Engaging Men and Boys in Efforts to End Gender Based Violence in Conflict and Post-Conflict Settings

Sonke employs a range of social change strategies to challenge harmful notions and expressions of masculinities and to promote gender equality – from individual and small group education to mass media and the use of community mobilisation and advocacy to secure the passage and implementation of new laws and policies.

Sonke works hard to hold political leaders and institutions to account and use the controversy that this often generates to encourage inclusive national debate through the media about the roles and responsibilities of men in public positions – especially those in senior positions of power within government, key political offices and the private sector. This paper presented at a Seminar in Vienna by Dean Peacock addresses the work Sonke does in South Africa, and across various African countries, in including men and boys in challenging and changing the gender norms that form an integral part of our societies.