MenEngage Alliance Statement on recent Post-2015 Open Working Group Session

Sonke Gender Justice commends those Member State representatives of the Open Working Group (OWG) of the General Assembly who have made statements or taken actions to support gender equality.

MenEngage is a global alliance of NGOs and UN agencies that seeks to engage boys and men to achieve gender equality, including more than 400 NGOs from Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, North America, Asia and Europe. The Alliance came together in 2004 with the general goal of working in partnership to promote the engagement of men and boys in achieving gender equality, promoting health and reducing violence at the global level, including questioning the structural barriers to achieving gender equality.

The MenEngage partners work collectively and individually toward the fulfillment of the Millennium Development Goals, particularly those components that focus on achieving gender equality. Activities of the alliance include information-sharing, joint training activities and national, regional and international advocacy. We develop joint statements of action on specific areas of engaging men, carry out advocacy campaigns and seek to act as a collective voice to promote a global movement of men and boys engaged in and working toward gender equality and questioning violence and non-equitable versions of manhood.

We believe that questioning men’s and women’s attitudes and expectations about gender roles is crucial to achieving gender equality.

MenEngage members seek to engage men and promote advocacy around a number of key themes where gender directly affects the lives of women and men. These are topic areas in which MenEngage members exchange ideas, will produce joint statements and carry out joint advocacy activities.

The Steering Committee (SC) is the ultimate decision-making body for the MenEngage Alliance. Additional member organizations can be invited to join the SC by a simple majority of the existing members, up to a maximum of 10 SC members. SC member organizations must be non-governmental organizations and the SC meets at least once a month.

International Steering Committee Members include Sonke Gender Justice (co-chair),Promundo (co-chair), EngenderHealth, Family Violence Prevention Fund, International Center for Research on Women, International Planned Parenthood Federation, Men’s Resources International (United States), Salud y Genero (Mexico), Save the Children-Sweden, Sahoyog, White Ribbon Campaign, WHO, UNDP, UNFPA and UNIFEM.

Read more at www.menengage.org.