MenCare Georgia Campaign, having won Emerging Europe Award in 2018 as the best Equality-Friendly Initiative of the Year in Europe, was presented at the Frankfurt International Book Fair, where Georgia was a Guest of Honour this year. Three events were held in Frankfurt on Oct. 10-14, under the auspices of the campaign in cooperation with the UNFPA Georgia Country Office, Georgian National Book Center, and the organization LitCam. The celebrities involved in the campaign, as well as its organizers highlighted the different aspects of the campaign during these events.

On October 10th,  Karl Kulessa, UNFPA Representative in Turkey, Country Director for Georgia and Lela Bakradze, UNFPA Georgia Country Office Assistant Representative talked about the significance of gender equality, necessity of fathers’ involvement in caregiving and the achievements attained as a result of the campaign. Joe Messi, head of the German NGO Stiftung Lesen also participated in the discussion. The Panel members reflected on gender equality from the perspective of two countries.

On October 12th, Mariam Bandzeladze, gender portfolio manager at the UNFPA Georgia Country Office and Alexander Lortkipanidze, an activist of the MenCare Campaign, TV-presenter and writer discussed the development of the campaign throughout the years, major initiatives implemented within this period, and the future plans of MenCare Georgia. The book “Lullaby for Lily”, by Alexander Lortkipanidze (illustrations by Sopo Kirtadze), was also presented at the same panel.

On October 13th, Levan Kobiashvili, President of the Georgian Football Federation deliberated on the partnership of MenCare Campaign and the Georgian Foorball Federation at the LitCam stage. Claudemir Jerônimo Barreto (Cacau), a famous, Brazilian football player also participate in the panel discussion. The speakers discussed the social responsibility of football and role of football players’ as the allies for attaining gender equality.

MenCare Campaign in Georgia has been implemented since 2016 by the UNFPA Georgia Country Office in partnership with the NGO We Care within the framework of the UN Joint Programme for Gender Equality funded by the Government of Sweden. MenCare Campaign aims at promoting men’s involvement as equitable, nonviolent fathers, partners and caregivers in order to achieve better health and family well-being and to encourage men to support gender equality and social and economic participation of women and thus contribute to harmonious development of the society. MenCare campaign is open to all men, who share the idea and principles of the Campaign.