Community Men & Boys
“While dealing with the cases we realized that we have the potential to save others life, which we never felt before.” - a member of the Men and Boys Group in Diamond Harbour
In 2016, Swayam began working in a sustained manner with community men and boys. The aim is to create a cadre of men and boys that will work towards gender equality, act as change agents and address/prevent discrimination and violence against women and girls in their communities. As of March 2020 we have 77 active groups of men and boys whose capacities we have built through trainings, discussions and exposure trips. Training ranges from discussions on gender and masculinity to violence against women and how to prevent it. Consequently, group members have intervened in domestic violence and child marriage cases and shared information about Swayam’s services which has resulted in more women approaching Swayam. The group members also organise and conduct innovative awareness programmes in their communities.
You can see the process and impact of this work in the videos below. The first shows our Metiabrutz team and the second the team working in Diamond Harbour.