As gender relations cannot be changed by one side alone, men and boys are recognised as critical allies in the promotion of gender equality and addressed as a target group.

Building on previous activities for involving men and boys in gender equality programmes, with ADA support VIDC organised a workshop in June 2015 themed: Gender Justice for Better Lives for All – Workshop on Engaging Men and Boys for Gender Equality in International Cooperation”. In addition to Tanya Charles (Sonke Gender Justice, South Africa), who gave a lecture on the work of her organisation, Carolina Wennerholm (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, SIDA) reported on her experience in Sweden with introducing and implementing the Men Engage approach in development policy. Paul Scheibelhofer (Innsbruck University) discussed the topic from the perspective of critical research on men. The contributions were followed by working groups on different sectors and topics, with valuable input from national and international figures with additional know-how.