The final Regional Review Workshop of the UNFPA-supported Asia Regional Project "Increasing Male Involvement for RH through Effective BCC Strategies" (RAS5R304) was held in Indonesia from 26th to 30th November.

Over thirty representatives from the three project countries; Indonesia, Mongolia, and Myanmar attended, including from UNFPA, implementing partners, and government offices, as well as observers from non-operational countries; Bhutan, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Vietnam, in addition to JOICFP and resource personnel from UNFPA/CST Bangkok.

In opening remarks, Prof. Dr. Meuia Hatta Swasono, Minister of Women Empowerment, emphasized the importance of male involvement in reproductive health (RH), especially as Indonesia has the highest maternal mortality rate (MMR) among ASEAN countries.

Minister Swasono opens the workshop

The three project countries presented outcomes of the pilot projects tested, including end-line study results, and reviewed effective strategies and modalities to increase male participation in RH. Lessons learned and recommendations to improve interventions in future were discussed and identified at the country level according to project stages: planning, implementation, monitoring & evaluation, and scale-up and replication.

This was followed by a field visit to the two project sites in Tasikmalaya, where in four separate groups the participants observed home visits by male motivators; a community RH radio program; an Islamic prayer meeting, and a 'posyandu' health center.

Tasikmalaya enjoys strong support from the local government, partly as a result of activities by the Indonesian Planned Parenthood Association (IPPA), the implementing agency of the project. The government is willing to use its money to sustain and scale up the project in other villages of Tasikmalaya.

The project utilizes an existing community emergency system to help pregnant women, which helps with sustainability, and carrying out home visits that strengthen interpersonal communications.

The use of community radio, which is very popular, successfully uses emotion-based communication and allows listeners to interact through phone-ins.

As many men gather at Islamic prayer meetings, it is an ideal opportunity to promote male involvement in women's RH, and the observers listened as the imam, who is also a male motivator, used RH messages integrated into faith-based messages.

Explaining RH at a prayer meeting

After the field observations, the groups presented their findings and gave recommendations on what they had observed.

The non-operation countries also presented some existing BCC interventions targeting men in their countries and their impact.

This was followed by plans for scaling-up and replication of tested modalities by the project countries, as well as non-operational countries.

Through group work, based on the presentations and discussions during the workshop, the participants identified project/program needs and priorities at the regional level and gave recommendations.

Workshop participants engage in group work

The participants confirmed that the approach of increasing male participation in RH is effective in supporting safe motherhood. The three operation countries have seen improvements in indicators, such as an increase in men's knowledge on danger signs during pregnancy, delivery, and post-partum period, which has led to:-

• increase in timely referrals in cases of maternal emergency;
• increase in the number of pregnant women receiving ante-natal care; and
• increase in the number of men who have discussed SRH with their partners, including family planning.

These outputs have also led to reduction in maternal mortality and morbidity.

Both Indonesia and Myanmar now have gained UNFPA support under country-level programs to sustain operations, and activities are expected to be expanded year-on-year.

Both UNFPA and JOICFP are pleased with the BCC approach to increase male involvement, and JOICFP expects to carry out more BCC training and events with a view to replication of the male involvement activities in other countries.