Book Description

What role, if any, do community-based structures play in the larger framework of grassroots globalisation and human rights? How do these `big questions' relate to a local program that engages men and boys in gender justice-related work? While gender activists globally have recognised the importance and value of engaging men in gender justice, little in-depth documentation exists on the process of engaging men in gender justice-related work at the community level, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. This case study attempts to fill this gap, exploring the development of the Kuyasa One Man Can (OMC) Branch in a township outside of Cape Town, South Africa. The Kuyasa OMC Branch is a community-based initiative under the auspices of Sonke Gender Justice Network, a South African-based NGO that seeks to engage men and boys in gender justice and advocacy. At the same time, this thesis examines the way in which seemingly abstract concepts such as `human rights' and `community development' are essential in democratising the structures in which we live and facilitating individuals to act in their own interest. Arguing for the strength of community-based initiatives in the struggle to eradicate gender-based violence, this thesis calls for men to be more actively involved in issues of women's rights and gender justice more generally. The wounds that remain in South Africa, like many developing countries, are not going to go away over night, and multi-faceted approaches to a complex web of economic, structural, political, and social issues need to happen to lay the foundation for long-term and embedded change to take root. The Kuyasa OMC Branch not only offers us a place to explore the importance of community level facilitation of gender justice-related work, but to confront the ways in which the concept of `human rights' is understood and actualised on the ground.