27-29 May 2015 in the framework of the “Happy fatherhood” campaign, UNFPA conducts a training for specialists of Health Promotion Units (HPU) and trainers of Birth Preparedness schools of Chui oblast on “Fatherhood: functional education in health system.” One of the most hot topics is to enhance the role of fathers in family relationships. Women’s overload in family issues, lack of attention from fathers, lack of parenting skills to educate and develope child’s abilities have led to a lack of preparation for school, low academic performance, lack of life skills in the culture of health, and professional growth in the future.

It is also associated with employment of traditional gender approaches in family education. Traditional relationship between spouses, irresponsible attitude of men towards their health is passed on from generation to generation, from father to son, even if fathers do not have time to take an active part in the upbringing of children.

One of the top priorities in solving this problem as stated in the 2020 National Strategy for Gender Equality and the 2012-2014 National Action Plan for achieving gender equality is the “Development of a functional education system” in the field of gender equality, reproductive health and competent parenting.

A training module has been developed for specialists of HPU, who will use the proposed training sessions for informal functional education among the activists of rural health committees, youth and women’s committees. The module is aimed at changing a risky behavior into a responsible one and changing violent relationships into tolerance and respect. The structure of the module is divided into separate sessions to help the transformation of gender norms during the campaigns on sexual and reproductive health among the population.