Within the projects to improve and strengthen the eye health system in the province of Inhambane, Eyes of the world incorporates gender-sensitive activities to combat cultural patterns and practices prevalent in some areas where sexist attitudes and behaviours are still condoned.
In the case of eye health, many women are unable to receive the ophthalmological treatment they need because of their total dedication to caring for the family and the home. For this reason, one of the latest programmes created by Eyes of the world has been ‘Men in the kitchen’, with the aim of deconstructing gender stereotypes that affect inequalities and building new values that guarantee men’s involvement in domestic activities and nutritional education.
The programme started this summer with activities in different communities in the districts of Zavala and Vilankulos. Each day consists of a combined education and awareness-raising session on gender equality, with a focus on men’s participation in household activities, and a cooking workshop to learn how to prepare recipes based on local, seasonal ingredients with high nutritional value.
In addition to food preparation, other topics such as gender relations or peaceful ways of dealing with conflicts are addressed, and an active contribution is made to changing attitudes to achieve equality and improve women’s access to treatment for eye diseases.
This Eyes of Mozambique project is supported by the Catalan Agency for Development Cooperation (ACCD).