Roundtable “SUPER DAD”

A roundtable on the subject “Super Dad” was held in the premises of the Institute Perpetuum Mobile. It was attended by 19 participants, representatives of CARE, non-governmental organizations and public institutions of the Republic of Srpska.

On May 22, 2015 a roundtable on the subject “Super Dad” was held in the premises of the Institute Perpetuum Mobile, Banja Luka, CARE partner organization on the regional project “Young Men Initiative – Boys and Men as Allies in Violence Prevention and Gender Transformation in the Western Balkans”, supported by the Austrian Development Agency, OAK Foundation, and supported and implemented by CARE International Balkans with partner organizations. It was attended by 19 participants, representatives of CARE, non-governmental organizations and public institutions of the Republic of Srpska.

Within this roundtable, the campaign “Super Dad” was presented as part of a global campaign MenCare, which was coordinated by Promundo and Sonke Gender Justice Network. The positive side and importance of participation of fathers and men in childcare were promoted. Several conclusions resulted from this roundtable, which are stated in full bellow.

• Promote a healthy family and work to preserve it (regardless of how the family looks like and how many members there are).
• Promote responsible parenthood (and within that particular attention should be paid to fatherhood).
• Protect children in all forms of irresponsible parenting.
• Paying child support (as one of the most common violations of the obligations of parenthood and child care) should be a concern of the state and state institutions have to take on the obligation of charging it.
• Recognition of single-parent families in the law.
• The laws need to be better implemented and respected.
• The amendment of the existing laws is required in order to improve the work on the ground and to satisfy end-users.
• It is necessary to educate parents and future parents and especially fathers about their role and responsibilities.
• Work on prevention (mandatory schools of parenting, premarital counseling, etc.).