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Redefine Project Meeting in Armenia

In March, MÄN visited the Armenian capital Yerevan for a regional meeting within the framework of the five-year regional programme Redefine – Gender transformative work with men in Eastern Europe and South Caucasus. The purpose of Redefine is to support organisations in initiating and strengthening efforts to engage boys and men in exploring masculinity norms, promoting gender equality, and preventing violence in a region where this type of work remains rare.

The programme is funded by the Swedish international development cooperation agency, and is carried out in collaboration with five civil society organisations: Sapari (Georgia), Casa Marioarei (Moldova), Women's Rights Agenda Belarus (exiled), Armenian Progressive Youth, and Sexual Assault Crisis Centre (Armenia).

During three intense days in Yerevan, all partner organisations shared their experiences, methods, and plans. For example, all partners presented findings and conclusions from focus groups held with men and women in 2023 to gain a deeper understanding of the specific issues and attitudes concerning masculinity norms that are pertinent to the work in their respective countries.

"In June, the entire partner group will come to Stockholm, and we look forward to sharing more about, and arranging meetings with, the fantastic Redefine partners for MÄN’s members in the coming years”, says Maria Ristinmaa, project manager at MÄN.

Workshops with Armenian Activists

MÄN trainers Emilia Eriksson and Marco Vega held sessions on working with boys' psychosocial health drawing from our experiences with the support platform Killar.se and on encouraging men to challenge stereotypical norms, advocate for gender equality and tackle violence.

Workshops were also held with Armenian feminist activists. Sona Baldrian, who has been the coordinator for Femstory: a feminist oral story archive project, held a session on the ongoing backlash against women's and LGBTQI+ rights in Armenia and globally. Lara Aharonian, founder of Women's Resource Centre in Yerevan, led the group through a session on how those working for feminist societal change can sustain themselves when faced with various types of hatred and threats.

Visits to Armenian Partners

As part of the meeting, visits were made to the premises of the two Armenian partner organisations in order to learn more about their history and activities.

Sexual Assault Crisis Center is a feminist organisation dedicated to preventing and combating sexualised violence and sexism. It is the only organization in Armenia specialized in this area. Among other things, it operates a support line for individuals exposed to sexualised violence, provides legal and psychosocial assistance to victims of violence, and pushes the judiciary to prioritize victims and combat impunity. In 2023, work commenced to change masculinity norms and to establish an online support platform for men experiencing mental distress.

Armenian Progressive Youth (APY) strives to promote youth participation in civil society and politics. The organisation mobilises and empowers young people on a range of rights issues, including LGBTQI+ rights. It engages in civic education, digital campaigns, and in 2023, produced video content aimed at challenging the societal preconceptions and stereotypes about men and gender equality. Furthermore, APY has developed trainings in gender equality and violence prevention specifically tailored for young men.