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Between 8-11 September 2016, Rachel Ploem will be representing Rutgers at the 13th AWID International Forum in Brazil, titled "Feminist Futures: Building Collective Power for Rights and Justice." In her blog, Rachel speaks of her excitement to engage in this global initiative of intersectional learning and exchange: an important step in realising an all-gender inclusive women's rights agenda.

Rutgers and Sensoa are looking for partners in Europe to implement the Flag System in their country and to develop a toolbox with support for countries who will enrol the project. On 16 October 2017 we organize a start-up meeting of this project.

The chances of knowing someone who had experienced sexual violence are high if you live in a small country such as Honduras. Few laws protect our girls and women, and current events show increased levels of impunity that are likely to undermine our rights.

New research in Rwanda reveals engaging men as they become fathers helps to transform male attitudes towards women, reduce gender-based violence (GBV) and increase time spent on unpaid care work. These promising results come two years after the MenCare+ programme, the precursor of Rutgers’ current Prevention+ programme that engages men and boys to end GBV.

Across the Prevention+ programme, we engage men and women to end the cycle of gender-based violence (GBV). Fathers can play an important part in that process. We see this in rural Uganda, where 61% of women experience GBV. Our partner Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU) engages fathers in positive parenting trainings and encourages them to support women’s economic empowerment. Sharing the realities of family life together, helps change attitudes these men may have and ultimately strengthens gender-equal parenting.

In 2017, #MeToo shed light on gender-based violence (GBV) across the world. In the Prevention+ programme, Rutgers, together with partners Promundo and Sonke Gender Justice, work on preventing GBV by engaging men and boys. A year after #MeToo, Global Programme Manager, Ruth van Zorge reflects on how the movement has underlined the importance of this work and what the next steps should be.

The world is going through a critical period of increasing conservatism. There is a tendency to turn away from universal human rights, towards more dogmatic beliefs. The impact of this shift has disproportionate consequences for women, with limitations to their rights, the reinforcement of the male hierarchy and the marginalisation of sexual and gender diversity. Our international programme Prevention+ works with religious leaders to end gender-based violence (GBV).

On International Day of Happiness, Rutgers is pleased to share a new animated video, created through the Prevention+ programme, which promotes gender-equal societies without violence, as well as happier and healthier relationships.

After twelve and a half years, Technical Advisor on Gender and SRHR, Rachel Ploem, is leaving Rutgers. Throughout her time at the organisation, the combination of women’s rights and the positive engagement of men and boys was at the heart of her work, leading not only to shifts for the people she worked with, but also to Rutgers itself. Now, against the backdrop of the #MeToo movement and rising conservatism, she reflects.

This week the Prevention+ global partnership, committed to addressing the root causes of GBV, came together in Kigali for their annual ‘taking stock’ meeting. It was an opportunity to critically assess how far we have collectively come, and how far we still must go to help create a world without GBV and where healthy, respectful and equal relationships are the norm.

“Women’s shelters should not need to exist.” This was one of the key messages from the 4th World Conference on Women’s Shelters (4WCWS) that Rutgers and our Prevention+ partners attended last week in Taiwan. The key message was that, in order to prevent the violence that makes many women and girls seek shelter in the first place, it is crucial to continue working with men and boys in an accountable way to stop the cycles of violence and harassment.

Across four countries, Prevention+ engages with men and boys, as well as women, to end gender-based violence (GBV). In Western Uganda, partner organisation Reproductive Health Uganda works with local communities towards our shared goal of violence-free societies.