Restoring fathers to families and communities: Six steps for Policy makers Across the continent, in African states and communities 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.
The African Fathers Initiative launches an Africa-wide campaign for Africa's maternity services to engage more effectively with Africa's fathers. We can highlight a mass of global evidence proving the profound extra benefits to children and parents of the father’s active and positive involvement from the birth of his child.
Engaging with fathers effectively before, during and soon after the birth is the best opportunity for public services to ‘hook’ men into active involvement as dads long term. That’s why we’re calling for a whole host of changes to the way Africa's maternity services deal with dads.
Male circumcision (removal of the foreskin of the male penis) is increasingly gaining currency as part of strategies to reduce HIV-infection across Africa.
Sub-Saharan Africa is the worst affected region in the world, researchers in the field of reproductive health say that male circumcision (MC) could prevent six million new HIV infections in the next two decades. Yet there is need to examine just how far male circumcision offers protection for African men and women. Despite the flurry of attention since the release of health and social research results, the topic, like most issues of sexuality, remains mostly taboo in African social circles. Although evidence points to the simple surgical procedure as has having positive affects on HIV reduction, the procedure itself does nothing to address the many social factors of HIV prevalence in Africa – lack of access to health care for many people, stigma and cultural practices that reduce awareness and discussion, and gender imbalances in access to health and other services.
The African Father of the Year Stories Contest that will be run through 2008 to just before Fathers Day in June 2009 is to raise awareness about the importance of Africa’s fathering. For the past decade Essay Contests have helped USA and United Kingdom fathers groups to connect with more than 800,000 children, fathers and families. Now we bring it to Africa. Click here to go to our entry pages for kids online. More ...
Register Fathers on Birth Certificates 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! More ...
Male circumcision (removal of the foreskin of the male penis) is increasingly gaining currency as part of strategies to reduce HIV-infection across Africa. 
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First draft of the AFI Training Manual on tackling abusive behaviour. Comments, additions, improvements welcome!
