Empowerment of families through the

involvement of fathers
Family Strengthening Project
 Being a Dad!
ENGAGING FATHERS IN FAMILY MATTER
Sos Children’s Villages in Albania
Shkodra Unit
Science 2008

Tirana Central Unit

Science 2006 and has two unit:
“Sauk” Unit 2006
“Don Bosko” Unit 2007
Sos Children’s Villages in Albania
“Don Bosko” Unit

Covers areas like ”Lapraka”; “Kamza”, “Bregu

lumit”.
73 families and 188 children are being supporting

Offers services such as Psychological,

Educational, Medical, Material support, Positive
parenting training, Orientation for different
issues….etc.

Some of the regularly activities are organized in

father’s club
 Actors and factors which may influence how men
engage…
Societal/structural:
● Laws, policies and service regulations that facilitate or block men’s Societal
structural
engagement
● Gender norms that underpin men’s limited engagement
Community
Community:
● Community leaders and influencers who hold in place shared norms
about men’s involvement in childcare and model expected ways of
behaving Relational
● Service providers (education/health) who influence whether services are
welcoming, or not, of men

Relational:
● Men’s partners, family members and friends who may support or Individual
discourage their engagement as nurturing caregivers

Individual:
● The knowledge, attitudes, skills and self-confidence of men that are
fathers/male caregivers, with respect to childcare
 Everyone in the world is born of
their parents. Children inherit the
physical characters of their
parents. Each parent contributes
one cell in the formation of an
embryo. They make sure that their
children get the education and
basic needs.
 •Managing their children’s
schedules and activities
Caring the family •Taking care of sick children Lead the family
•Handling household chores and Deals with income and
Make sure everyone is responsibilities necessities
feeling good and •Disciplining children Hardly express their
maintain the home •Playing or doing activities love
Are good at
expressing their feelings

Raising Kids...
Who Does More? 60% 40%
 SOCIAL MEDIA

Note…
What a family needs from dad is different from what is
needed from mom . You are unique and indispensable!
 A Father in a Child’s
Life
Fathers play a role in every child’s life that cannot be filled by
others. This role can have a large impact on a child and help
shape him or her into the person they become.

Emotional Development Relationship with Others

Look to their fathers to provide a The patterns a father sets in the
feeling of security, both physical relationships with his children
and emotional. will dictate how his children
relate with other people.

Daughters and Sons

Girls model their relationships with others
based on their father’s character, boys
model themselves after their father’s
character.
Children tend to see their dads as follows…
Safe, physical /emotional

Strong

Wise and knowledgeable

Comforting

Teacher

Protecting

The hero
First-time
Fathers
Fathers modified their behaviors for the
sake of protecting their wives and unborn
children:

1) Emotional changes experienced;

2) Adaptive and supportive
behaviors adopted;
3) Social support received
4) Suggestions for improvement to
the current maternity care.
 Father & Dad
Father
Dad
Prioritizes himself over the Takes care of his family
family
Provides the necessities Stands by their side whenever
to the family their family or child needs him

Meaning
Pays the bills Priority Guides his children and
Presence interacts with them to
Protective teach them life lessons
Fails to maintain
the bond Tries to understand
their problems and
issues
A FATHER, A HUSBAND, A MAN
Man
Role strain is when fulfilling one role
interferes with fulfilling another role,
as defined by Simpson (as cited
in Perrone et al 2009).

A Husband
Stay-at-home father and working
mother
Stay-at home mother and working
father
Stay -at home father and mother
Working father and mother

A Father
Fathers have a powerful and
positive impact upon the
development and health of
children, they create a permanent
and safe environment for
children.
 In summary “Why father’s?”
1. Fathers are far more than just ‘second
adults’ in the home
2. Involved fathers bring positive benefits to
their children that no other person is as likely to
bring.”
3. Fathers have a direct impact on the well-
being of their children.
4. The quality of the relationship between
father and mother affects directly behavior
of children.
5. The way fathers play with their children also
has an important impact on a child’s emotional
and social development.
Father’s Club
An activity born to
increase parental
capacity and to
strengthen the family
….

