“Boys and Men as Allies in Violence Prevention and Gender Transformation in the Western Balkans – Young Men Initiative (YMI)” BASELINE ASSESEMENT REPORT July 2015 1 CONTENT BACKGROUND OF THE RESEARCH Project objectives Purpose of the Baseline Evaluation METHOD Participants Instruments and procedures RESULTS Gender roles and attitudes Young men's health Social activities and social support Violence Emotional relationships Community experiences Correlations between phenomena in the research CONCLUSIONS 2 BACKGROUND OF THE RESEARCH CARE‟s mission in the Balkan region is to contribute to post-war recovery and the socio- economic development of Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Kosovo and Montenegro. CARE in the Balkans consists of offices in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Belgrade, Serbia and Pristina, Kosovo. CARE in the Balkans places the quality of its programs at the center of its operation and mission and has developed a regional strategy that encompasses two main program directions: Gender Equality and Social and Economic Inclusion. The goal of the Social and Economic Inclusion Program is to strengthen capacities and create opportunities for marginalized, socially excluded and poor communities to integrate into society and access rights. CARE‟s Gender Equality Program aims to empower women and girls vulnerable to violence, discrimination and poverty to reach better life opportunities and social justice. The Boys and Men as Allies in Violence Prevention and Gender Transformation in the Western Balkans or Young Men Initiative (YMI) project builds upon CARE´s comprehensive and programmatic efforts to fight interpersonal and gender based violence (GBV) as well as to improve gender equality in the region. The YMI project, implemented in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Serbia, targets young men to develop their knowledge and attitudes concerning gender equality and healthy lifestyles and decrease levels of GBV. The Gender Transformative Life Skills program (Program M) is at the heart of this endeavor. The current project aims to scale up and mainstream earlier achievements related to the implementation of Program M via targeted advocacy and close collaboration with Ministries of Education, State gender agencies, academic institutions, secondary schools, educators, the media and other stakeholders. One of the main objectives of the project is to introduce Program M into national educational curricula and obtain official accreditation for teacher training. To enhance this process, CARE is implementing Program M in selected secondary vocational schools in the region in cooperation with teachers. To reach educators in the early stages of their careers, the project is also targeting teacher trainee students at universities. CARE´s local partner organisations are increasingly recognized as key players by public stakeholders in the field of male engagement, youth work and gender equality. Supported by the project, the partners implement campaigns targeting youth while also reaching out to fathers, male care givers, coaches and other male role models. Exposure to these campaigns 3 can improve receipients' knowledge and attitudes on gender equality and parenting and equip men to fight against gender based violence in families. Project objectives The overall project objective is to improve gender equality and decrease interpersonal and gender based violence within Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania and Kosovo. The project's purpose is to increase the uptake of healthy, non-violent and gender equitable lifestyles amongst boys and men (and girls and women) participating in the program. This will be achieved through 3 interrelated results: 1. Gender Transformative Life Skills program (Program M) adopted, accredited and teachers trained by Ministry of Education for use in secondary schools; 2. Lifestyle and social norms campaigns to engage boys and men on issues of violence prevention, gender equality and fatherhood are developed and reach the targeted audience; 3. Local NGO partners act as national resource centres and promote practice, policy and research work engaging boys and men. Purpose of the Baseline Evaluation The baseline assessment was carried out to contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the attitudes on gender based violence, gender equality, and healthy lifestyles amongst boys and men (and girls and women), fathers, teachers and teacher trainees who are participating in the program within Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania and Kosovo. We assessed the main aspects of the project activities by measuring the changes in attitudes, knowledge level and behaviors of the target groups. We conducted a baseline assessment with the stated target groups to assess how they feel, think and how much they know about the topics that we address through our work. A self-administered survey was the main evaluation tool. The key research questions underlying the evaluation are: 1. What are the views of young men regarding gender roles and attitudes? 