The 3^rd Men’s Conference will provide an opportunity to consolidate bold Continental efforts that Heads of State and other sectors have taken towards Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (EVAWG) in Africa including, among others, accountability for the implementation of the Kinshasa Declaration, the Dakar Call to Action and relevant AU Assembly decisions.

Convened under the theme “Consolidating Commitments Towards the African Union Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls”, the Conference will provide an important platform to assess progress made by male leadership across respective sectors and to articulate specific priorities to decisively end VAWG in the Continent. Building onto the critical work undertaken in the previous conferences, the 3rd Men’s Conference on Positive Masculinity in Leadership to EVAWG will deepen the understanding of structural drivers, to take firm actions towards addressing them.

A focus on deepening an understanding of structural drivers of VAWG in the Continent is four-fold:

1. It serves to emphasize the importance of harnessing law and policy as instruments to accelerate changes that protect women and girls from violence and uphold their rights to life, security, freedom, dignity and physical and emotional integrity.
2. It makes the strategic linkages between the lack of economic and financial inclusion with vulnerability to violence and as a form of structural violence itself.
3. It develops an African compendium of evidenced-based interventions to prevent violence against women and girls.
4. It provides a framework to deeply explore harmful social norms relating to masculinity and violence that have resulted in the normative character of violence – permissive societies across the Continent.

It is envisaged that deepening the interlinkages between VAWG, and the wider development challenges African societies face, drawing on both historic and current factors that shape these expressions, provides a deeper foundation from which Africa itself can craft relevant policy and programming responses.

Uniquely, the 3rd Men’s Conference is co-hosted by H.E. President Azali Assoumani of the Union of the Comoros, and 2023 AU Chairperson and H.E. President Cyril Ramaphosa of the Republic of South Africa, who was unable to host the first conference in 2020 during his chairmanship of the AU due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During his tenure at the helm of the AU, President Ramaphosa highlighted VAWG as a critical challenge impeding development across the Continent and calling for the adoption of an AU Convention. In the same vein, H.E. President Azali Assoumani, the current AU Chairperson has also been recognised by UN Agencies in particular UNFPA for his contributions towards promoting women’s empowerment, especially maternal health in his country.

The conference will take place on 27 and 28 November 2023 in Johannesburg, South Africa. To learn more about how you can make a difference, end violence against women and girls and resources and reference materials, visit the African Union Men’s conference on Positive Masculinity click here. #PositiveMasculinity.

The efforts to cultivate positive masculinity and end VAWG must be a community undertaking involving both men and women across all social groups. Despite decades of efforts by multiple stakeholders, VAWG in Africa remains the most widespread and socially accepted form of human right violation, whose victims cut across borders, race, class, ethnicity, and religion. Vast majority of this violence is perpetrated by men and while most may never use or condone the use of violence, the fact is that men are overwhelmingly the perpetrators of VAWG. Others participate passively through their silence or excusing the behaviour of male aggressors.

To win this fight, men who hold decision making positions across different spheres must be brought on board as gender allies, not only to cause change at family level, but also to become gender champions in their workspaces and eco-systems. This will encourage them to actively advance positive masculinity, gender equality and women’s empowerment. Involving and engaging men in the fight to end VAWG has been proven to be a catalyst in the ending of the vice. The partnership is not only to see men end physical violence in spaces such as homes and workplaces, but also curb non-physical aggression meted on women and girls in the digital spaces where cyber-bulling and harassment are on the rise.

The African Union (AU) High-Level Presidential Response to End Violence Against Women and Girls (EVAWG) was established in 2020 with a view to mobilize political commitment and action at the highest level of the AU leadership and decision-making to prevent and end Violence Against Women and Girls in Africa. Renamed to the AU High Level Presidential Initiative on Positive Masculinity in Leadership to End Violence Against Women and Girls in Africa, the Initiative is operationalized through the Annual AU Men’s Conferences and the multi-stakeholder pre-conference consultations with AU citizens.

The High-Level Men’s Conferences are convened by AU Chairpersons (current, former and incoming) since 2020 and the AU Gender Champions; AU Commission, and the African Women Leaders Network (AWLN), with the support of UN Agencies, civil society, private sector, development partners, and other stakeholder.

The Inaugural AU Men’s Conference on Positive Masculinity in Leadership to End Violence Against Women and Girls in Africa, was held in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in November 2021, under the leadership of H.E. Felix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, President of the DRC and the 2021 AU Chairperson. The main outcome of the conference was the Kinshasa Declaration and Call to Action on Positive Masculinity in Leadership to End Violence Against Women and Girls, which was subsequently adopted as an AU Assembly Decision during the 35th Ordinary Session of the AU Heads of State and Government in February 2022. The Assembly also appointed H.E. President Felix Tshisekedi as the first AU Champion on Positive Masculinity.

