Program P: A Manual for Engaging Men in Fatherhood, Caregiving, and Maternal and Child Health
Program P (“P” for “Padre” in Spanish and “Pai” in Portuguese, meaning “Father”) provides concrete strategies for engaging men in active caregiving from their partner’s pregnancy through their child’s early years. It identifies best practices on engaging men in maternal and child health, caregiving, and preventing violence against women and children.
The manual was developed for use by health workers, social activists, nonprofit organizations (or NGOs), educators and other individuals and institutions that operate mainly in the ‘Global South’ (poorer countries). The intervention aims to use ‘men as caregivers’ as a ‘starting point for improving family well-being and achieving gender equality’. Practitioners and policy makers from the Global North may find alienating the emphasis on ‘non-violent’ fathering (maybe in some communities in the Global South ‘violent’ fathering is the norm – but surely in many others it is not?) However, it is worth looking beyond the somewhat un-remitting ‘deficit perspective’ on men and fathers inherent in this approach to the good and useful content in the manual.
Inside Program P
- Section 1 – Fatherhood in the Health Sector: A Guide for Health Professionals on Engaging Men
- Section 2 – Engaged Fatherhood: Group Education for Fathers and their Partners
- Section 3 – Mobilizing Your Community: A Guide for Implementing a MenCare Campaign in your Setting
Learn more and download the manual here: http://men-care.org/Programs/Program-P.aspx
Tags: Antenatal, Fatherhood research, Maternity, Young fathers
