Dear FP2030 Community,
Today, as the world celebrates International Youth Day, it’s important to recognize that the first global calls for youth participation predate the young people of today. Despite the widely used Ladder of Participation launching nearly three decades ago, most are still stuck halfway up the ladder – merely informing and consulting with young people. The lack of shared decision-making in these intervening years has slowed progress in creating a more equitable world. At FP2030, we recognize this and are actively working for and with young people to reach our collective goals. This was evident in our latest virtual event, Join the Movement: Committing to Intersectional Action for a Stronger Family Planning Partnership (which aired in English and will also be released soon in French).
We continue to move FP2030 toward equitable partnerships with young people by making internal shifts and supporting the community to do the same. We encourage the community to:
- Take up the call from Cate Lane, Director of the FP2030 Adolescents and Youth Portfolio, to senior leaders to better share their power with young people.
- Make room for youth leadership at your highest levels of governance. FP2030’s Transition Oversight Group is proudly guided by Mariama Abdou Gado, Vice Chair, and by Alan Jarandilla Nuñez, both youth advocates and experts in their fields. In addition, we are actively seeking young applicants for the new FP2030 Governing Board.
- Support the leadership of young people in the commitment development process and take up the youth-informed recommendations in the Adolescent and Youth Commitment Guidance.
- Highlight the perspectives of young people and pay them for their time. We try our best to do both. See Veronica Fonseca Castro, FP2030 intern, calling attention to the critical need to center young people in family planning programs and our Youth Partners’ perspectives shared on our Instagram page.
International Youth Day isn’t where it ends! Stay tuned for two critical next steps in early September, when 1) the accountability report to the Meaningful Adolescent and Youth Engagement (MAYE) Consensus Statement will be released and 2) a new collective of youth-led organizations that will push the sexual and reproductive health and rights community beyond the status quo will be launched!
Yours in pursuit of equitable partnerships with young people,
Emily Sullivan
Senior Manager Youth Partnerships, FP2030
CELEBRATING YOUTH-LED COMMITMENT MAKERS
It’s critical to include young people in family planning commitments, not just as users of family planning, but as decision-makers, partners, and program shapers. That’s why we’re pleased to share the following new FP2030 commitments by youth-led organizations. The full text of these commitments will be posted on the FP2030 website in the coming weeks.
Blind Youth Association of Nepal (BYAN)
The Blind Youth Association of Nepal (BYAN), located in Kathmandu, was established by the Blind and Partially Sighted Youth of Nepal. BYAN made a commitment to the FP2020 partnership and will continue to build on that progress toward 2030 and beyond.
Abarundikazi Period Movement
The Abarundikazi Period Movement has made a commitment to FP2030 that focuses on education and training for young people in Burundi. The organization hopes to expand its impact by working with young people through schools, as well as training community health workers to help relay information in the communities.
The Power of Rights-based Contraception for Young People
Rights-based contraception is an essential tool that allows people to stay in school and exercise bodily autonomy, and gives them the freedom to choose their career path. So why are young people so often left out of conversations about family planning? Read more.
Senior Leadership: It’s Time to Share Your Power
Cate Lane is the Director of the Adolescents and Youth Portfolio at FP2030. She has worked to advance the sexual and reproductive health and rights of young people for 30 years. In this first-person essay, she advocates for better partnership with young people and encourages the most senior leadership in this arena to better share their space.
Coming Soon! New Collaboration for Equitable Partnerships with Young People
Copper Rose Zambia, IYAFP, and other youth-led organizations, with the support of FP2030, are taking the movement for equitable partnerships with young people to the next level by launching a new group to advocate for equitable and genuine partnerships with young people. Together, we called for youth-led organizations to apply to collaborate with us. We received over 500 applications in just a few weeks, and now we’re reviewing these and will announce the full group soon. Learn more.
Building FP2030: Updates on the Next Phase of the Partnership
Requests for Information (RFIs) were released in April to solicit expressions of interest from organizations interested in hosting the two Africa regional hubs, one covering North, West and Central Africa and the other for East and Southern Africa. While the Africa Regional Hubs process is being finalized, we are seeking organizations to host the Asia and the Pacific Regional Hub to help fulfill FP2030’s future vision. Details of the RFI to host the Asia and the Pacific Regional Hub and the Frequently Asked Questions regarding the application can be found here.
The Transition Oversight Group has released a Call for Applications for civil society, youth and NGO members for a new FP2030 Governing Board. The deadline for applications is Sept. 10.
FP2030 is currently seeking an Associate-level Consultant for Francophone Countries.
Despite clear evidence of demand for family planning within humanitarian crises, response efforts suffer from several challenges linked to funding. Further, there is an ongoing debate around financing requirements to support larger and longer crises and the constantly evolving needs within the humanitarian sector. In light of these challenges, Health Policy Plus (HP+) conducted a review of the humanitarian crisis response planning processes, cases, and associated literature to understand how family planning needs are managed and financed across humanitarian crisis contexts.
While investment in strong health systems and supply chains is still needed, the supply-driven approach dominant in family planning fails to address the individual, relational, and social barriers faced by women and couples in achieving their reproductive intentions and desired family size. Read more in a new report: Elevating Social and Behavior Change as an Essential Component of Family Planning Programs.
A new report explores: Did FP2020’s “120 million additional users” goal exacerbate inequities and lead to a prioritization of certain populations?
This article, Evaluating Young People’s Ability to Sustain an Evidence-Based Social Accountability Approach to Improve Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health in Ntcheu, Malawi, reports on if and the Community ScoreCard (CSC) process – first introduced in Ntcheu through the Maternal Health Alliance Project in 2011- was sustained more than two years after direct facilitation support by CARE and partners had ended.
Human-centered design (HCD) is increasingly being applied in global health programs, but its application varies widely across projects, and its documentation is limited. With an aim to expand the knowledge base, the Beyond Bias project has documented, in a three-part series, its experience using HCD in a multidisciplinary approach to develop effective, scalable adolescent and youth sexual and reproductive health interventions.
