Mobilizing networks and forming alliances with institutions related to men’s health, increasing services and information for men through existing clinics, encouraging men to take charge of their own sexual health and promoting gender equality, building the capacity of service providers, and investigating the construction of masculinity in the Lima metropolitan area.

What is innovative about this project?

INPPARES recognises the often missing link in sexual and reproductive health projects worldwide—men.

The MACHO project seeks to integrate men’s health services into existing spheres of work on:

• HIV and sexually transmitted infections
• emergency contraception
• gender-based violence
• sexual diversity
• supportive counselling
• rights

The project also aims to generate quality materials to be used by other organizations that work with men.

The name of the project itself is innovative; MACHO is an acronym that, when written out, outlines the five-pronged strategy for implementation:

• Mobilize
• Attend (care for)
• Communicate
• Help
• Observe

The MACHO project believes that by recognizing and addressing the limitations imposed on both men and women by traditional concepts of masculinity, change can be achieved.

How is the strategy working?

The project has been successful in galvanizing the Lima Metropolitan community around the issues of masculinity and sexual and reproductive health using a variety of media.

The project undertook thirty-four interviews on radio, television and in newspapers, and published ten advertisements in the daily Lima newspaper ‘El Tome.’

As a result of the project’s effective campaigns, 1,236 men received an array of services, 733 of whom received services through a mobile clinic employed in marginalized areas of Lima. 

The project has also reached out to men employed in predominantly male workplaces.

Partnering with the military, local police, security firms, and certain stores, has allowed the project to reach large numbers of men and encourage workplaces to actively promote the well-being and health-seeking behaviour of men.

Holding sensitization workshops in the workplaces, coupled with provision of on-site services, has helped strengthen the link between information and access to services as well.

In 2008, the number of organisations participating in the ‘Forum on Masculinities and Violence: Trapped without Exit’ rose to 68 from 54 the previous year.

The forum provides a space in which diverse and specialized members of society can align for the benefit of the community as a whole and discuss the project’s thematic areas.

Since the beginning of the project, the number of men receiving services has risen dramatically. 

During the reporting year ending in July 2008, INPPARES provided:

• services to 9,816 men
• provided training in gender, violence, and masculinity to 1,398 men
• provided counselling to 770 people (mostly couples) on relationships and self-esteem

Why is this work important?

Peru has long been a patriarchal society with men acting as the head of most households and making the important decisions.

Traditional Peruvian masculinity means that men distance themselves from everything that can be characterized as ‘feminine,’ including sexual and reproductive health services.

Not only does this process of alienation harm men’s partners and children, but it also prevents men from accessing the services and information they need to maintain their own sexual and reproductive health and well-being. 

Focusing on access for men in Peru is important if the country is to build a collective conscience for changing traditional concepts of masculinity.

That would lead to improvements in the lives of both women and men.

What next?

The project will continue raising awareness in the Lima Metropolitan area through four annual campaigns and the utilization of public media.

In the reporting year 2008-2009, the ‘Forum on Masculinities and Violence: Trapped without Exit’ will make its findings on masculinity and gender publicly available.

The MACHO project will continue to increase its services, training, and capacity-building throughout the community.

In particular we plan to reach out to neighbourhoods that remain under-served, and to begin working with male prison inmates.

INPPARES hopes to impart the lessons learned through research and project results to the government Ministries of Health and Education, to ensure the sustainability of the MACHO project’s services well beyond the Innovation Fund’s sponsorship.

Want to find out more?

If you would like to find out more, please contact the Innovation Fund team at IPPF Central Office innovation@ippf.org or visit our Western Hemisphere Region’s website or INPPARES’ website.

An IPPF Innovation Fund project implemented by the Instituto Peruano de Paternidad Responsible (Inppares).