A global target to achieve gender equality by 2030 was set by the United Nation’s but no country is on pace to achieve this goal. This means women and girls are continuing to face violence, discrimination and challenges due to unequal gender norms, attitudes and practices. Plan International works with women and girls in all their diversity as leaders of change to tackle the root causes of gender inequality and reshape unequal power relations in their communities and beyond.
On this page you will find critical research Plan International Canada has done in the field of global gender equality.
Focus area
Adolescent Girls' consulation toolkit
The Adolescent Girls Consultations Toolkit aims to providing practical tools and tips for consulting with diverse adolescent girls, their families and their communities, for any type of programming. It is intended to lay a foundation to build a common understanding and coordinated approach to creating a participatory space to engage adolescents and adults in all their diversity and other key stakeholders on the aspirations, challenges, needs and priorities of Adolescent Girls and Young Women.
It includes three main components covering the entire consultations process:
i) general tips and techniques for preparing for consultations with adolescent girls, including
adapting tools
ii) guidance on managing the consultation
process, including managing inputs and facilitating team de-briefs
iii) a general overview of the data processing and analysis phase, as well as an initial
community share-back process.
The toolkit is primarily intended to support development practitioners, government, civil society, technical staff (e.g., gender equality, education, health, protection, economic empowerment, monitoring and evaluation), as well as program and business development managers responsible for or supporting primary data collection and analysis exercises. The toolkit can be adapted for use in different contexts and during different processes, including program design, intersectional gender assessment as well as other sector assessments, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and research processes.
Download the reportArchitecture of Gender Transformative Programming
As part of our strategic framework, Plan International Canada is committed to achieving 100% gender aware or transformative programming in all its initiatives by 2022.
Achieving gender equality, promoting gender justice, realizing women and girls’ rights and fostering an inclusive society are core objectives of our work as an organization dedicated to child rights and equality for girls.
This programming and measurement framework forms the basis of our gender transformative programming to ensure shared ownership and understanding across programming staff and to provide a consistent and measurable approach across sectoral programs such as in education, health, climate change, economic empowerment etc.
The case for holistic investment in girls
Emerging economies that achieve 100% secondary school completion rates for girls by 2030 could see their GDP being boosted by an average of 10%. This new report by Citi Global Insights and Plan International reveals that investment of CA $2 per day per girl in emerging economies can have a huge impact on countries’ overall economic potential.
Download the reportPromoting Men’s Engagement Globally
While men’s engagement in early childhood development is gaining policy momentum, operationalization of these objectives will require consideration of the various barriers and obstacles that exist to men’s engagement in the care and development of young children, in different contexts.
This paper presents Plan International Canada and Promundo’s collective programmatic reflections and recommendations on promoting men’s engagement as equitable, nonviolent fathers and caregivers in children’s early lives.
Download the reportGender Equality Newsletter: Focus ‘n GE
Plan International Canada releases a bi-annual newsletter on a core topic highlighting different Plan International Canada supported projects around the world that work to advance gender equality. In each edition you will gain insight on how our gender equality team does their work through images, stories, impact data and more.
Gender Responsive Pedagogy and Teacher Training
This comprehensive teacher training pack developed by Plan International Canada provides an introduction to key gender-related issues and concepts in education, and then mainstreams gender considerations into teaching skills, including child-centered instructional methods, classroom management, lesson planning, positive discipline, evaluation and assessment and reflective practice.
Download the reportSHOW: Gender Equality Guides
Plan International Canada’s under its Strengthening Health of Women and Children (SHOW) project developed several guides to help operationalize its gender equality strategies focusing on adolescent girls, women, men, religious leaders, and health professionals. Among these, the guides related to male engagement and religious leaders were jointly developed by Plan International Canada and Promundo.
- Women and girls’ empowerment
- Gender-responsive MNCH/SRH Service Delivery
- Adolescent Friendly MNCH/SRH Service Delivery
- Promoting Gender Equality in MNCH/SRH Education: Guide for Capacity Building of Community Health Workers
- Women and Adolescent Girls’ Empowerment and Gender Equality (GE) in Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs): Engaging Women, Men, and Adolescent Girls and Boys (GE Guidance for MNCH/SRH Programs Incorporating VSLA in Support of Better MNCH/SRH Outcomes)
- Guidance Note on Male Engagement in Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health/Sexual and Reproductive Health
- MNCH/SRHR Advocacy Guidance Note: Male Engagement in Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health/Sexual and Reproductive Health
- Communications/SBCC Guidance Note: Male Engagement in Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health/Sexual and Reproductive Health
- Guidance Note: Working with Religious and Traditional Leaders to Promote Male Engagement in Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health/Sexual and Reproductive Health
- Fathers Club Manual: Engaging Men in Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health and in Sexual and Reproductive Health for the Multi-Country SHOW Program
- Assertiveness and Leadership Training for Female CHC Members
Male engagement resources
Promoting positive masculinities: findings from a qualitative study of Fathers Clubs in reproductive health programming in Bangladesh, Ghana, Haiti, and Nigeria
Under its multi-country project SHOW (Strengthening Health of Women and Children) Plan International, in collaboration with local implementing partners, established 1,041 Fathers Clubs across countries and engaged 15,105 fathers in twenty reflective sessions to broaden their understanding of gender equality to enable them to question what it means to be a man and a father and to promote their equitable involvement at the household level.
The study findings revealed positive change among Fathers Clubs participants!
Individual country specific reports were also produced from this study:
Bangladesh: Fathers Clubs Study Finding
Ghana: Fathers Clubs Study Finding
Haiti: Fathers Clubs Study Finding
Nigeria: Fathers Clubs Study Finding
Father’s Club Manual
This manual on Engaging Men in Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (MNCH) and Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) was developed for the Strengthening Health Outcomes for Women and Children (SHOW) Program by Promundo, with technical guidance from Plan International Canada and support from Global Affairs Canada.
SHOW considers engaging men to be one of the core gender-transformative strategies to positively impact MNCH/SRH outcomes, as well as increase the agency of women and girls overall.
Download the reportEffect of Father’s Clubs on Men’s Care Work at Home
In 2019, Plan International Canada carried out qualitative research extrapolating men’s, partner’s and adolescent children’s, as well as community member’s experiences with Father’s Clubs. The key findings in this report provide a summary of the critical reflections challenging gender norms and also provides an additional evidence-base around men’s equitable care giving.
Download the reportEngaging Religious Leaders in Reducing Maternal and Child Mortality, and Gender Equality
The brief describes the programmatic benefits, challenges, and outcomes of working with religious leaders in Sokoto State, Nigeria, and aims to inform future efforts to engage faith-based communities on gender equality–related initiatives.
Download the reportRole of Facilitation in Gender-Transformative Programs that engage men and boys
Skilled facilitators are essential to the success of gender-transformative programs. This brief is intended for practitioners in the field of male engagement in gender equality and summarizes programmatic lessons on facilitation.
Engaging Missing Populations in Gender-Transformative Programs
In implementing gender-transformative programs, interventions often tend to focus on direct family members or immediate duty bearers – but this may mean that some populations go under-served or end up missing from programming. This brief shares best practices and lessons learned on engaging these groups effectively.
Recruitment and Retention of Male Participants in Gender-Transformative Programs
How to effectively recruit and retain male participants in gender-transformative programs remains an abiding question. This brief is intended for practitioners in the field of male engagement in gender equality and summarizes programmatic lessons on recruitment and retention.
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