4 2. What are young men‟s health behaviours, including alcohol consumption, smoking and substance abuse? 3. What is the experience of young men with violence, including experienced and perpetrated violence? 4. What are young men‟s experiences with romantic relationships, sexuality, contraception and violence in a relationship? 5. Are there any other mediating factors (e.g., social support networks, family social- economic status, etc.) that also influence the attitudes and behaviours of young men and women? 6. What is the awareness of campaigns and/or programs about violence, homophobia and sexual and reproductive health? 5 METHOD In order to obtain detailed input from young men in a cost-efficient way, we used a self- administered questionnaire with young men in intervention sites at the baseline. At a later point in the project, the same type of activity will be conducted (the endline assessment, with the endline assessment report as a result) showing us clearly what type of changes, with what target group(s), at what locations and to what extent we have managed to influence knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors as a result of the work of our partners and the CARE team. We conducted self-administered surveys in intervention sites amongst all target goups before our partners began interventions so that a comparison could be made at a later point. The survey was conducted collaboratively between CARE, local partners NGOs and the consultant. Local partners NGOs secured permissions to enter the schools and collect questionnaires. The leading coordination role was done by the CARE project manager. In this draft report we present our methods and the results of the research with the young men, as research with other target groups is not yet completed. They will be included in the final report. Participants Research participants were similar across all four locations (Banja Luka in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belgrade in Serbia, Pristina in Kosovo, and Tirana in Albania) in terms of age and other demographic characteristics. All examinees were young men aged 15-18 years. Most were in the first or second year of enrolment in their secondary school. Student discontinuation rates are low in the Balkans, and it is expected that the large majority of students will remain in school throughout the implementation of YMI and the evaluation. Most schools draw their students from surrounding communities, which are largely homogenous in terms of ethnic or religious identity. The following number of young men participated in this research: 469 from Banja Luka, 206 from Belgrade, 529 from Pristina and 638 from Tirana. Overall, 1,842 young men took part in this research. 6 The following tables presents the distribution of participants‟ characteristics across the four study sites. Table 1: Age of young men from Banja Luka, Belgrade, Pristina and Tirana Banja Luka Belgrade Pristina Tirana Years N % N % N % N % 14 13 2,8 - - 20 3,8 2 ,3 15 177 37,7 - - 242 45,7 143 22,4 16 225 48,0 114 55,3 190 35,9 235 36,8 17 38 8,1 92 44,7 47 8,9 126 19,7 18 1 ,2 - - 4 ,8 16 2,5 19 - - - - 1 ,2 2 ,3 Missing 15 3,2 - - 25 4,7 114 17,9 Total 469 100,0 206 100,0 529 100,0 638 100,0 Table 2: Parent‟s level of education, young men Banja Luka Pristina Tirana Education Mothers Fathers Mothers Fathers Mothers Fathers Less than high school 28,2 20,3 37,3 18,4 25,1 25,5 Finished high school 58,2 62,4 31,2 37,1 51,9 43,4 Some higher education 11,0 14,5 23,7 38,8 19,8 26,3 Don‟t know 2,6 2,6 7,9 5,6 3,1 5,0 Total 100,0 100,0 100,0 100,0 100,0 100,0 Based on the two tables above, we can conclude that young men share some similar characteristics related to their age and their parents‟ education. Table 1 shows that the greatest number of young men in all four cities are 16 years old. Fifteen year olds were the second largest group of respondents, followed by 17 year olds. The number of young men and young women older than 17 or younger than 15 is low. Table 2 shows parents‟ level of education for young men from Banja Luka, Pristina and Tirana (no data for Belgrade). The majority of parents have finished high school, followed by those who completed some higher education. The lowest number is those parents who did not 7 complete high school. We can see from these results that in all three cities fathers have a higher level of education than mothers. Instruments and procedures The survey included sections on background characteristics (e.g. age, ethnicity, parents‟ education levels, etc.), attitudes and behaviors related to gender norms (e.g., household roles), sexual behavior (e.g., decision-making on contraceptive use or timing of sexual activity), health seeking behaviors (e.g., seeking treatment of STIs) and violence (e.g., participation in peer violence).