Milestone

The Gauteng Men’s Federation came to existence following a resolution of men’s consultative conference that was held in May 2013 at Turffontein. On May 22 and 23, 2013, men’s groups from Gauteng net in Turffontein to discuss their programme and activities related to government legislation, policies, and programmes for men. The conference provided an opportunity for the various men’s organisations to contribute to conception of the men’s movement. The conference was the brainchild of a newly formed Men’s forum of the Gauteng Department. It was launched in early 2012 to empower the male members of the department, then decided in late 2012 to launch an outreach programme aimed at mobilizing men in communities, in social policy development and in the implementation of Gauteng DSD programme. Most social ills can be traced to a number of the socially accepted roles of men some of those are risk taking, aggressiveness, dominance, competition and sexual conquest. As a result, men are seen as the main culprits of societal ills. Programs targeting men in the fight against societal ills emerged in South Africa. Following the comprehensive process of rising awareness about the impact of gender-based violence and the violation of women’s and children’s rights. Most studies on GBV identify men as the main perpetrators. In order to break the cycle of violence and abuse the needs of the perpetrators and abusers must be addressed in order to motivate them to change and adopt positive attitudes and The physiological needs of men have also been identified as some of the key factors [to be considered in the fight against GBV and other social ills.The high prevalence rate among woman has been attributed in part to gender inequality that prevents them from negotiating safer sexual practices with their male partners. These factors have encouraged some men to band together and initiate programs to address the challenges the face. There is, therefore, a need to mobilize men in all communities and environments to create awareness of the important role men must play in creating social capital. A large number of civic-minded men can contribute immensely to strengthening civil society and addressing social ills. The current State of men’s organisations in South Africa is that they lack structure and exist in isolation. Therefore, a men’s movement is crucial to unify these structures. It is for this reason that GAMEF conducted a study in 2015 to take stock of existing men’s organisations in Gauteng and Conduct a needs assessment of those organisations to determine how well both men’s forums and men’s organisations can be used to function optimally.