MenEngage Africa (MEA) transforms gender inequality and its negative effects on sexual and reproductive health outcomes by involving men and boys as agents of change. MEA is part of the Global MenEngage Alliance and consists of a network of women's rights and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) activists; and people with diverse sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC) activists and networks; and civil society organisations that promote social justice and human rights.

The vision of the MEA SRHR Strategic Plan is for women, girls, men, boys, and people with diverse SOGIESC to realise their rights to optimal sexual and reproductive health and wellbeing in Africa. The Plan will inform country networks on how to advocate for improved sexual and reproductive health and rights outcomes, and for societies free of gender inequality through four strategies summarized as Link, Learn, Improve and Influence.

Under the MEA banner, each country network will be able to customise the MEA SRHR Strategic Plan to their local context without compromising on the sexual and reproductive principles, rights, quality, and minimum standards implied by the Plan. By standardizing country approaches, harmonious progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and other regional and global SRHR agendas is possible.

This MEA SRHR Strategic Plan, like all MEA programmes and policies, is underpinned by evidence as well as global and regional policy commitments and objectives. The SRHR of girls and women in Africa, of different ages, religions, socio-economic status, sexual orientations, cultural associations, and gender expressions guided the content of the strategy. During the development process, partners and bodies in the SRHR response were widely consulted for input. MEA is committed to advocating for gender-transformation that will afford bodily autonomy and bodily integrity to all people free from coercion and discrimination.

MEA sexual and reproductive health and rights priorities Although SRHR has been one of the integrated thematic areas in MEA, it has not been funded separately until now. A 2020 evaluation report of MEA identified several sexual and reproductive-specific barriers in Africa36. Firstly, many faith-based organisations continue to promote sexual abstinence outside of heterosexual marriage and are often reluctant to discuss sexuality and reproduction in an open and accepting manner. Secondly, criminalisation and widespread stigmatisation of people with diverse SOGIESC, people who inject drugs, and sex workers are commonplace in Africa and could result in imprisonment in these countries. Faith-based and organisations representing people with diverse SOGIESC were poorly represented in the MEA network.

In line with the Global MenEngage Alliance SRHR Working Group, MEA prioritised creation and use of a capable, inclusive and accountable network to engage men and boys to:

• Advocate for improved access to rights-based and positive-oriented sexual and reproductive health services and education
• Support and hold governments and duty bearers accountable for developing and implementing gender-equal sexual and reproductive health policies and programmes
• Involve, learn from and build the capacity of diverse representative groups as clients, equal partners and positive agents of change in their communities