Bringing masculinities into the conversation: reflections from the AFS Youth Assembly

The AFS Youth Assembly, organised by AFS Intercultural Programs, is a global gathering that brings together young people from around the world to share ideas, build connections and take action on issues shaping our shared future.

At this year’s Assembly, Lottie Aql, Engagement Officer at Zero Tolerance Scotland, and Giacomo Zani, President and Founder of Mica Macho, representing MenEngage Europe and the broader MenEngage Alliance, joined conversations on gender equality, violence prevention and transforming masculinities. They brought perspectives on how gender norms and patriarchal systems shape masculinities, and why meaningful engagement with men and boys is essential to creating lasting change.

Following the Assembly, we asked Lottie and Giacomo to reflect on their experience, the conversations that stood out to them, what they learned from engaging with young people from different backgrounds, and what meaningful youth leadership on gender equality can look like.

Question: What was your experience stepping into a global youth space like the AFS Youth Assembly, and what did it mean to bring a MenEngage Alliance perspective into that room?

Giacomo: ​“It was super interesting for me to see how masculinity is perceived and processed in different cultures, especially by young delegates from African countries or from the Middle East. There was a lot of interest in how to evolve the role of men as providers and fathers. For example, we spoke with a young man and future father from the UAE who asked how he can be a good provider without creating gender inequalities. I think this cultural clash can be useful for us as a challenge in order to build relevant storytelling for different backgrounds. Gender was never the main topic, but I think that bringing the MenEngage Alliance perspective generated interest, both among delegates and speakers.”

Lottie: The AFS Youth Assembly provided a space to reflect critically on how gender is understood, discussed and sidelined within international forums. Too often, gender continues to be framed primarily through the experiences of women and children as victims, rather than recognising women and girls, including women’s rights organisations, as experts.

Bringing a MenEngage Alliance and Zero Tolerance perspective into the room created an opportunity to broaden that conversation. This means looking not only at the experiences of those affected by violence, but also at the social and gendered norms that shape behaviour and relationships within these spaces themselves. This includes expanding our understanding of gender justice to include conversations on transformative masculinities.

With donors and influential stakeholders present at the Assembly, there was an important opportunity to ask what commitments are being made, who is being funded, whose expertise is being valued, and whether international approaches guided by multilaterals are genuinely advancing gender equity. For me, bringing a MenEngage perspective was therefore not about creating a separate conversation on men and boys, but about connecting masculinities to the wider work of preventing violence, shifting power and advancing gender equality.

Question: From your experience at the Assembly, what does meaningful youth leadership on gender equality look like, and how can young men contribute to feminist action without taking space away from those most affected by inequality?

Giacomo: ​“I found young men quite behind in self-awareness about the power they could have in subverting gender norms. I think we would need to advocate better about ​‘the problem’, and then we need to empower those young men to make them understand that they can change things actively.”

Lottie: Meaningful youth leadership on gender equality moves beyond participation and towards shaping agendas and influencing decisions. I believe the Assembly did not have enough of a focus on this co-creation approach.

I also agree with Giacomo that there is work to do in supporting young men to understand the power they have to challenge gender norms, particularly as many of these men will go on to be leaders within decision-making spaces. Many young men may recognise that gender inequality exists, but have had fewer opportunities to reflect on how masculinity and power shape their own lives and privileges.

It was great for MenEngage and Giacomo to have time on the panel to speak about violence prevention and how this must centre around meaningful engagement with men and boys. I believe more dedicated time for this thinking would have been extremely impactful, allowing young male leaders to reflect and strategise together.

This also includes considering whose voices are being heard and respected within these forums, and how this intersects with other power dynamics such as race and class.

Question: What are three things that stood out to you about the young people at the AFS Youth Assembly — the issues they cared about, the conversations happening, or the energy in the room? Where did you see encouraging signs of engagement, what gives you hope, and what gaps do we still need to bridge?

Giacomo: ​“I felt like the Assembly was very focused on development and on empowering young people to make a change and have an impact on society. Therefore, there was a lot of attention on careers and entrepreneurship; everyone was looking for jobs in the UN and so on. I felt like the delegates were struggling to envision a positive future, between the climate crisis, wars and conflicts, and difficult career prospects. That was also because a vast majority of them were coming from the Global South. I think the gap we’ll need to bridge is framing gender equality not only as an ethical or moral issue, but also from a development and pragmatic point of view.”

Lottie: I agree. There was a strong focus on building a career and gaining entry into large institutions, such as the UN, rather than asking how those institutions themselves might need to change. I understand why young people are drawn to these pathways for opportunities to influence decision-making and ensure stability within a challenging economic climate.

But there was little space to ask how these systems potentially exacerbate the gender norms and power dynamics we are hoping to overcome, and what it means to transform these systems. I also felt there was less space for identifying shared structural problems and thinking collectively about how to respond to them.

There were many important conversations happening, but I would have liked to see more movement from individual ambition towards collective strategy and solidarity. However, the energy and positive motivation were extremely evident, so it is about harnessing that energy towards movement-building efforts.

Question: The Youth Assembly is about turning young people’s visions for a better future into action. What is one concrete change, idea or commitment you would like young people and organisations to take forward from the Assembly? 

Giacomo: ​“The idea that without engaging men there is no real future for gender equality and development, and that, especially as men, we should build a better feeling of empathy towards other men — our brothers, our colleagues, our fathers, and so on. We should rediscover the love for caring for human relationships.”

Lottie: As one speaker stated, ​“we hold the tools for a sustainable world — we just have to choose between trust or fear”. In a world facing rising protracted crises, climate emergencies, increased funding towards military interventions, and cuts to the services that protect and empower populations, it often feels as though we have no choice. But this Assembly created a space to slow down, reorganise and make choices.

Whether it is which thematic topic to focus on, which colleague to engage with or which skill to strengthen, I would encourage young people and organisations to look across the issues we discussed at the Assembly — climate, conflict, sustainability, digital rights, development and peace — and consider what connects them.

Gender norms and unequal power structures run through all of these areas. They shape who has access to resources, who is protected, who makes decisions and whose voices are truly valued.

I hope attendees will continue to make space to consider our own gender roles and how the norms, behaviours and assumptions we carry can contribute to wider systems of inequality. I also hope they will make the active choice to include masculinities as part of this conversation — not as a replacement for feminist leadership, but as a strengthening factor to ensure inclusive and sustainable change.

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Lottie Aql is the Engagement Officer at Zero Tolerance, a Scottish charity working to end men’s violence against women and girls by tackling its root cause: gender inequality. Lottie is an experienced researcher, advocate and network facilitator working across global gender justice priorities. At Zero Tolerance, Lottie works to engage men and boys in the primary prevention of violence through feminist approaches to attitude and systems change.

Giacomo Zani is the President and Founder of Mica Macho, an Italian nonprofit organisation working to reshape masculinities and engage men and boys through education, cultural dissemination and public events. Giacomo has a background in marketing and economics, having worked in several marketing and communications agencies. At Mica Macho, he is responsible for fundraising and project management.