"I have to take a stand so that society can see that change is inevitable." -- MAP activist
South Africa faces two interconnected epidemics -- violence against women, and HIV. Spurred by the need for a response to these public health emergencies, and recognizing the centrality of working with young and adult men to making progress, EngenderHealth initiated the Men As Partners® (MAP) Program in 1998. Since then, dozens of organizations have joined to form the MAP Network and now work together in communities across the country.
In July 2005, the Center for Digital Storytelling's Silence Speaks project traveled to South Africa to conduct two digital storytelling workshops with activists from EngenderHealth's MAP Network. Participants in Johannesburg and Cape Town wrote and recorded first-person narratives about their lives; chose photos, still images, video clips, and music to illustrate their stories; and learned to edit these materials into the short digital videos presented here. These digital stories are being shown in trainings and public community screenings throughout South Africa, to promote the MAP Network's efforts to involve men in ending gender-based violence and preventing HIV and AIDS.
The stories address various themes that are core issues in MAP's efforts to transform South African society. Namely, MAP works to reduce gender-based violence and the spread and impact of HIV/AIDS. The MAP Network works with individuals and institutions to challenge traditional norms of masculinity and assist men in recognising their role in addressing HIV/AIDS and gender-based violence. The stories challenge myths and stereotypes about how men can act and be, showing that men can be transformed to build a more just, gender equitable and healthy society.
For more information about Men As Partners, please visit http://www.engenderhealth.org/map/.
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Copyright 2008 EngenderHealth. "Men As Partners" is a registered trademark of EngenderHealth.
Special thanks to Rees Shad at Sweetfish Music, and Tom Bellino at Planet Arts Music, for their contribution of several original songs to the soundtracks of many of these digital stories. Additional thanks to Rees Shad and Axel Esquite for video postproduction work.
Learn from My Story: Women Confront Fistula in Rural Uganda
In August 2007, the ACQUIRE Project partnered with the Center for Digital Storytelling and St. Joseph's Hospital in Uganda to coordinate a workshop for Ugandan women who have experienced obstetric fistula. The resulting videos recount hardships and celebrate achievements related to their daily struggles with pregnancy, loss, relationships, as well as their search for safety, acceptance, and dignity.
The ACQUIRE Project, of which EngenderHealth is the managing partner, works globally to advance and support the availability, quality, and use of facility-based reproductive health and family planning services at every level of the health care system. In many African and Asian countries, the ACQUIRE Project is building local capacity to treat and prevent obstetric fistula, and to support fistula patients through reintegration programs.
For more information about the ACQUIRE Project, please visit www.acquireproject.org. For more information about EngenderHealth, please visit www.engenderhealth.org, e-mail info@engenderhealth.org, or call 001-212-561-8000.
This workshop was coordinated by the ACQUIRE Project and made possible by the generous support of the American people through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), under the terms of cooperative agreement GPO-A-00-03-00006-00.
Digital Stories from Men As Partners in Mozambique
[Available only in Portuguese, without subtitles.]
In 2009, EngenderHealth partnered with Instituto Promundo to build the capacity of local Mozambican organizations to integrate male engagement strategies into HIV and AIDS programming.
These digital stories are created for use in trainings and public community screenings to promote the local efforts to engage men in ending gender-based violence and preventing HIV and AIDS. Highlighted in these stories are issues of fatherhood, healthy relationships, and HIV and AIDS. All of the participants featured wrote and recorded first-person narratives about their lives; chose photos, still images, video clips, and music to illustrate their stories; and learned to edit these materials into the short digital videos presented here.
A Facilitator's Guide is available, in Portuguese and in English, to accompany the videos for group discussions:
These three videos tell the stories of Tihun, Yeserash, and Abebu -- three young women from Ethiopia who have survived obstetric fistula. The women and their family members give insight into the difficulties of life with fistula, the joys of being repaired, and the lessons learned from their experiences. These videos are excerpts from the film "Bringing Back Dignity," produced under the ACQUIRE project funded by USAID.
Despite the double tragedy of losing her baby and developing a fistula, Tihun has been blessed with a supportive husband who did not leave her when she was ill. Her husband Aweke explains that everyone urged him to leave his wife with beliefs that he would contract her condition, but he would not do so. Both Tihun and Aweke have learned valuable lessons from Tihun's fistula. Aweke regrets not being careful to use protection that would prevent an early pregnancy. Tihun vows that if she ever has a daughter she will not marry her off, and instead will let her go to school and then choose her own husband.
Yeserash and her father, Simeneh, express the hardships of obstetric fistula as well as the lessons learned from their experience. Simeneh's father regrets marrying off his daughter at the young age of 12 or 13 and vows that he will not do the same with his other daughters. He wishes other people would learn from his "painful mistake", urging them not to arrange early marriages and to allow their daughters to consent to marriage. Yeserash is now fully recovered and has since had a health baby boy.
Abebu, a 20-year-old fistula survivor, describes the hardships of living with a fistula and how her life has been transformed by repair. Abebu was married at the age of 15 and developed her fistula after four days of prolonged labor. When her leaking began, her husband stole her property and threw her out and her parents shunned her. Now that she is cured, Abebu is glad to be able to mingle with friends and participate in community events.
The stories are also available individually:
The Story of Tihun Ingedaw: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nemcEYwJ26Y
The Story of Yeserash Simeneh: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-huvoxidr4
The Story of Abebu Dego: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9APa2ZnLi4
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The ACQUIRE Project (Access, Quality, and Use in Reproductive Health) advanced and supported the availability, quality, and use of facility-based reproductive health and family planning services at every level of the health care system, and strengthened links between facilities and communities. EngenderHealth was the managing partner. For more information about EngenderHealth, please visit http://www.engenderhealth.org/.
Further work on obstetric fistula is being done by the Fistula Care Project, also funded by USAID and managed by EngenderHealth. Fistula Care works to address the enormous backlog of women awaiting life-altering fistula repair, ensuring that they receive timely and quality care from trained providers. At the same time, the project works to remove barriers to emergency obstetric care that lead to fistula in the first place. For more information, please visit http://www.fistulacare.org/. Copyright 2008 EngenderHealth/IntraHealth/The ACQUIRE Project
EngenderHealth works to improve the health and well-being of people in the poorest communities of the world. We do this by sharing our expertise in sexual and reproductive health and transforming the quality of health care. We promote gender equity, advocate for sound practices and policies, and inspire people to assert their rights to better, healthier lives. Working in partnership with local organizations, we adapt our work in response to local needs.
With more than 65 years' experience in the field of international sexual and reproductive health, EngenderHealth currently supports projects in dozens of countries around the world.
EngenderHealth works to improve the health and well-being of people in the poorest communities of the world. We do this by sharing our expertise in sexual and reproductive health and transforming the quality of health care. We promote gender equit...
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