How does CLP engage the whole community in its efforts to effect change?
For example, we went to speak to a group of all male tire menders, and asked them what they wanted to know about, and they said breastfeeding. We were surprised, but they really wanted to know, for their sisters, and wives, and daughters. It was something they wanted to be able to educate the women in their lives about, and also participate in. So we went ahead and educated them about breastfeeding, and in this way we were able to address a number of different issues around reproduction and parenthood and childbearing—and also show men how they could participate in breastfeeding in appropriate ways, and bring them into that aspect of motherhood and women’s reproductive lives. Men don’t have breasts, but that does not mean that they can’t be involved in something like breastfeeding—by holding the baby afterwards so the mother can rest, or giving the baby a bottle of breast milk, or whatever…we show them ways that they can be involved that support and engage the mother and the child. A
