Male engagement in family planning (FP) is a subset of male engagement in reproductive health.  Gender experts agree that men should be encouraged to be supportive partners of women’s reproductive health while also meeting their own reproductive health needs, and engaged as agents of change in families and communities. Constructive male engagement in FP entails a thoughtful, gender-sensitive approach that places gender equality and women’s empowerment on equal footing with other desired outcomes.

The key indicators for male engagement in FP align with a male engagement framework that depicts men’s roles through three overlapping areas:

• Men as clients and beneficiaries: Those receiving FP services and using male FP methods
• Men as supportive partners: Those actively engaging as a full partner in FP issues, and communicating and negotiating fertility desires and FP use with their partners
• Men as agents of change: Those acting as leaders in shifting societal norms, attitudes, and behaviors toward women and girls, and their place in families, communities, and societies at large