On April 1st, a meeting was held at Promundo headquarters in Rio de Janeiro that formalized the creation of the MenEngage Brasil Network. The MenEngage Alliance is a global advocacy initiative that aims to engage men as partners in reducing gender-based violence and violence against children. Promundo is the Global Co-director of the Alliance and Regional Coordinator for Latin America.
MenEngage Brasil was created to politically strengthen the Brazilian organizations involved, give visibility to actions to promote gender equity, facilitate access to resources and promote articulation and exchange of experiences. The organizations currently participating in the network in Brazil are: Instituto Promundo, Núcleo de Pesquisa Gênero e Masculinidades da UFPE (GEMA), Instituto Papai, Noos, Ecos, and FioCruz.
“The idea of creating the network in Brazil began to be discussed at the colloquium promoted by MenEngage in New Delhi, in November last year. Then we discussed it again at the Masculinities Colloquium in Chile, in January, and culminated in this meeting that formalized the creation of the network”, explains Marco Aurélio Martins, executive coordinator of Promundo.
Other organizations working on the topic will be invited to join the network in 2015. An event will be held in August to define the lines of action and priorities of the MenEngage Network in Brazil. The MenEngage Alliance already has representations in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia, Africa and North America.
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