A statement from the staff of the Family Planning 2020 Secretariat
At the FP2020 Secretariat, we work with partners around the world to advance human rights for everyone and build a world where women and girls are free to make decisions about their bodies, their reproductive health, and their futures.
Every individual has the right to bodily autonomy, safety, and dignity, regardless of age, gender, race, or ethnicity. The recent murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and so many others — against the backdrop of racial disparity in the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic — shines a bright light on the structural and systemic racism that plagues our society. The Secretariat stands with our U.S.-based and global partners in acknowledging the anger and anguish of the Black community.
The FP2020 partnership was established to meet the needs of women and girls in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. We recognize that the international development sector has its own history of racialized power dynamics. Our work to ensure all women have access to the highest standard of reproductive healthcare and to advance equal rights for all must confront this history and dismantle the gendered and racialized inequities that persist today.
As FP2020 moves into the next iteration of our partnership, we will be shifting from a model that is driven by U.S-based decision making in support of low- and middle-income countries, to country-led global partnerships, with shared learning and mutual accountability for commitments and results. More broadly, we will advocate and invest to increase diversity within the partnership and our sector, including in positions of leadership.
We know dismantling structural oppression and racism is not the work of one moment. So within the Secretariat, we commit to having the difficult but necessary conversations to root out unconscious bias, and to use our platform to fight for a more just world for everyone. Black lives matter, now and always. This is a call for each and every one of us to do better, to speak up, and to be part of the solution.
