Dear colleague,
It’s International Youth Day, and I’m thrilled to use this moment to spotlight some of the youth-led work the FP2030 Partnership Fund, supported by MSD for Mothers and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has funded. The FP2030 Partnership Fund launched in January, and has now concluded two rounds of “challenges,” one open to several countries in Africa and one based in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The work of these grantees is inspiring. Afriyan’s project in Rwanda seeks to empower young people and those with disabilities to advocate for family planning in the national budget process. My Age’s project in Zimbabwe aims to improve access to affordable and quality contraceptives for adolescent girls and young women in marginalized communities. The Fundación Derechos Humanos Equidad y Género project is focused on developing a Chatbot that addresses topics on family planning, violence, and Sexual and Reproductive Health. I encourage you to browse all the Partnership Fund grantees and learn about their projects.
Summer has not slowed us down at FP2030. The FP2030 Asia and Pacific Regional Hub just hosted a new focal point workshop, which you can read about on LinkedIn or on our website. The North, West, and Central Regional Hub is building stronger coordinating structures and processes for countries facing similar challenges across their region. In East and Southern Africa, the Regional Hub is working with countries to better include family planning in emergency responses, particularly working with South Sudan. In addition to hosting the second Partnership Fund challenge, the Latin America and Caribbean Regional Hub also sponsored several young people’s participation in the 5th Conference on Population and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean last month, and launched the region’s first “virtual advocacy school” in partnership with Save the Children, Profamailia, and the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF).
Next on the docket is the United Nations General Assembly, which we’ll share more about next month. this event represents another chance to position family planning where it belongs: at the crossroads of the global health, development, and gender equality agendas. We hope to make the case to stop thinking of family planning as a “women’s issue,” and start seeing it for what it is: a societal issue, with the potential to reap major benefits in health, economic prosperity, and equality globally.
Now, let’s keep going.
Onward!
Dr. Samukeliso Dube
Executive Director, FP2030
FP2030 Partnership Fund Grantees
Marking International Youth Day, check out this selection of youth-focused and youth-driven work from the first two rounds of grantees from the FP2030 Partnership Fund. See all the grantees to-date and read about their projects here.
Argentina: This initiative called EsConESI focuses on strengthening the sexual and reproductive rights of youth activists in Argentina and Costa Rica. Using participatory methods and innovative digital resources, training will be provided to groups of 60 young people from both countries, which will help them strengthen their leadership on issues related to sexual and reproductive rights, gender identities, and violence prevention.
Zimbabwe: SAYWHAT’s project focuses on improving family planning financing and access, especially for adolescents and young people. Their objectives include advocating for high-level support for family planning programs, engaging policymakers and the private sector, and fostering collaboration among stakeholders.
Honduras: This initiative consists of creating community stations called “Family Planning Routes: Adventures with MACs.” These will be safe and trustworthy spaces led by volunteers from the Association. They intend to effectively reach young people and adolescents from these areas, and offer information related to Sexual and Reproductive Health, and “MAC” (contraceptive methods) will be made available.
Rwanda: Afriyan’s project seeks to empower young people and those with disabilities to advocate for family planning in the national budget process, enhance community engagement in family planning advocacy, and promote collaboration among stakeholders for increased family planning funding. This project aims to build a more inclusive advocacy landscape by ensuring marginalized groups have a voice in budgetary discussions. With 18 local youth-led organizations under its umbrella, AfriYAN has direct access to a broad network of adolescents and youth.
Building a Coordinating Mechanism in Central Africa: A Strategic Move to Accelerate Family Planning in the Sub-Region
Recognizing the importance of country-level engagement and ownership in advancing the FP2030 agenda, the FP2030 North, West, and Central Africa hub organized a strategic meeting for central African countries’ focal points to have intensive discussions around challenges in the region and the need to set up a coordination system that would permit systematic meetings among stakeholders, technical assistance to countries, upscale of high impact practices and knowledge sharing to ensure equitable socio-economic development in the sub-region. Read more.
Adolescents from Latin America and the Caribbean Created the Region’s First Virtual Advocacy School
The Advocacy School, developed by FP2030, Save the Children, Profamailia, and IPPF, is designed to strengthen the capacities of emerging leaders and activists in the region by providing them with the tools and knowledge necessary to influence policies and practices that affect their communities positively. Learn more.
Meet the Youth Participants in the 5th Conference on Population and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean
FP2030 LAC Hub selected a diverse and passionate group of young representatives who have demonstrated exceptional commitment to sexual and reproductive health. These young women are active advocates in their communities, working tirelessly to ensure that everyone has access to quality reproductive health services. Their participation in the conference was an opportunity to share their success stories and challenges, as well as to learn from other global leaders. Learn more.
FP2030 and PROPEL Adapt to advance South Sudan’s Emergency Preparedness and Response Commitments and increase family planning amid multiple crises
As leaders from South Sudan’s family planning community arrived at the Pyramid Hotel in Juba on March 25, news headlines announced that record-breaking heat would keep schools closed for another day. Dangerous temperatures—and the threats of climate change—are among multiple crises facing South Sudan that compelled the Ministry of Health of South Sudan (MOHSS), FP2030, and PROPEL Adapt to partner on several initiatives to support the country’s emergency preparedness and response FP2030 commitments. Read more.
Philippines DOH, FP2030 strengthen family planning rights, choices through Asia-Pacific focal points workshop
The four-day workshop strengthened the collective efforts of the Philippines with its commitment to advancing family planning rights and choices. The sessions at the workshop focused on high-impact practices, data measurement, emergency preparedness, gender and male engagement, advocacy, partnerships, and private-sector engagement, among others. Learn more.
FP Measurement Advancement Convening Series (MACS)
The FP2030 Data and Measurement Team collaborated with data partners, including Momentum Knowledge Accelerator (KA), JHSPH, and UNFPA, to organize a pioneering Family Planning Measurement Advancement Convening Series (FP MACS). The goal of this series is to connect the global family planning measurement advancements to country-level perspectives.
The first convening, “Centering Locally-Driven Family Planning Measurement Priorities in the Global Measurement Agenda,” was held in Nairobi in June. The meeting brought together 50 stakeholders from Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean to discuss national, subnational, and community-based family planning measurement issues. The focus was on identifying challenges, gaps, emerging approaches, technical assistance needs, and areas for measurement advancements. The first meeting identified multiple priority areas, including equity for marginalized populations, social norms, agency & empowerment, and family planning in humanitarian settings.
