About 250 men from Ohangwena, Oshana, and Omusati regions are participating in the Ministry of Gender Equality, Poverty Eradication and Child Welfare's National Men's Conference at Ongwediva.

The inaugural conference is aimed at encouraging a mind shift in men - where they are freer to speak out about things that challenge them and help bring to an end the scourge of gender-based violence, through information sharing and awareness raising.
 
Deputy Minister of Marginalised Communities, Royal Kxao /UI/O/OO, in a speech read on his behalf, said conferences of this nature are long overdue - and are the required platforms to help effect societal change. 

The conference will also see various legislation and law-related matters discussed, and information shared where men can report cases of abuse and be encouraged to interact with their loved ones without the need for emotional, physical or financial abuse.
“We need to redefine how the world envisions masculinity. We need to rethink more about positive masculinity and encourage one another to embrace it. We need to identify and highlight the positive qualities of masculinity to help show all men, how they should ideally behave and conduct themselves as productive citizens to contribute meaningfully to the prevention of GBV and VAC in our communities.”

Ongwediva Town Mayor, Tarah Shalyefu said despite the enactment and adoption of the various legislation and policies geared towards ending gender-based violence in Namibia, women, girls, boys and even men remain vulnerable to abuse. 

Applauding the ministry for the initiative, Shalyefu called for the expansion of the conference to other regions too.

“This conference would be a befitting platform to interrogate the causes of gender-based violence amongst our people and perhaps propose possible solutions to end this evil.”

The conference is held under the theme, “Galvanising positive masculinity to end the scourge of violence in Namibia” and ends on Thursday.