Fatherhood Project

Through a traveling photographic exhibition, publications, media and activities organised by partner organisations, the Fatherhood Project reaches out to men, women and children in an effort to promote caring fatherhood. The projects strategies focus around advocacy, and gathering and disseminating positive information about men as fathers and caregivers.

The project undertakes activities with the aims of:

• influencing social expectations and perceptions about men and their care for children;
• rallying peer and professional support to enable men to be more involved in children's lives;
• creating a sense of shared responsibility for children's development among men and women;
• engendering broad-based and long-term commitment to men's involvement with children; and
• identifying and addressing barriers to men's engagement with and protection of young children.

The organisers aim to do this through:

• sensitising men to the effect that their involvement has on the well-being of children as they grow up;
• enabling men to become actively engaged in child care;
• supporting men in responsive, responsible and committed fatherhood;
• generating public discourse about men and fatherhood;
• prompting increased funding by national and international donors for the inclusion of men in programmes to support children;
• encouraging organisations to include men in programme activities; and.
• developing a research agenda on father-child issues.

The production of materials for use in advocacy and programme groups aims to help draw men into these activities. According to the organisers, one of the most successful initiatives was a traveling photography exhibit, organised in 2004 and 2005, which presented images of fatherhood seen through the lenses of professional photographers, students and children. Alongside these images were the words of children talking about fathers, and men talking about the way they see themselves. These words and images speak of men who have broken away from the limiting stereotypes of male dominance and found fulfillment in caring roles as guardians, companions, teachers, supporters, friends and guides. Also included in the images on display were photographs taken by 10-12 year old children living in urban and rural environments. These children, none of whom had any previous photographic experience, produced images that "are a testimony to the presence of committed fatherhood, even amongst disadvantaged communities. The photographs demonstrate the importance played by men who were not the biological fathers of the children in their care." The exhibition traveled to a number of venues around South Africa in 2004 and 2005, stimulating debate and discussions amongst public, academics and researchers, leading to a collaborative book project resulting in the publication of the book on fatherhood: Baba: Men and Fatherhood in South Africa (2005).

The project also produces: a monthly electronic newsletter that highlights current developments in the fatherhood arena; educative modules focusing on themes of fatherhood and caregiving, masculinity, gender-based violence, sexual risk and HIV/AIDS; and training workshops to be held in the media and corporate sectors.

Gender, Children, Parenting.

According to the organisers, the project was motivated by three converging issues related to men and children in South Africa:

• very high rates of child sexual abuse, most of which is perpetrated by men;
• absence of men from households and low levels of father support for children’s care; and
• increased care needs of children as a result of deaths and family disruption from the AIDS epidemic.

From the website: "The Fatherhood Project acknowledges that men are often absent, neglectful, abusive and sometimes brutal. They may be self-absorbed and taken up with their own interests and careers. We know that some South African men commit acts of extreme violence against women and children. This is the dark side of fatherhood in our country. It is also true that millions of children don't know their fathers and that many don't enjoy the protection and care of a substitute father. And yet, in a country where the image of men has taken a beating, where the absent father is the rule rather than the exception, positive images of fatherhood nevertheless remain alive in the minds and yearnings of people, young and old."