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Engaging Young Men in Post-Conflict Settings: Masculinities, Marginalization, and Challenges

Delve into the impact of conflict on masculinities, explore effective interventions, and consider the roles of young men in shaping post-war societies. Reflect on findings from surveys and discuss policies for empowering marginalized youth.

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Engaging Young Men in Post-Conflict Settings: Masculinities, Marginalization, and Challenges

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  1. WHAT’S UP WITH YOUNG MEN? Youth, Marginalization and Masculinities in the Context of Conflict Gary Barker, PhD, International Director InstitutoPromundo Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Washington, DC, USA www.promundo.org.br

  2. The Topics • How conflict and war shape and influence masculinities • Reflect about key findings from the International Men and Gender Equality Survey (IMAGES) • Discuss a few ways forward in terms of policies

  3. Masculinities and conflict • Deliberate manipulation of unemployed boys and men by armed groups; • Armed groups become surrogate families, offer male role models; • At the hands of the gun, being part of armed groups offers sex, status, income, power • Challenge of returning to civilian life in which men revert to status of being “boys” and being powerless • The challenge in unlearning violence

  4. After the Conflict: What Happens to Young Men? • Young men IDP camps: nothing to do, nothing to be • Sexual violence in camps • How is aid distributed in camps? • The effects of waiting …. • Transactional sex: men buying, young women selling • The challenge of transition – going back to “youthhood”, lost livelihoods

  5. Violence Witnessed in Conflict Can Bring Long-term Effects: Example from Rwanda(Rwandan Men’s Resource Center, Promundo and ICRW) • Nationally representative sample: n=3612; carried out mid-2010 • 39% of men say they have used GBV against partner; 57.2% of women say they have experienced violence • 37% of women say they experienced marital rape; 3.7% of men say they have done it • 66% of men and 53.5% of women experienced violence growing up; 44% and 40% witnessed GBV in home • 80% of men and women witnessed/experienced violence of some kind during genocide • Men who witnessed or experienced violence during genocide were 50% more like to have used violence against a sexual partner

  6. What works in fragile settings? (Where there is no gender expert …) • Build on positive, local cultural practices (young men’s roles in the lives of children, elders, positive rites of passage, youth culture) • Identifying the “voices of resistance” – youngmen who already showed willingness to embrace new ideas about masculinities • Helping young and adult men find new identities

  7. Program examples from other post-conflict settings: Balkans • Engaging young men in the Balkans in vocational training high schools with CARE-Balkans and local NGO partners • Using group education and community campaigns to promote new ideas about “Balkans manhood” • 41-55% used violence against other boys in past 3 months • Continuing support of xenophobic violence and ethnic tensions • Working with ministries of youth, sports, education to embed the process in policy • Providing a space for young men who are willing to question prevailing norms – with a focus on deconstructing militaristic versions of manhood

  8. Including Young Men Where the Action Is: Women’s Economic Empowerment • Pilot project to engage male partners of female VSLA participants • Formative research found that VSLA generally reduces GBV but did not lead to more equitable household decision-making • Husbands more likely to hide income from wives than vice versa; most common source of couple conflict was money • Building group sessions for husbands into VSLA • Men reacting positively: • “I thought that I have to be the boss and when I grow older I should do nothing in the house, but now I learned that a man could do what a women can do.” • “We learned to know what our wife’s are doing in the house and in VSL: this has helped us to understand how we can support her.”

  9. Final Reflections • Build on the evidence-based interventions and take them to scale • Build on the change that is already happening • Build young and adult men’s participation into large scale interventions reaching women, for example microcredit and CCTs • Pay attention to boys’ education while we work to reduce disparities girls face • Include young men in all our HIV and GBV prevention efforts • Understand the identity purposes as well and income purposes of employment and income creation

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