Our work at the African Fathers Initiative proceeds from an explicit commitment to gender equity. It does not challenge the importance of mothering or mothers’ rights to children, and it highlights the importance of parents working co-operatively for the interests of children.
Where are Africa's Fathers? This year on June 21st, we celebrated Father's Day in Africa as the world does globally, honouring our dads and letting them know how important they are in our children's lives. Yet for many African children, this was a day that went unnoticed, or worse, was a reminder of an empty space in their lives. How many children on the African continent are without fathers in their lives? The answer is we simply do not know. A contributing factor to both low commitment and knowledge about African fatherhood is the low numbers of fathers who register their names on their children's birth certificates. One simple step to start to raise the numbers committed fathers, and equip children with knowledge of their parentage, is to get Africa's dads to register their names on the birth certificates of their children! We focus on this as a key intervention for children that fathers’ names be registered on their babies’ birth certificates, not just because it is the child's right but because – in order to achieve this – fathers must be, for the first time, acknowledged and addressed directly, by perinatal services. More ...
The Global Symposium on Engaging Men and Boys in Gender Equality took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, March 30 – April 3, 2009. The African Fathers Initiative joined with four hundred and fifty participants from around the world to share their work in applied research, policy, and program development. In the Rio Declaration that was agreed at the end of the Symposium this section on Fatherhood is important to us:
"Responsible, committed and involved fatherhood is an essential component of any attempt to transform families and societies into new norms that better reflect gender equity, child rights and shared parenting responsibilities and enjoyment. It is in the home that gender inequality is at its most powerful and sometimes most hidden. Positive fatherhood therefore plays an important part in challenging the intergenerational transmission of damaging stereotypes and power relations. More commitment must be demonstrated to strengthening father roles and supporting men to realize their potential to facilitate their children’s attitudes and practices and, as men heal themselves from damaging and restrictive negative gender roles."
The Symposium developed a “Call to Action” for governments to implement policy that engages men and boys in gender equality. The final results of the Call to Action as well as key conclusions from the Symposium will be available soon on the MenEngage website . You can download the full declaration as a pdf at the bottom of this page.
Across the continent we need to mobilise to increase fathers’ involvement in the lives of their children. The strategies in each country may vary widely, reflecting the cultural and philosophical differences about the definition of “responsible fatherhood." Some efforts may focus on teaching men the skills they need to be good fathers; others will concentrate on child support enforcement; still others will promote marriage and two-parent family formation. But the reality is that all AU states are still doing less than they could to promote father involvement.
Around the globe there is a growing consensus that fathers - whatever they do - negatively or positively, have a profound influence on the present and future lives of their children.
FIFA World Cup coming to South Africa in 2010 ...
Sport has emerged recently as a way to tackle a range of development-related issues such as peace building, post-disaster relief and health promotion. Sonke co-hosted a meeting in Cape Town in July to look at the use of sport to promote social change.
Engaging men and boys has real impacts!
We know that programmes that work with men and boys can have significant impacts on increasing their support for gender equality and on reducing a range of problems like gender-based violence and HIV.
Leveraging 2010
The 2010 Soccer World Cup presents an ideal opportunity to highlight gender-based violence and engage with people; we need to leverage the heightened excitement around sport to tackle real social issues. As Sonke Co-Director Bafana Khumalo remarked: “2010 is not just for the stars and then when they leave, it’s all over”.
The downsides of 2010
The World Cup also raises potential problems, like increasing the vulnerability of women and children through greater sex tourism and paedophilia tourism.
What’s next?
Having looked at the experiences of existing sport for development initiatives like Grassroots Soccer, Coaching Boys into Men and the One Man Can street soccer festival, a steering committee has been formed to develop a strategy for 2010.
Restoring fathers to families and communities: Six steps for policy makers!
Sport has emerged recently as a way to tackle a range of development-related issues such as peace building, post-disaster relief and health promotion. Sonke co-hosted a meeting in Cape Town in July to look at the use of sport to promote social change.
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First draft of the AFI Training Manual on tackling abusive behaviour. Comments, additions, improvements welcome!
