REAL Fathers Initiative

The initiative is focusing on young fathers aged 16 to 25 in order to reach young men before their "expectations, attitudes, and behaviours related to parenting and relationships are well established." The mentoring programme uses a peer education approach. Mentors from the community are being selected and trained, each supporting approximately four fathers. The mentors meet with young fathers once a month for six months (four individual sessions and two couple sessions with their wives). Mentors also invite fathers to attend six monthly group discussions with other young fathers and their mentors.

The second part of the initiative is a community message board campaign "to encourage community led reflection on fatherhood norms, parenting practices, and intimate partner violence." Six large-scale community posters are being posted, sequenced over time in central meeting locations to reinforce themes raised in mentor sessions and spark community dialogue. According to Save the Children, "pretesting of concepts for the community posters found that young fathers are ready to participate. They care deeply about their families, and want to be the best fathers and husbands that they can be. As one young father shared, 'In the future I want my child to say 'Baba is the one who made me the way I am. Baba showed me the right way.'"

This intervention is being evaluated using a pre-test/post-test control experimental design, including randomisation and control groups. At the outset of the project, the 500 young fathers participating were randomly assigned to either participate in the full set of activities, or to be a control group exposed only to community poster series. All 500 were interviewed at the beginning of the intervention to learn about their current parenting practices, and their relationship and communication skills. The testing component called for all fathers to be interviewed after 10 months, and the most effective activities brought to the fathers in the control group.

The project design was based on the concept of positive masculinity, "validating men’s caring nature and understanding how violence is caused both by male privilege and powerlessness."

Gender-based violence, Child Protection

According to the project organisers, young fathers’ willingness and ability to make positive changes was evident following discussions around proposed mentor sessions and community poster concepts. “Young fathers reported making a number of changes at home. Some became more involved in child care and spent more quality time playing and talking with their children. Others communicated more with their wives and helped their wives with household chores such as peeling sweet potatoes and washing dishes. Finally, some young fathers reduced the amount of alcohol they drink and shared the savings with their wives."