Systematic Review: Engaging Men and Boys to Foster a Supportive Environment for Achieving Gender Equality
There is an emerging appreciation, in the context of international development and gender studies, of the role of masculinities in shaping men’s identities, attitudes, and practices, and therefore also a growing recognition of engaging men and boys as an essential aspect of the global gender equality agenda. While there is an emerging field of practice, the impact of programming that engages men and boys for gender equality is poorly documented.
Against this backdrop, Global Affairs Canada (GAC) commissioned a systematic review of good practices and lessons learned from evaluation reports, studies, and other reviews of programming that includes men and boys to foster a supportive environment for achieving results on gender equality. The review was intended to support Global Affairs Canada’s (GAC) evaluation of Canada’s programming on Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women and Girls in the Middle East and the Maghreb, by establishing a basis for comparison through evaluation evidence of other like-minded countries’ activities, results, and challenges. As such, the systematic review covers programming from 2014 to the present-day, with a focus on Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, West Bank and Gaza, Syria, Yemen, and Iraq.
The Systematic Review was authored by Nordic Consulting Group Partners Ayla Olesen Yurtaslan and Anton Baaré, alongside the internationally recognized expert on masculinities in the Arab region, Shereen El Feki. The report has also fed into Global Affairs Canada’s International Assistance Evaluation Division’s (PRA) forthcoming Synthesis Note on Emerging Evidence for Greater Engagement with Men and Boys in Gender Equality Programming and was presented by NCG at the GAC Policy Lab on Engaging Men and Boys in Achieving Gender Equality and Supporting the Empowerment of Women and Girls on June 8th, 2021.