Key publications to better understand MenEngage Alliance

Explore nine key publications from MenEngage Alliance. Together, they show who we are, what we believe, and how we work towards gender justice. 

Our publications draw on the collective knowledge of our members and partners, including critical feminist voices. 

New to MenEngage Alliance? Start here. 

1. What we see, what we believe, and our strategic approaches: A Handbook 

Start here for an overview of who we are, what we believe, and our strategic approaches. 

Summarised from our Strategic Plan, developed collaboratively across MenEngage Alliance representatives and key external partners.

Click here to download the handbook. 

2. Our Accountability Framework 

Our Accountability Framework is made up of three key documents:

• Core Principles
• Code of Conduct
• Accountability Standards

By being a part of MenEngage Alliance, members make a commitment to learning about — and putting into practice — these principles, commitments, and aspirations.

They are a great starting point in better understanding who we are, what we stand for, and the world we want to see.

3. A Call to Action: Progressive Policy Approaches to Effectively Engage Men and Boys in Countering Backlash on Rights, Gender Equality and Democracy

This Call to Action gives policymakers feminist-informed strategies to counter anti-rights forces. It makes the case for confronting patriarchal masculinities. It shows how men and boys can become allies for rights-based policy.

Use it for domestic policymaking, regional advocacy, or international diplomacy. It maps how backlash actors mobilise narratives rooted in patriarchal power. It offers adaptable strategies to counter them.

4. Contexts and Challenges for Gender Transformative Work with Men and Boys 

This paper explores the ways that masculinities form a common thread running through a multitude of global problems. It looks at how the world continues to be shaped in profound ways by ideas and attitudes around being a man. It provides perspective on the political, economic, and socio-cultural forces confronting the world today.

The paper breaks down its analysis into six themes:

1. Gender Justice: The Need for Systemic Change
2. Political Contexts: Authoritarianism, Ethnonationalism and Militarism
3. Economic Contexts: Neoliberalism, Climate Crisis and Care Economies
4. Social Contexts: Anti-Feminism, Normalized Violence and Politicized Religion
5. Digital Contexts: Media, Attention Economies and the Manosphere
6. Operational Contexts: Rationale, Accountability and Social Change

Click here to download the paper.

You can also watch an online dialogue series based on the above topics here.

5. Ubuntu Symposium Discussion Papers e‑book

This e‑book compiles six discussion papers from the 3^rd MenEngage Global Symposium – the Ubuntu Symposium.

The discussion papers are also available to download separately:

1. Engaging men and boys in ending gender-based violence, including violence against women and girls
2. Backlash and Fundamentalism
3. Men, Masculinities and Climate Justice
4. Peacebuilding and Countering Militarism
5. Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) and sexual orientation, gender identity and expression and sex characteristics (SOGIESC)
6. Unpaid Care and Economies of Care

Click here to download the e‑book.

The papers explore a range of critical topics around transforming patriarchal masculinities and working with men and boys for gender justice. They reflect the inputs of many activists, researchers, policy-makers, and people working with men and boys for gender justice around the world.

6. The Delhi and Ubuntu Declarations and Calls to Action 

In 2014, MenEngage Alliance came together in Delhi for our 2^nd Global Symposium. This resulted in the Delhi Declaration and Call to Action — a milestone set of commitments for MenEngage Alliance members, partners, and the broader field of work with men and boys for gender equality.

Click here to download the Delhi Declaration and Call to Action.

In 2020, we held the 3^rd MenEngage Global Symposium in partnership with MenEngage Africa, Rwanda MenEngage Network (RWAMNET), and local partner Rwanda Men’s Resource Centre (RWAMREC). This event became known as the MenEngage Ubuntu Symposium. The Ubuntu Declaration and Call to Action is one of its outcome documents.

Click here to download the Ubuntu Declaration and Call to Action.

The Ubuntu Declaration builds on its Delhi counterpart. It reflects deepened solidarity and commitment to a systems change agenda. Intersectional feminist voices, organisations, and leaders have long advocated for this agenda. It centres accountability, decolonisation, intergenerational dialogue, allyship, and inner work for social change.

7. MenEngage on the spot 

This report summarises an accountability dialogue on the work of MenEngage Alliance. It draws on the views of feminist and gender justice activists on our accountability practices.

Click here to download ​‘MenEngage On The Spot’

The dialogue offers a critical lens on MenEngage Alliance’s accountability — past, present, and future. It also reflects on accountability more broadly, across those working with men and boys for gender justice.

The conversation took place at the UN Commission on the Status of Women in 2018. It put MenEngage Alliance directly ​‘on the spot.’

8. Mapping masculinities in global gender policies and frameworks 

MenEngage Alliance tracks how ​‘men and masculinities’ show up in global policy frameworks. Our Advocacy Working Group leads this work.

This includes policy frameworks from the UN Human Rights Council, the Commission on the Status of Women, Beijing+25, and the Generation Equality Forum. Our aim: monitor and advance policy language on men and masculinities across these high-level documents.

Use this mapping to understand what global frameworks and agreements exist on transforming patriarchal masculinities and engaging men and boys for gender justice. It’s a useful resource for lobbying policymakers and holding them accountable to these agreements.

Explore the Language Mappings

9. Policy Analysis Toolkit and country scorecards

This toolkit analyses gender equality policies with a focus on men and boys. It assesses how gender-transformative these policies are — including how well they incorporate intersectional feminist approaches and human rights.

It gives members, partners, and policymakers a framework for developing more effective, accountable policies. These policies transform patriarchal masculinities and engage men and boys for gender justice.

The Policy Toolkit can help you:

• Assess a policy’s quality in your context, including how far it supports gender justice, women’s rights, and LGBTQI rights
• Hold governments to account on policy quality and implementation
• Provide evidence to support calls for policy change
• Monitor and counter rising populism and backlash against women’s rights and LGBTQI rights within policies

The toolkit was developed in partnership with feminist consultants, FemJust.

To explore all our resources, visit the Resources area. Use the drop-down filters to browse by strategy — such as advocacy — or by topic, such as gender-based violence.

Prefer to watch and listen? Find our library of discussions and event recordings on our YouTube page.