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Waimbabie Gnoumou is learning to be a better husband, says his wife, Martine. That\u2019s because he is going to a special school that teaches men exactly that. The Husbands and Future Husbands School in Mambou\u00e9, a village in western Burkina Faso, breaks down gender stereotypes and shows men the role they have to play in\u00a0ending violence<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0empowering their wives and daughters<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cEver since he started going to the husbands school, our relationship has improved significantly,\u201d Martine said.<\/p>\n Husbands schools are not new. UNFPA has supported such schools since 2008, starting in Niger. Through these programmes, local facilitators teach men in their communities about the health needs and\u00a0human rights<\/a>\u00a0of women and girls. The lessons are tailored to fit the customs and culture of the community.\u00a0<\/p>\n The lessons are wide-ranging \u2013 they include the importance of girls\u2019 education, the need for pregnant women to receive antenatal care and safe delivery services, and the right of women and girls to live free of violence \u2013 but the objective is simple: to help men better understand the challenges facing the women in their homes and communities.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n These lessons are critical in the Sahel region of Africa, which has\u00a0some of the world\u2019s highest rates of preventable maternal death<\/a>\u00a0and some of the lowest indicators of girls\u2019 empowerment.<\/p>\n In Burkina Faso,\u00a052 per cent of girls\u00a0<\/a>are married by age 18. Girls are less likely than boys to be enrolled in school, and when they are married they are less likely to use a modern form of contraception.\u00a0<\/p>\n The husbands\u00a0schools are one small part of a region-wide initiative,\u00a0Sahel Women\u2019s Empowerment and Demographic Dividend project<\/a>\u00a0(SWEDD), which aims to raise the status of women and girls, improving their health, education prospects and future earning potential. The ultimate goal is to help the region achieve a so-called demographic dividend \u2013 a boost in development and economic growth that comes from empowering young generations to fulfil their potential, often through education,\u00a0family planning<\/a>\u00a0and other investments.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBehavioural changes at the male level have had positive impacts at the community level. The challenge for SWEDD is now to move from behavioural change to social norm change,\u201d Issa Sadou, a gender programme officer working for UNFPA in Niger.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The SWEDD project is financed by the World Bank and implemented by the governments of Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, with technical support from UNFPA.\u00a0<\/p>\n In addition to the husbands\u00a0schools, the project offers vocational trainings for girls as well as initiatives to help girls stay in school, and advocate for their own health and rights.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Rekindling a spark<\/strong><\/p>\n Every week, the husbands school in Mambou\u00e9 brings together about 16 men to learn about topics including family planning and household life.\u00a0<\/p>\n Two project facilitators work with the men to help dispel stereotypes and myths, such as the belief that modern family planning causes sterility.<\/p>\n Mr. Gnoumou regularly attends these discussions, and takes pride in having changed his behaviour.<\/p>\n \u201cI would often fight with my wife and even hit her,\u201d he reflected recently. \u201cWhen you hit someone, you are aware that what you have done is not right.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Today, he offers a lot more help around the home, Martine says. He fetches water and wood, and does other household chores. And he hopes to inspire other men, as well.<\/p>\n \u201cEverything we learn, we share with others when we get back to the village,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He wanted to be present for the birth of their last child \u2013 a first, Martine noted.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBefore, there was discord in my household,\u201d she said. \u201cNow, we don\u2019t have as many issues. Ever since he attended this training, we have rekindled the spark.\u201d<\/p>\n Today, more than 1,640 husbands schools have been established in the countries where SWEDD is being implemented.<\/p>\n Distributed by APO Group on behalf of United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).<\/i> Waimbabie Gnoumou is learning to be a better husband, says his wife, Martine. That\u2019s because he is going to a special school that teaches men exactly that. The Husbands and Future Husbands School in Mambou\u00e9, a village in western Burkina Faso, breaks down gender stereotypes and shows men the role they have to play in\u00a0ending […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":188473,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4934],"tags":[258,256,16956,4936,16957,9693,6801,257,6884,7571,4362,254,6524],"class_list":["post-39796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-burkina-faso","tag-africa","tag-africa-news","tag-burkina","tag-burkina-faso-news","tag-faso","tag-husbands","tag-men","tag-news","tag-real","tag-respect","tag-school","tag-south-africa-today","tag-women"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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South Africa Today Africa \u2013 West Africa Burkina Faso<\/a> News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"