October 2022
Hi Gender Activists!
I am thrilled to be taking on the role of MenEngage Africa newsletter editor for this quarter! This is a new tradition where a member of MenEngage Africa or Sonke Secretariat team will take on the editor role each quarter. This will give our readers an opportunity to meet the members and the team at the Secretariat.
For this edition, we’re proud to look back on MEA participation at the recently concluded International Aids conference in Montreal with robust summaries of the MEA member led sessions, activities to commemorate International Youth Day, as well as other highlights from members. We have a new segment where we will profile one of our members from the country networks. In this issue, we profile my friend and my Dada, Rouzeh Eghtessadi who is the executive Director of SAfAIDS and a formidable voice in the SRHR sector in the Eastern and Southern Africa region. We have done our best to bring you exciting highlights from the region from the MEA members in the 22 countries, relying on the outstanding contributions from the MEA members and our amazing editorial team at Sonke.
A huge thank you to all the persons who contributed writing the wonderful and inspiring articles, without which there wouldn’t have been this newsletter issue.
Thank you!
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NEWS
The 24th International AIDS Conference took place in Montreal, Canada, from July 31 to August 2, 2022. The International AIDS Conference is organised by IAS – the International AIDS Society. This is an important gathering for people living with and affected by HIV and all those working to address the HIV epidemic.
Sonke Gender Justice, AfriYAN East and Southern Africa, MenEngage Africa partner organisations under the Power to Youth Program, and Uganda Youth and Adolescents Health Forum (UYAHF) convened at the AIDS conference on July 31st, 2022, for an all-inclusive, interactive, engaging, and fun panel discussion aimed at drawing together young people from East, South, and West Africa in general to discuss, dialogue, and share experiences on young people's demand, access, and uptake of integrated and quality youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health, HIV, and SGBV services.
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Twitter Space
According to the Uganda crime police 2021, ranked domestic violence as the 3rd crime most committed where 3103 males are victims of domestic violence and 771 juveniles which has proved beyond doubt that men and boys too are victims of Gender based violence.
Violence against women is on the increase in Uganda despite the presence of laws and policies to protect victims and survivors.
It’s against this background, that MenEngage organised a Twitter space on the 15th of August 2022 to strategizing men involvement in ending gender-based violence. The dialogue took place at a crucial time when intergenerational solidarity and the need for collective efforts across all generations to achieve the SDGs is necessary to leave no one behind, particularly men and boys.
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Twitter Space
Intergenerational dialogue on the role of men and boys in advancing women and girls' rights
In the spirit of commemorating International Youth Day, which was themed Intergenerational Solidarity: Creating a World for All Ages, the MenEngage Rwanda youth wing, under the direction of AFRO ARK, hosted a gathering with 30 attendees from various youth-led or youth-serving civil society organisations to celebrate International Youth Day (#IYD) and engage in discussion about the contribution of young men and boys to the advancement of women's and girls' rights.
The discussion took place on August 24, 2022. It was an extension of the local language-hosted Twitter chat, which was hosted on the 15th of August 2022.
The face-to-face dialogue covered a variety of topics related to the strategies and tools currently in use in Rwanda to foster an environment with proactive public policy to facilitate the sharing of power and responsibilities at the family and community levels.
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This quarter, we're recognising Ms. Rouzeh Eghtessadi, a member of the MenEngage Africa Steering Committee. She is a public health specialist and human rights defender, currently serving as Executive Director of SAfAIDS Regional that operates across the SADC region. She has offered 24 years of service in Africa within social justice, clinical, academia, health and human development sectors. Her professional pursuits advance gender and SRHR justice and democracy in community, institutional and policy spaces.
Her passion centers elevating dignity and agency of women and girls, children and youth, and populations in most dire circumstances. As a strategist and innovator, systems developer and organisational development practitioner, Rouzeh is an enthusiast for community development, and voluntarily serves on several continental and regional platforms that address human and social development challenges.
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“A sustained SRHR response is founded on gender justice. The longer we remain complacent to achieving gender justice, alongside economic and climate justice; the further away we remain in achieving Agenda 2030”
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NEWS
Sonke Gender Justice, in close collaboration with Rutgers, conducted a Gender Transformative Approaches (GTA) and Advocacy leading to the development of an advocacy strategy for the coalition partners; the Uganda Association of Women Lawyers (FIDA-Uganda), the Center for Health, Human Rights, and Development (CEHURD), and Reach A Hand Uganda (RAHU).
