Civilian men and boys in conflict-affected situations often face a paradox of being held to gendered
expectations, which they often have internalised, and the often immense difficulties of achieving these. We base
our paper on field research in Eastern DR Congo, and compare this with studies from elsewhere in Sub-Saharan
Africa. We examine men’s expectations of being breadwinners, providers, protectors and decision-makers – and
the entitlement they associate with this, and how they cope with an undermining of these roles in a context of
fragility and conflict. However, fragility and conflict are not the only drivers pushing for changed gendered
power dynamics and expectations – the Eastern DR Congo is also seeing an increasing engagement by local and
international civil society organisations on transforming masculinities, something which has seemingly had
initial positive impacts, but is not uncontroversial locally.