Help & Support
Girls in School

Towards a Gender Equal World: the EU Gender Action Plan III

Group
public
160
 Members
131
 Discussions
123
 Library items

Table of contents

School of hard knocks – NXTGENMEN, South Africa

Schools of hard knocks Nxtgenmen

  • Gender marker: G2-Promotes gender equality as a primary objective

  • Period of implementation: 2022-2023

  • Amount: EUR 55,071.71

  • Geographical area: Sub-Saharan Africa

  • (Co-)funded by: Denmark, Ireland and New Zealand

  • Implementing partners: School of Hard Knocks (SOHK)

  • Link to the project: https://openaid.um.dk/project/XM-DAC-3-1-287025

  • GAP III’s Areas:

    • Gender-Based Violence

    • Equal participation and leadership

 

 

 

Have you ever imagined the gender-transformative power of sports? Well, the “School of Hard Knocks #NXTGENMEN” programme uses football and a gender-transformative curriculum to help men and boys change their attitudes toward mental health, gender equality and discriminatory stereotypes, with the aim of improving mental health and reducing violence - in particular, aiming to reduce gender-based violence.

The NXTGENMEN programme recognises that gender stereotypes harm everyone. Through the multi-session discussion-led workshops, participants in the programme work with their football team to consider how narrow understandings of gender limit the potential of everyone and contribute to harm to people across society. Football is a vital part of the programme, providing a non-threatening environment for participants to engage with the difficult subjects under discussion. Additionally, the football teams that participate become a place of support and accountability, as players put their new understandings of mental health and their new, transformed, approach to gender, into practice.

Over 1,000 men and boys have attended NXTGENMEN over the past year, each participant receiving multiple hours of programming from SoHK’s gender justice practitioner coaches. Many of these participants have become “game changers” in their communities, modelling new ideas and coping behaviours to people around them. This impact has been increased by local and national advocacy campaigns, reaching more than 140,000 people, and designed to foster discussion about gender equality and non-violent attitudes and behaviours.

Through programmes like NXTGENMEN, awareness about women’s rights and the negative impact of gender-based violence and harmful gender stereotypes is becoming more widespread. NXTGENMEN participants are engaged in developing healthy relationships and in creating a more equitable society.  Additionally, the School of Hard Knocks has open-sourced the NXTGENMEN curriculum and is sharing its experiences and findings with other organisations, in the hope of expanding the reach of the programme. Click to listen to the testimonies of some of the programme’s main change agents!