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Transforming Masculinities: Maintaining the essential elements

Guidelines for preserving core elements of Transforming Masculinities and adapting to local contexts for effective implementation

2023 Available in English and French

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From: Changing social and gender norms toolkit

Evidence-based resources helping communities change harmful gender norms and promote positive masculinities and gender equality.

In adapting and contextualising Transforming Masculinities it is important to maintain fidelity to the core principles in order to be effective.

This document explains the critical elements of the approach which cannot be changed. It also explains which elements can be changed and adapted. This is to ensure that the approach remains effective in all the contexts in which it is implemented, regardless of the implementing organisation.

How to use this document:

The core principle of Transforming Masculinities is depth of transformation. While it is possible to scale up the approach, this must never take precedence over depth. Organisations using the Transforming Masculinities approach will see more significant, lasting change if they commit to working with fewer communities in more depth, instead of scratching the surface with many. The success of Transforming Masculinities depends on its authentic connection to real people and not only on the broad distribution of information.

Transforming Masculinities is therefore not recommended for:

  • Short-term projects (less than one year)
  • Projects which aim for high reach but low impact. Transforming Masculinities requires the staff time and funding to enable change.

For example, it is unlikely to be possible to work with 1,000 faith leaders in one year in a meaningful way unless there are high numbers of staff budgeted to support these faith leaders and Gender Champions.

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