Positive Youth Development in Health Programming: How Does Engaging Boys and Young Men Fit in? A Technical Marketplace
View slides, resources, key takeaways, and the event recording here.
Join us to learn about recent research and programming for gender-transformative positive youth development with a focus on the role of adolescent boys and young men (ABYM). Participants will have the opportunity to network with colleagues who are working to engage men and boys across health and development areas around the globe.
Positive Youth Development (PYD) is emerging as both a philosophy and a programmatic approach that can support healthy, productive, and engaged youth as they grow into adulthood. To empower youth to reach their full potential, PYD approaches support building skills, assets, and competencies; fostering healthy relationships; strengthening the environment; and transforming systems. Promoting gender equality through each of these approaches can further enhance both PYD and gender equality outcomes, particularly when applied in early cognitive- and relationship-development stages for ABYM.
The Interagency Gender Working Group’s (IGWG) Male Engagement Task Force is excited to explore how PYD can support ABYM in their overall health and development during our 2022 Technical Marketplace.
Presenters will share recent research or programming around PYD for ABYM, particularly how gender-transformative PYD contributes to positive health behaviors related to family planning and reproductive health; HIV/AIDS; gender-based violence; maternal, newborn, and child health; and infectious diseases (such as COVID-19, tuberculosis, malaria). Presenters will explore how adolescent boys and young men can contribute to the PYD approach through:
- Access—including access to high-quality information, safe services, and livelihood opportunities to build the skills they need to lead healthy, productive, and engaged lives.
- Participation—including full participation in decision-making as key partners to contribute to individual, household, community, and national well-being.
- Systems—including collective voice in local and national systems to achieve more coordinated and effective services, practices, and policies that embody PYD principles.
PRESENTERS
Michael Reichert, applied and research child psychologist and author of How to Raise a Boy: The Power of Connection to Build Good Men, will give an opening keynote address.
Amy Uccello, Youth and Family Planning Technical Advisor at USAID, will provide an overview of USAID’s recently launched Youth in Development Policy, including its PYD framework.
We will also will hear from the following speakers about their programs or research:
- Ajita Vidyarthi, Plan International Canada: “Leveraging Partnerships With Men and Boys for Optimum Health Outcomes for All.”
- Douri Bennin Hajei, Youth Advocacy on Rights and Opportunities (YARO): “Modalities for Change: How Youth Are Engaging Boys and Men in Youth-Led Social Accountability Work in Ghana.”
- Mary Mhazo, Kwakha Indvodza: Litfuba Ngelakho (The Chance Is Yours): “An Innovative Approach to HIV Prevention Through Engaging Boys and Young Men in Eswatini.”
- Masresha Soressa, Pathfinder International: “Boys’ Engagement in Menstrual Hygiene and Management in Rural Parts of Ethiopia.”
- Monica Giuffrida, Women’s Refugee Commission: “Sibling Support for Adolescent Girls in Emergencies (SSAGE): Findings From a Brother–Sister-Centered, Family-Based Model to Address Violence Against Girls in Humanitarian Settings.”
- Namita Mohandas, Howard Delafield International LLP: “Promoting Adolescent Boys’ Engagement With Sexual and Reproductive Health, Agency, and Gender Synchronicity Through Gaming.”
- Usen Asanga, Youth Development and Empowerment Initiative: “Engaging Adolescent Boys to Promote Reproductive Health and Prevent Gender-Based Violence in Nigeria: The SKILLZ Guyz Approach.”
We look forward to you joining us!
With appreciation,
The Male Engagement Task Force Co-Chairs
Myra Betron, Jhpiego and USAID’s MOMENTUM Country and Global Leadership
Julie Pulerwitz and Ann Gottert, Population Council and Breakthrough RESEARCH
Dominick Shattuck, Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs and Breakthrough ACTION
Want to know more about IGWG’s METF?
The Male Engagement Task Force (METF) is an information, advocacy, and knowledge exchange network that examines what it means to engage men and boys in health promotion and gender equality. The METF aims to explore why we should engage men and boys, what are the benefits, how to do it, what works and doesn’t work, and what modalities of health services can better reach and include men and boys while addressing gender dynamics that act as barriers to health. Health areas of focus include family planning; sexual and reproductive health; maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health; nutrition; HIV/AIDS; and prevention and treatment of infectious diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis. The METF focuses on relevant social and behavior change, service delivery, research, and policy efforts to improve outcomes across these health areas. For more information, click here.
