Involving men in reproductive health programmes is now a key concern. Despite plenty of rhetoric, the practicalities of so doing remain obscure. How can men be involved without undermining the right of women to control their own bodies and make their own decisions? How can men get involved, for example, in efforts to prevent unwanted pregnancy, promote safe motherhood or prevent sexually transmitted diseases? Research from the Population Council (South and East Asian Office) analyses the experiences of NGOs in India and asks whether lessons learned from successful micro-level experiments could be scaled up within the mainstream of reproductive healthcare delivery to improve outcomes.