Men’s Participation in Family Planning Services in Rwanda: A case of Gatsibo District-Eastern Province

Promoting gender equality is among the countable achievements Rwanda has achieved in a small period just after the 1994 Genocide. To achieve this, there have been various strategies like gender mainstreaming in all development sectors. Family planning has been seen as a priority in Rwanda as the health minister once noted that “family planning is a tool of development”. To achieve this, men have been called upon to participate since little can be achieved without their contribution. This study therefore aims at investigating men’s participation in family planning services and how it influences family planning uptake. The Research findings demonstrates that, the number of men participating in family planning services in still low and this has a direct connotations with the patriarchal settings of the country also related to cultural believes and norms which still places reproductive issues as a woman’s concern mostly in rural areas and also the fact that, most programmes available are female oriented. The fact of having a small number of men in family planning services leads to a direct influence of family planning uptake. Finally, I conclude basing on the research findings that, many signs of cul-tural constructs which draws specific roles for men and women are still given value in the society and men have to submit to this in order to be proven as real men.