Boys Health Management Program – A Summary
It was about 10 months ago that the initial conversation about conducting a Boys Health Management Project was had with the Femme team and I in Toronto. Now, in the final week of implementation all of the preliminary ideas, plans and groundwork have been realized in Moshi, Tanzania with great success.
The Boys Health Management Project was created to include male youth in the conversation Femme International started with female youth regarding sexual health and gender equality. So far, the BHM project has reached 49 male youth, 15 participants from form 2, 13 from form 3 at Mangoto Secondary School, in the village of Kahe located outside of Moshi. An additional 21 youth were reached at the Pamoja Boys and Girls Club located in Moshi. The age range for the participants was approximately 10-19 years, with one 50 year old participant!
One of the main objectives of the BHM pilot project was to increase the knowledge of male youth in sexual health and gender equality. It is to my excitement and satisfaction to see that the objective was achieved. Christian, the Coordinator of the BHM Project, took the leading role in teaching the content of the BHM Project in Swahili. He was able to inspire and teach in a style that mixed factual information and real life examples that visibly impacted the boys. I was able to see that moment in the Form 2 workshop conducted at Mangoto Secondary School where the boys displayed their capacity to be challenged and to gain a new perspective in the exercise we created to talk about gender roles. As a facilitator, if there is a moment you’re looking to see if material is retained, understood and debated among a group of people, that was it. Beyond the visual and verbal indications given by the boys regarding their retention of the material, their post workshop quizzes admitted their high level of understanding.
Of course there are always challenges along the way, creating a culturally applicable workshop that could impact male youth seemed a daunting task at first, but with perseverance and help from the close knit Femme team we were able to overcome that obstacle.
Personally, it has been an extremely valuable experience to be able to create a curriculum and workshop with Christian and to learn and grow through the various phases of development of a new project. I have learned a great deal from not only the design and implementation process, but from the Femme staff. I am excited to see the future opportunities for the BHM project.
Of course there are always challenges along the way, creating a culturally applicable workshop that could impact male youth seemed a daunting task at first, but with perseverance and help from the close knit Femme team we were able to overcome that obstacle.
Personally, it has been an extremely valuable experience to be able to create a curriculum and workshop with Christian and to learn and grow through the various phases of development of a new project. I have learned a great deal from not only the design and implementation process, but from the Femme staff. I am excited to see the future opportunities for the BHM project.
Currently, the Femme team, Christian and I will be going through the wrap up process of the BHM pilot project. We will be using our remaining time in Tanzania to look for funding opportunities that will allow us to scale up the BHM project. This will hopefully allow us to reach other communities surrounding Moshi, conducting workshops in areas that the FHM program previously reached. This is an essential step in bringing the conversation full circle between female and male youth in impacting their knowledge on sexual health and gender.
Given our successes, triumphs and challenges we have learned a great deal and want to take our lessons learned and knowledge and put it towards the future success of the BHM project.
Given our successes, triumphs and challenges we have learned a great deal and want to take our lessons learned and knowledge and put it towards the future success of the BHM project.
Devon Malcolm, BHM Program Officer
