Sonke Gender Justice Network's Report to the Ford Foundation on One Man Can Campaign Activities Carried out July 1, 2007-June 30, 2008

This report evaluates the One Man Can (OMC) campaign, which the South African non-governmental organisation (NGO) Sonke Gender Justice (Sonke) launched in November 2006 to promote attitudinal change among men in their interactions with women. The report describes the range of activities carried out by Sonke with Ford Foundation support during the period July 1 2007 to June 30 2008. It is divided into 3 sections: an introductory narrative section describing key project achievements, a logframe listing achievements against project commitments, and a final section with appendices.

As detailed here, the OMC campaign encourages men to become actively involved in advocating for gender equality, preventing gender-based violence (GBV), and responding to HIV and AIDS. Sonke began the OMC process by selecting partner organisations, conducting formative research with each, and then providing tailored training and capacity-building work. In brief:

• Sonke held a 4-day workshop to train 15 AIDS Consortium participants in the OMC approach and methods. When asked before the training whether men have the right to choose when to have sex with their partner, 67% of the participants agreed; post-training, none of them agreed. When asked beforehand if they felt that people with sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are at a higher risk for contracting HIV, 100% of the participants disagreed; post-training, 60% agreed that this statement was actually true. As a culmination of the training, a memorandum was presented to the South African Police Services (SAPS) station in Hillbrow urging efficient implementation of the Domestic Violence Act and offering OMC training to SAPS staff. The memorandum and walk to the SAPS offices was designed to forge a link between the OMC training and the importance of community mobilisation.
• Sonke provided training to MoAfrika Itlhokomele, a community-based organisation (CBO) focusing on empowerment and education of youth and senior citizens around HIV/AIDS and crime. As a result of the training, in 12 months MoAfrika conducted 3 OMC workshops, in the process reaching 743 people (of whom 80% were men). MoAfrika also convened a community event, raising awareness pertaining to the involvement of men and boys in preventing domestic and sexual violence and reducing the spread and impact of HIV/AIDS. MoAfrika has also engaged with schools to emphasise the importance of supporting boys to advocate for gender equality, such as by convening a school-based debating competition on gender issues. MoAfrika also conducts regular prison tours to educate men and young boys about the impact of crime; they have mainstreamed the OMC activities as part of these tours.
  
• Masibambane Community Care and Support works in an informal settlement in Lawley, Gauteng, with a focus on orphans and vulnerable children (OVC), treatment literacy of HIV, and child nutrition. Following training by Sonke, Masibambane conducted 2 OMC trainings involving local traditional healers, which resulted in a community event that drew 250 people. Masibambane has mainstreamed OMC activities in all programmes.
  
• During the 2007 16 Days of Activism campaign, Sonke ran a workshop for Artist Proof Studios (APS) students and then worked together to paint a mural depicting men demonstrating their opposition to domestic and sexual violence. Tens of thousands of pedestrians see it each day as they cross the Nelson Mandela Bridge. At the launch event, organisational partners, community volunteers, and programme staff were on hand to distribute flyers from the OMC Action Kit, outlining specific things men can do to support GBV survivors. More than 1,000 members of the public were reached with OMC materials.
• The Gauteng chapter of the South African Council of Churches (SACC) scheduled OMC activities during the month of August 2008 with the objective of speaking out on the role of men as a solution to gender and sexual violence experienced by women. When participants were asked, pre-training, if they felt it was unacceptable to interfere in another person's relationship, even if it was considered abusive, 87% agreed. Post-training, 83% of the participants felt it was appropriate to interfere.
  
• Sonke is developing a collaboration with the Limpopo House of Traditional Leaders to provide in-depth trainings on gender, culture, and rights, with a particular focus on the role traditional leaders can play in using the justice system and their positions of influence to address violence against women.
• Munna Ndinyi, which means "what it is to be a man", is a CBO in Venda, Limpopo, that works with men on gender and violence issues. When asked, pre-training, if men have the right to choose when to have sex with their partner, 60% of participants agreed. Post-training, 97% believed that men do not have the right to choose when they have sex with their partner. When asked, pre-training, whether or not one could acquire HIV from a deep kiss, 30% of participants agreed. Post-training, 83% believed one could acquire HIV from a deep kiss. Having been trained by Sonke, Munna Ndinyi has conducted community activities focusing on voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) and teen pregnancy, and has hosted HIV talks at Tshilidzini Hospital. The group has developed posters challenging stereotypes and the cultural beliefs regarding gender issues and HIV/AIDS. Munna Ndinnyi has conducted training workshops, working with traditional leaders through the relationship they have with the male circumcision schools. Two hundred students were reached with messages about gender and HIV and AIDS through school debates. Munna Ndinnyi staff trained Thsilidzini Hospital staff on the OMC initiative and formed 2 community action teams which have developed early drafts of posters they will finalise and disseminate widely.
  

Sonke also engaged in a number of policy-related processes intended to get local, provincial, and national governments to actively support men for gender equality initiatives like OMC. Several examples are provided in the report, such as:

• Sonke has continued to participate actively in the National Gender Machinery process and has both presented at and attended meetings convened by the National Office on the Status of Women. 
• In May and June of 2008, Sonke staff engaged in a range of activities in both Johannesburg and Cape Town to challenge xenophobia and meet the immediate humanitarian needs of the more than 40,000 people displaced by violence. Sonke staff served on a range of taskforces and spoke out against xenophobia in the media and at rallies and community mobilisations. As part of these efforts, Sonke produced a range of materials including stickers, t-shirts, posters, and logos which were made available to civil society organisations.
• Through focus group discussions, in-depth interviews, and case studies, Sonke plans to create a user-friendly guide and supporting materials that will assist professionals and individuals to put the necessary pressure on government to implement the Sexual Offences Act (SOA) of 2007 in accordance with its mandate.
• Sonke conducted a range of community education and mobilisation events throughout the 2007 16 Days of Activism Campaign.
• Sonke worked together with the One in Nine Campaign to issue joint press statements and participate in marches and press conferences related to the Noord Street Taxi Rank assaults and participated in related marches and press conferences.
• Sonke joined with the AIDS Law Project and the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) in a submission to Parliament related to the Corrections Services Amendment Bill.
• Sonke participated in the Umlazi Equality Court Case.

In addition, Sonke embarked on a number of social norm change initiatives, including creating digital stories that tell the life stories of men and women who have been affected by HIV/AIDS and GBV and who are now actively working to address both. Sonke and its partners have held public screenings of its digital stories, which have "evoked positive reactions from the audience, made up of government officials, the press, civil society organisations, and members of the public." Sonke produced and published a facilitator's guide, available here. To ensure that the digital stories are viewed widely, Sonke is working with Mindset, an NGO that develops and distributes HIV prevention content to clinics and schools across the country.

Sonke's OMC campaign was one of 14 finalists nominated in the Ashoka Changemakers Collaborative competition under the umbrella of transforming the lives of young men.

Editor's note, June 19 2017: This resource is no longer available online.