Draft Curriculum for Male Motivators in Mangochi, Malawi

The initiative focuses on the Northern Region and Karamoja, with a specific emphasis on communities supported by the Youth Empowerment and Livelihoods Development (YIELD) program and Early Child Care and Development (ECCD) Center. The project's primary objective is to test a model for scaling up the successful pilot through economic strengthening, child care, and development programming integration. The REAL Fathers Initiative involves several key components, including the adaptation and pre-testing of intervention mentor curriculum and resource materials, as well as the development and testing of an integrated model. This model incorporates a rigorous pre-test/post-test quasi-experimental design, focus groups with stakeholders, mentors, and training teams, and focused life history interviews with young fathers and their wives/partners. Additionally, the project involves process documentation through ethnographic data collection during advisory group meetings, trainings, and community celebrations. The approach to the REAL Fathers Initiative involves identifying community groups in the Northern Region and Karamoja, interviewing eligible young fathers to learn about their parenting practices and attitudes, and purposively assigning communities to control and intervention groups. The project also involves selecting and training 120 mentors from the community, who will meet with participating fathers 14 times over 8 months. During these meetings, mentors will discuss topics such as positive parenting, couple communication skills, and economic strengthening and child care and development programs. Community posters will be displayed to catalyze community reflection on fatherhood and parenting, and community celebrations will be held to acknowledge successes and challenges of participation in the program. The REAL Fathers Initiative aims to promote positive parenting practices among young fathers in Uganda, with a focus on economic strengthening, child care, and development programming integration. The project's integrated model will be tested through a rigorous quasi-experimental design, and the effectiveness and scalability of the model will be evaluated through focus groups, interviews, and process documentation. The project's findings will provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of the REAL Fathers Initiative and inform the development of similar programs in the future.