OBJECTIVE
To change male attitudes for increased acceptance and practice of family planning (FP) and to sensitise men about gender issues.

BACKGROUND
In 1980, the Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana (PPAG) initiated a pioneering project involving men in FP and reproductive health (RH) issues.

Realising that leisure periods could be used to provide FP education and services to a captive audience, PPAG field workers formed the Daddies Club targeting about 150 male workers aged between 17-45 years at an oil palm plantation. Other Daddies Clubs were subsequently established and in 1995, the PPAG worked with 12 such clubs in 9 industrial establishments, 2 National Vocational Training Institutes (NVTI) and ten functional literacy groups.

MAIN ACTIVITIES
The project has 3 major activity areas of :

• IEC (information, education and communication) activities including lectures, group discussions, counselling debates, symposia, and film/video shows.
• Service delivery (in the form of contraceptives) done by both the PPAG staff and trained community-based distribution (CBD) agents selected from among clubs.
• Recreational activities are organised for club members and supervised by each club’s executive committee.

SCOPE
Desire to create awareness about FP among men, provide them counselling, and distribute contraceptives.

MANAGEMENT FEATURES

Strategy

• Reaching men through Daddies Clubs, work places, industrial institutions, vocational groups, and trade unions.
• Motivating men through regular meetings, face-to-face interactions, contacts with members’ spouses, and recreational activities.
• Links with other agencies which provide funding.

Capacity-Building
Training some group members as CBD agents ensures easy accessibility to contraceptive supplies.

Mobilising Resources

• Recreational services and educational sessions.
• Empowering clients to raise awareness among their peers.

Managerial Leadership

• Involved in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of the projects.
• Liaised with Daddies Club members to collectively draw up a work plan for the programme year.

EVALUATION FINDINGS

• The project has shown that the best approach to effectively address FP/RH issues is the participatory approach of involving men.
  • By conducting a needs assessment before the implementation of the project, the PPAG was able to design interventions to address the problems in the sphere of RH.
• Evaluation results also show that the programme is quite limited to promoting knowledge and use of modern contraceptive and the prevention and control of STDs including HIV/AIDs.