groups to help practitioners connect with others in their region or field of interest. Members...

NGOs and communications experts met in Bangkok recently to explore the latest cutting edge platforms, tools and theories on using social media for social change. Seventeen participants from India, China, and Indonesia took part in the meeting, along with representatives from UNIFEM and Demand Media, a leading online media company and expert in developing social media platforms.

The meeting brought together the three organizations that are part of Partners for Prevention’s “Engaging Young Men through Social Media for the Prevention of Violence against Women” project, which aims to connect and inspire young people to take action to end violence against women and will be carried out in China, Indonesia, and India.

With the support of a leading expert on social media from Demand Media, participants explored the key principles of a social media campaign, the most effective social media tools available and how they can be used creatively to reach out to boys and men to...

What do masculinities have to do with gender-based violence? This is the question that brought together representatives from civil society, academic, research institutes and UN agencies from across the Asia-Pacific region last week to launch Partners for Prevention’s ground-breaking Gender-based Violence and Masculinities Research Project. The three-year project will enhance our understanding of the underlying causes of gender-based violence, build local and regional knowledge on how to engage men and boys to prevent violence, and lay a foundation to inspire future research on a global scale.

“We’ve come together to jump-start a body of research that will leave a legacy for gender justice in the region,” says P4P project coordinator James Lang. “This collective endeavor is building alliances between researchers, civil society, government and UN partners to catalyze innovation and guide our understanding gender-based violence prevention to new levels.”

The program’s “...