The next phase of the “Papa School – Towards Responsible Fatherhood” project, implemented with the financial support of the European Union and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the UN Women, has started within the framework of the program “European Union for Gender Equality: Together against Gender Stereotypes and Gender-Based Violence”.
The project, carried out with the support of “Forest School Azerbaijan” and the Azerbaijan Enlighteners Association (Azərbaycan Maarifçilər Assosiasiyası), covers a total of 6 regions: Ismayilli, Mingachevir, Barda, Lankaran, Sabirabad, and Guba. More than 150 young fathers and men preparing to become fathers will benefit from father schools, which will last for 5 weeks in each region.
The main goal of the meetings in the format of father schools, within the next phase of the project implemented since 2020, is to contribute to changing the established gender-based stereotypical behavior norms in families by actively involving young fathers and men preparing to become fathers in the development process of their children.
On July 5-7, 2024, training sessions were organized in the Guba region to enhance the knowledge, skills, and awareness of facilitators selected from the regions covered by the project. The sessions focused on topics such as the importance of the role of fathers in ensuring gender equality, combating gender-based sex selection and other harmful practices through the education of young fathers and men preparing to become fathers, and the development of training methodologies to ensure the correct instillation of responsible fatherhood.
Seminars held in father schools will cover topics such as the role of family planning in forming a healthy society, values based on a healthy family model and principles of gender equality, preventing the preference of boys in families through the promotion of the value of girls, childcare and the equal distribution of other household responsibilities between men and women, and the importance of networking among fathers within their communities.
