Engaging Boys as Positive Supporters of Girls
RWAMREC implemented a project to engage boys as allies in promoting gender equality and preventing early pregnancies in schools and surrounding communities through workshops on positive masculinity and non-violent behavior.
From 2018 to 2019, the Rwanda Men’s Resource Centre (RWAMREC) implemented the project “Engaging Boys as Positive Supporters of Girls in the Fight Against Early Pregnancies in Schools and Surrounding Communities.”
Funded by the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI), the project was carried out in two schools in Bugesera District. Its main objective was to encourage boys to embrace positive forms of masculinity, reject gender-based violence, and act as champions for gender equality within their schools and communities.
Through a series of training workshops, RWAMREC equipped male students with the knowledge and skills to challenge harmful social norms, promote respect and equality, and take responsibility in preventing early pregnancies. The program also fostered peer-to-peer engagement, creating safe spaces for open dialogue between boys and girls about gender relations, sexual health, and mutual respect.
The initiative contributed to a behavioral shift among young boys, fostering supportive environments for girls’ education and helping to reduce risks of early pregnancies and school dropouts in the targeted schools and their surrounding communities.
Power in Numbers
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Districts (Musanze, Burera and Gakenke).
Couples aged 21-35 and children under 5 reached.
weekly sessions of the BANDEBEREHO module