Fathers often had to

demonstrate their
connection to the
child, whereas the
mothers’ connection
was taken for
granted
 Starting of Fathers Club

After external evaluation in January 2011

it was recommend:
the Involvement the male caregivers
in the activities of the FDP through
the Fathers Club

Fathers Club started in March 2011

and attended by a few fathers.
The aim of the club fathers is:
Awareness of fathers for their role
in the family as spouse and parent
 First steps & characteristics
Established Mediation
In porgress
In both Family The group was
Updatting…
Strengthening leaded by male
projects located social workers
in CV Program
Tirana.

2011
c
2022
First Step Frequency
Composition of the
As a need to involve group Once in two
males actively in months
famil situation/life In total 7 -10
and support them to fathers
create a social
supportive network
First Meetings
First meetings were organized outside
the premises in order to create social
relationship between participants and
to know better each- other
 Practical view
• Father’s Club is used as a network to share personal
experiences on:
(i) parenting issues; (ii) employment challenges;

• Father 'club as a platform to raise awareness in terms

of:
(i) Children rights.
(ii) Child abuse forms/domestic violence and consequences.
(iii) Caregiver responsibilities toward national legislation framework
on child protection issues.
(iv)Parental responsibilities and obligations ( law implications) .
 Activities…
1 Group counselling on self esteem and self-
confidence.

Deliver different trainings in collaboration with external

experts related to child education, emotional wellbeing,
2 conflict solving, communication among family members,
positive parenting models etc.

3 Sport, cultural and recreational activities. (

outside FS premises).

4 Last but not least: Building and strengthening

their ties with other family members!
 On the way…

Did it work?

On average 28-30 fathers participate in 5

The meetings are leaded by two social workers (
1
Fathers club regularly. male and female) as well from program participants.

They choose the discussion topics based on Maximum time-frame for a session is 1 hour and
2 6
30 minutes ( not to lose the focus).
their interest and group interest/needs.
Combined outdoor activities with training session
Being flexible while setting the period and the time ( employment issues; child rights and child
3 safeguarding; couple communication; role of fathers
for the next meeting. ( we don’t want to restrict their 7
job opportunities or affect their current employment) on child education area; importance of playing with
children etc.
In general is held on second or third week of the
4 month, but it may vary depending on the needs Sport activities as a way to involve them on
arisen. 8 playing with their children and understand the
importance of family time . My dad, my son day ☺!
 Benefits…
1. Increased interest on child education
issues.

2. Increased knowledge on child development

needs based on group-age.

3. Better and more flexible communication

among family members.

4. Respecting child rights and taking into

consideration child opinion.

5. Improved socialization and better self-

esteem of father participating.
 We dogrow when
things are easy …we
grow when n’t we
face challenges

I'm happy that my son will
have better models in life.
This as result of what I have
learned through Father’s
Club.
I was really sceptic in the
beginning as I thought it
was something that couldn't
support me at all. Now I can
say that Father’s Club is
the best thing I have ever
had as adult ☺. I enjoy it
really much.
After participating in Father’s
club I started to organize
entertaining activities with
children and my wife.
Before participating in FS
project and being active on
Father’s Club I thought that
child education is typically
something that women
If my father would have the
must be responsible. I
same opportunity as me to
understood that was wrong.
participate in a Father Club ,
I would never been on this
situation. I would have
better chances to succeed
in life and been the person
that I am today.
I started to accompanies
my children at school for
the first time and their
reaction was unbelievable to
Thinking
me! It was the first time for
them to go to school
together. out
loud
Next steps…

• Design National Guidelines of

Father's Club approach.

• Find new ways to attract fathers

actively in all FS program units ( based
on specific target group details).

• Design and implement pre and post

tests to evaluate the progress ( simple
tools).