The training took place in Kampala, Uganda, from July 18th to July 21st, 2022.
The overall objectives of the sessions were to assess the level of understanding of GTA and advocacy by the Generation G Coalition’s staff implementing the Generation G programme in the selected districts in Uganda and to develop an advocacy strategy for the Gen G Coalition partners to guide advocacy campaigns and all other interventions during the project implementation period.
Despite all the progress made thus far, gender inequality across the spectrum persists in Uganda. As women continues to carry the majority of the caregiving responsibilities and household labour. COVID-19 excecated inequalities and perpetuation of harmful customs that are largely supported by discriminatory gender norms, such as child marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM), implementing gender transportive strategies is therefore essential.
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NEWS
For millions of people around the world, religion and traditions are still important. It can be used to find solutions to achieve gender equality because of its power to shape perception and behaviors in the world. It is critical to collaborate with religious and traditional leaders to achieve gender justice and put an end to other social ills. Due to their extensive networks and communication channels, religious and traditional leaders are crucial for spreading messages, influencing public opinion, mobilising volunteers, providing financial and advocacy support, and influencing government policy.
Sonke Gender Justice (Sonke) in collaboration with MenEngage Africa (MEA) through the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) funding hosted a 2-day training of trainers (ToT) on engaging religious and traditional leaders for the MenEngage Namibia network in Windhoek on the 1st until the 2nd of August 2022 as well as for the MenEngage Zimbabwe network in Harare on the 15th until the 16th of August 2022.
The ToT was aimed at strengthening the country secretariat Lifeline/Childline (LLCL) and MenEngage Namibia network members to have strengthened capacities to coordinate, implement, enhance, and scale up their gender transformative approaches to Gender Based Violence (GBV) prevention and gender equal parenting through engaging these leaders.
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NEWS
Esther Omam featured on 'She Stands for Peace e-book’
We would like to congratulate Esther Omam NJomo, Executive Director of Reach Out Cameroon, the Secretariate of MenEngage Cameroon who is featured in the She Stands for Peace e-book, which was published by the United Nations Office to the African Union (UNOAU) with assistance from the United Nations Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA). This e-release book's is a continuation of UNOAU's efforts to raise the profile of women and women's networks who are significantly advancing peace and security in Africa.
The e-book outlines stories and experiences of women peace crusaders (20 women and 3 women networks) in Africa. The stories featured in the e-book will motivate more positive actions to support African women’s peacebuilding efforts and inspire many women and young women to engage and contribute to the promotion of peace and security in Africa and around the globe.
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NEWS
MenEngage Cameroon replicates the MATI Training: Feminist Transformative Leadership for social and Structural Drivers
Following the MATI Training on Feminist Transformative Leadership for Social and Structural Drivers in Kampala, Uganda in April 2022, members of MenEngage Cameroon took part in a replication of the training on July 28, 2022. Nkengafack Eucharia, the country coordinator for MenEngage Cameroon, and Laura Berka, an advocate for SRHR who was present in person, facilitated this online training..
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MENENGAGE AFRICA IN THE NEWS
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IN THE NEWS
Government asked to Include Youth in the Decision-making leadership positions.
You and various Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have asked government to consider including Youth in decision making process since they are majority of the country’s population
In a join press briefing held at EASSI offices in Kampala, representatives of various CSOs noted that it is not practical for a country with 70% young having 5 representative sin Parliament and a few councilors at district level.
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IN THE NEWS
Esther Omam Joins African Women Hall of Fame
During the celebration of the 60th Edition of The Day of the African Woman organised by the ministry for the Promotion of Women's Empowerment and the family- MINPROFF, Esther Omam was admitted in the hall of fame of African Women who have been fighting for the valorisation and emancipation of women in Cameroon after Delphine Tsanga and Alphine Ekotto. She was recognised for contributing to the empowerment of the Cameroonian Women. This recognitions comes after many awards which acknowledge the outstanding efforts and contribution of Esther Omam in supporting women, promoting peace and leading humanitarian aid actions in conflict-affected communities.
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