DearMen Program
DearMen Program is the adult and older-youth engagement platform of Boys Champions. It is how we work with older boys and men as allies, mentors, fathers, and community actors who shape what happens in homes, schools, faith spaces, and community life. DearMen exists because change will not last if the men shaping daily decisions are left out of it.
Many men are expected to lead families and communities without ever being given room to think seriously about masculinity, mental health, fatherhood, or responsibility. Silence is often treated as strength. Harmful expressions of power are normalized. Emotional distress goes unaddressed. DearMen responds to this by creating structured spaces where men can reflect on what they have inherited, build healthier values, and act differently in the places where norms are shaped every day.
BOYS DESERVE A BETTER FUTURE
GENDER EQUALITY STARTS WITH BOYS
BUILDING BETTER MEN
BOYS DESERVE A BETTER FUTURE
GENDER EQUALITY STARTS WITH BOYS
BUILDING BETTER MEN
BOYS DESERVE A BETTER FUTURE
GENDER EQUALITY STARTS WITH BOYS
BUILDING BETTER MEN
BOYS DESERVE A BETTER FUTURE
GENDER EQUALITY STARTS WITH BOYS
BUILDING BETTER MEN
Where DearMen Takes Place
DearMen operates through community spaces, peer groups, households, faith settings, digital media, and selected public forums and is delivered through cohort-based Fellowships, Men’s Circles, Podcast and Radio, the Male Allies Network, and our Fatherhood Project.
It brings together the Fellowship, Circles, Podcast and Radio, the Male Allies Network, and the Fatherhood Project as one platform for engaging men as allies, fathers, mentors, and community voices.
Who DearMen reaches
How DearMen works
DearMen Fellowship
The Fellowship is the cohort-based part of DearMen. Fellows go through a defined learning cycle, receive mentorship, and carry out community actions that promote healthier masculinity, stronger accountability, and support for gender equality.
The Fellowship is built to move men from reflection into action in their communities. Fellows are expected to mentor younger boys, strengthen peer accountability, support healthier family and community norms, and act as credible allies in the spaces where they live and work.
DearMen Circles
DearMen Circles are recurring, facilitated small-group spaces for reflection, dialogue, and peer accountability. They give men room to talk honestly about masculinity, mental health, relationships, fatherhood, violence, and responsibility.
The point is to help men close the gap between what they claim to value and how they actually show up in their families, friendships, and communities.
DearMen Podcast and Radio
The DearMen Podcast and Radio shows are the public-facing parts of the DearMen Program. These media shows carry the conversations happening inside the Fellowship and Circles into the wider public sphere. Through stories, vox pops, interviews, and reflections, it opens up public conversations on manhood, fatherhood, mental health, care, and responsibility in ways that feel real and accessible.
It helps make healthier models of manhood easier to see, hear, and discuss across communities.
Male Allies Network
The Male Allies Network brings together men who have shown commitment to the values of DearMen and are ready to use their influence in schools, communities, faith spaces, and institutions to support gender equality and healthier norms.
The network keeps Boys Champions connected to men who are already living out these values in their communities, institutions, and public work. It also gives the platform a wider base beyond each fellowship cycle.
The Fatherhood Project
Within DearMen, the Fatherhood Project is the household and caregiving driver of our strategy. It focuses on fathers, young fathers, and male caregivers as key actors in children’s development, especially in relation to girls’ education, literacy, care, and long-term opportunity. In many communities, fathers and male decision-makers influence whether girls are enrolled, supported, or withdrawn from school, and whether boys grow up with healthier models of masculinity. The Fatherhood Project works directly at that level.
Its components are tied to our activities like our Daddy’s Reading Campaign, which encourages fathers to support children’s learning and literacy at home, community engagement and dialogues with fathers on gender equality and the DearMen Fatherhood Series on Podcast and Radio.
DearMen works at several levels.
At the individual level
It helps men build stronger emotional awareness, healthier attitudes toward masculinity, and greater personal accountability.
At the relational level
It improves how men engage with partners, children, peers, and younger boys.
At the household level
It strengthens father involvement, support for girls’ education, communication, caregiving, and literacy engagement.
At the community level
It increases the number of men actively promoting gender equality, healthier masculinity, and nonviolent norms.
At the public level
It opens up more honest conversations about masculinity, fatherhood, mental health, and responsibility.
What we measure through DearMen
DearMen measures direct participation, community action, and public narrative reach separately so that media visibility is not confused with structured programme engagement.
Programme-level outcomes
- Stronger male allyship
- Greater openness, reflection, and accountability among men
- Stronger support for girls’ education and healthier family and community norms
- Wider public conversation on masculinity, fatherhood, and mental health
- Growth of a network of men carrying this work into communities
Component-level outputs
- Fellows recruited, completing cycles, and carrying out community actions
- Recurring Circles held, with participant retention and documented learning
- Fatherhood activities delivered through household and caregiving pathways
- Podcast and radio episodes produced, with audience engagement tracked as media reach
- Male allies mobilized through the wider network
- Community actions, dialogues, and mentoring efforts led by fellows and male allies
Why DearMen matters
DearMen matters because social norms do not change only through policy, school curriculum, or public campaigns. They also change through the choices men make as fathers, brothers, mentors, partners, faith leaders, and community actors. DearMen gives structure to that reality by preparing them to take responsibility within it.
How this connects to the wider Boys Champions model
Boys to Men
Helps boys build emotional literacy, self-regulation, and help-seeking confidence early.
DearMen
Gives older boys and men space to reflect, talk, and lead differently around masculinity, fatherhood, and mental health.
The Fatherhood Project
Strengthens emotional presence, caregiving, and support at home.
SAVE
Reaches boys in high-risk settings through sport, structure, mentorship, and conflict support.
CHAMP and the wider support system
Make it easier for boys and men to get help early and stay connected to it.