Monitoring of Child Welfare Clinics in the Community-operated Reproductive Health (CoRH) Project in Ghana revealed that men rarely accompanied children to the health clinic.

As a result, RH training was organized for 40 members of the Fathers’ Care Club to strengthen their support for their wives and children.

The training aimed to:

• Increase knowledge of family planning and STIs and HIV/AIDS
• Improve communication skills
• Increase understanding and knowledge on gender roles and stereotypes

Through lectures and group work, the facilitators emphasized that good communication is the foundation of a family, and concentrated on how men could choose appropriate verbal and non-verbal techniques in communicating to their wives and children.

Gender training had the participants list activities that were appropriate for men, and those that were for women.

The men realized that apart from certain natural differences, such as the ability of women to give birth, it was socio-cultural values that determined what men and women should do.

PPAG staff explain the importance and benefits
of family planning to community leaders,
who are mainly men

The facilitators asked that the men recognize the actual situations in which women possessed skills and abilities, and that the men support the women in these situations.

It was also made clear that a low level of girl child education, poverty, and underdevelopment were the results of gender restrictions, and that if girls were provided educational opportunities they could excel.

Discussions on family planning covered rumors and misconceptions, including religious beliefs, anatomy and the physiology of pregnancy, contraception, and the advantages and disadvantages of different methods.

The session on HIV/AIDS included the benefits of voluntary counseling and testing.

The training was well received, with some men asking that further training take place where husbands and wives could attend together.

It was also a good opportunity for men to ask questions about PPAG and the project, and for them to take a more central role.

Family planning has now increased in the area, and girls are receiving more support from their fathers.