UKR1G101 — Male involvement in healthcare. Capacity building of NGOs working in the field of gender in Ukraine

01 January 2006 — 31 December 2010

According to the Constitution of Ukraine and other legal acts, women and men in Ukraine have equal rights and opportunities. However, it should be also noted that the de jure equality of men and women de facto often does not exist, because the legal framework ensuring gender equality has very insufficient economic grounds, and mechanisms to enforce and monitor legislation on gender equality are underdeveloped. The most obvious gaps between men and women are with regard to employment, incomes and representation in the state authorities (the Parliament, the Government, regional and local state administrations). The Government of Ukraine has stated that gender equality has become a priority particularly in relation to achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

Striving for the achievement of gender equality, particularly in the field of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and reproductive rights (RR), The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has designed a Country Programme Gender Component.

According to the adolescent and male SRH surveys, there is a lack of men's involvement into the issues of SRH, family planning, reproductive rights – men in Ukraine, due to cultural, social and customary factors, usually tend to escape these “problems”. Family planning and reproductive health are considered as “women's issues”, especially with regard to decision-making and assuming responsibilities. The same relates to gender equality, which is taken care of almost entirely by women. The negligence by men of SRH leads to unsafe behavioural practices, which puts men at risk and subsequently poses health risks to their female partners. The issue of male involvement into SRH and gender issues has never been tackled in Ukraine, but definitely requires attention to ensure better SRH for both women and men.

The issue of male involvement into protecting SRH, RR, promoting human rights and gender equality as well as combating gender based violence will be addressed through the following main activities, to be implemented in 2006-2010:

• Developing strategic plans of action on male involvement into the issues of SRH, family planning, reproductive rights and GBV;
• Researching;
• Building national and regional partnerships and  networks for male involvement activities;
• Developing a multi-sectoral gender oriented resource center with specific training, information, education, networking and  fundraising facilities and branches in selected pilot regions of Ukraine;
• Training on development and implementation of male involvement strategies and programmes;
• Advocacy and public awareness creation for male involvement;
• Supporting national governmental and non governmental organizations in their male involvement activities.

The issues of women’s empowerment and fighting gender based discrimination will be addressed through strengthening national and regional gender and women's NGOs in Ukraine. The results will be achieved by:

• Developing the capacity of national NGOs to advocate for gender equality, promote and protect women's rights, and prevent gender-based discrimination, including NGO networking capacity;
• Providing technical support to NGOs that will participate in regional and global networks focusing on women's empowerment;
• Supporting training activities for the mass media on media coverage of women's empowerment issues and gender-based discrimination prevention.

In 2006 UNFPA will support partnership and capacity building of national and regional gender oriented NGOs, developing a gender friendly mass-media environment, strategic planning and researching, conducting advocacy and public awareness campaign, as well as building strong commitment to address gender issues at all political and decision making levels.