The Second Men's Conference on Positive Masculinity in Leadership was held in November 2022 in Dakar, Senegal, under the leadership of H.E. Macky Sall, President of the Republic of Senegal and the 2022 AU Chairperson. The Dakar Call to Action which seeks to accelerate implementation of the Kinshasa Declaration was adopted, where Heads of State committed to advance, promote, and accelerate actions to prevent, sustainably address, and end the scourge of violence against women and girls on the continent.

Drawing from the outcomes of the two conferences, the AU Heads of State and Government during the 36th Assembly held in February 2023 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, adopted a historic decision to negotiate the AU Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (AU CEVAWG). Once adopted, the CEVAWG will be the first continental legal instrument for the prevention and elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls, showing African leadership in efforts to EVAWG globally.

As is customary, the 3rd Men’s Conference will be convened in collaboration with AWLN and the members of the Circle of Champions on Positive Masculinity who, in their own right, have pushed the agenda at the highest level of the AU policy making. For example, the President of Ghana, H.E. Nana Dankwa Akufo-Addo, in his capacity as the AU Champion on Gender and Development Issues in Africa consistently includes Positive Masculinity and EVAWG in his progress reports to the AU Assembly and tables decisions before AU Summits for adoption; the President of Senegal, H.E. Macky Sall sponsored the decision for the adoption of the EVAWG Campaign, which was subsequently adopted by the Assembly chaired by H.E. President Assoumani. The President of the DRC, in his capacity as the AU Positive Masculinity Champion has led calls for greater accountability and investment in gender equality and women’s empowerment including in key international platform such as UN General Assembly. The AWLN Patron, Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, pioneered the importance of harnessing male political leadership in the Continent as critical to complement the efforts of women in leadership over many decades towards ending VAWG and specifically requested the convening of the Men’s Conference.

Learn more about the 1st conference here

Learn more about the 2nd conference here.

As in previous years, the 3rd Men’s Conference will be preceded by stakeholder consultations. The pre-consultations will focus on reflecting on progress related to delivery on commitments made to date, whilst simultaneously exploring ways in which the responses to VAWG can be strengthened at a Continental level through the EVAWG Convention and provide inputs on the Common Africa Position on Positive Masculinity.

The pre-consultations include:

• Women Leaders hosted by Comoros and AWLN with UNWOMEN/UNDP in Moroni, Comoros.
• Young People convened by Senegal and UNFPA in a hybrid format with in-person participation in Dakar, Senegal.
• Traditional and Religious Leaders hosted by the DRC and UNWOMEN in Kinshasa, DRC.
• CSOs convened by GIMAC online.
• Academia hosted by Ghana and UNESCO online.
• The Private Sector organised by South Africa and ILO in a hybrid format with in-person participation in South Africa.

<p>The Stakeholder Consultations will solicit inputs from African citizens through a comprehensive Advocacy and Media campaign to ensure that their views and concerns are integrated in the outcomes and decisions of the Conference and post-conference implementation. The engagement with Women Leaders in Moroni will provide an important platform through which women leaders across the Continent are able to contribute towards shaping a Continental policy response to EVAWG. This will build onto the rights enshrined in the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol on Women’s Rights), whose 20th anniversary is celebrated this year and provide strategic direction for the follow up consultations, taking place with male leaders across respective sectors. At the same time, it will kickstart engagements with AU citizens across the Continent towards shaping the content and focus of the AU EVAWG Convention. Detailed information about the pre-consultations is available in the concept notes attached at the bottom of this page.</p>

The Men’s Conference is expected to:

1. Review the status of implementation of the outcomes of the first and second-Men’s Conferences
2. Table the recommendations of the multi-stakeholder consultations for the content of a draft AU EVAWG Convention.
3. Consider the key messages for the Common Africa Position on Positive Masculinity
4. Share evidence- based African interventions to prevent VAWG and programming strategies that strengthen the interlinkages that address women and girls’ economic and social vulnerability.
5. Adopt the outcome document of the 3rd Men’s Conference.

The Conference targets African men in leadership, who will also serve as role models for other men to join the fight against VAWG in Africa. Specifically, the Conference will attract:

1. AU Heads of State and Government
2. Male politicians and senior government leaders
3. Men in leadership in business and the private sector
4. Male traditional and Religious Leaders
5. Male leaders of the academia
6. Male leaders in the entertainment industry and Sports
7. Leading male journalists
8. Leaders of men’s organisations/ movements
9. Male Youth leaders
10. African Union Organs and Specialized Institutions
11. Regional Economic Communities
12. Civil Society leaders
13. UN Agencies
14. Development Partners
15. Philanthropists
16. Parliamentarians
17. Women’s Rights Organisation Leaders, including young women
18. Trade Union Leadership / Labour Leadership
19. Diaspora
20. Media