Program M is an life skills educational program that was adapted from program H, a program developed by Instituto Promundo in Brazil and its partners. The program includes a series of workshops for young men with topics that include gender equality, sexual and reproductive health, emotional well being and violence / conflict resolution. CARE and its partners adapted, tested and evaluated this model over a period of 2 years in work with boys/ young men in secondary schools and communities in Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The group educational workshops are voluntary and offered to boys in technical vocational schools that have a predominantly male student body. The course consists of 20 interactive sessions held over 2-3 months. The workshop facilitators are male youth workers, generally aged from 20-25. Workshop topics include male gender norms, expressing emotions, negotiation skills, decision-making, anger management, sexuality, sexual health, fatherhood, drug and alcohol use, peer violence and violence against women. Boys are encouraged to actively discuss and reflect on these subjects.
The Young Men Initiative also includes a lifestyles campaign called Budi Musko (“Be a Man”). The campaign was developed in close collaboration with young men in the Balkan project countries and reinforces many of the topics covered in the workshops, such as sexual health, violence prevention and deconstructing rigid notions of masculinity. Campaign materials, such as posters, t-shirts and brochures, are presented in the vocational schools, short films developed by the young men were produced and boys have also formed “Be a Man” clubs in several different cities. The campaign is promoted widely through Facebook, Youtube and other websites.
The m manual (life skills education manual for work with young men) is available for download and use by other organizations, institutions. Please follow this link for additional information on resources.
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