Updates

By: Dr. Aoife Kenny, Volunteer at Women Deliver

What is stronger than steel, completely sustainable, and could transform the lives of underserved rural women and girls worldwide? The answer is Bamboo. And Ghana’s commitment to bamboo bicycles is a powerful first step in showing how resourceful this plant can be.

Access to rural transport is critical to poverty reduction and development. When unavailable, communities that can’t get their goods to market, can’t bring in new capital; nor can individuals reach new and more lucrative employment opportunities. In addition, statistics have shown that countries with the least access to rural transport have the highest maternal mortality and gender education disparity, as issues of mobility are intrinsically linked to a country’s economic growth and the global issue of climate change. Read more...

By: Saundra Pelletier, CEO, WomenCare Global

Many smart people love the idea of alleviating poverty; however, because it is such an overwhelming proposition, they quickly shift their thinking to more attainable goals. What they do not realize is the answer is simple; the puzzle can be solved; and it as easy as investing in the world’s women. Women, after all, hold up half the sky. A woman multiplies the impact of an investment made in her health, education, and well being by extending benefits to the world around her, creating a better life for her family, and building a strong community. Yes, Women Deliver.

When I look ahead to the year 2015, I envision a world where there is a cultural consciousness and awareness of why preventing mothers from dying in childbirth is so vital. Women’s health, particularly women’s reproductive health, will no longer be pushed aside for more “pressing issues.” The lives of women and mothers will be at the core of conversations in both global health and global development circles. One of the most important benefits will be that 600,000 children will not grow up without the love and care of a mother. Read more...

By: Rachel Cernansky, winner of the Women Bloggers Deliver contest

The Millennium Development Goals are set to expire in 2015, which means it's time to start looking ahead to what happens once they do. And looking back to see what good they've served. The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon released a report in July, highlighting progress achieved toward the goals so far, including: Read more...

By: Jill Sheffield, President of Women Deliver; originally published in the Commonwealth Finance Ministers Reference Report 2011

Improving maternal health gives a high return on investment. The loss of a woman’s life or health is not just a loss to her family, but it is also a loss to the community and the nation as a whole. While nations need to keep building towards the ultimate goal of strengthening health systems, there are investments that can be made today, right now, to decrease maternal death and injury. Most of these solutions are low-cost, highly effective, and can begin to show results almost immediately. Read more...

We at Women Deliver congratulate this year’s three Nobel Peace Prize winners—Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian activist Leymah Gbowee (pictured at right at Women Deliver 2010), and Yemeni peace activist Tawakkul Karman—on being recognized by the Norwegian Nobel Committee for their “non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work.” Read more...

By: Serra Sippel, President of the Center for Health and Gender Equity

The International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) deadlines are coming up in 2014 and 2015 respectively, and will quickly pass. What will come next? Deadline extensions? A single health MDG? A combined solution of a new mechanism with new deadline? When it comes to maternal health—to women’s health—does this matter? 

Consider the ICPD goal of universal access to reproductive health through the primary health system by 2015. The goal was adopted in 2007 as a target for reaching MDG 5 on maternal health. Universal access to reproductive health through primary care is not merely access to contraceptive supplies, or safe delivery in pregnancy. Read more...

The third week of September was a busy one for Women Deliver. The United Nations General Assembly and the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), amongst other events, filled the city with Heads of State and agents of change, providing ample opportunity to discuss maternal health, sexual and reproductive rights and gender equity.  Here are a few of our highlights:

• The World Bank: “Realizing the Demographic Dividend, Challenges and Opportunities for Ministers of Finance and Development” panel focused on the policy actions necessary in family planning, health, education, gender equality, and labor market policies, if positive economic returns are to be secured. Women Deliver Founder and President, Jill Sheffield, who spoke at the event, reinforced this point by stating: "The fact is: that women drive economic development. They operate the majority of small businesses and farms in developing countries and their unpaid work equals roughly 1/3 of the GDP." Read more...

Get Involved: Add Your Own Perspectives At The Conversations For A Better World Blog Series

What Is The Difference Between How Young Women And Men Learn About And Access Birth Control Methods? And Why?

By: Yunuén Flores, Director of the Gender Program

I’m a young female activist and even more importantly, I live in a Latin American country: Mexico. I come from a culture that is patriarchal, machista, religious and full of taboos. Ah, and I already told you that I’m a woman! So I have lived my life with different rules than the men in my community, typecast by social norms that we ourselves have created. Read more...

By: Mabel Bianco, President of Fundación para Estudio e Investigación de la Mujer – FEIM

Prior to the creation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and particularly MDG 5 (to improve maternal health), there were many international agreements for improving the status of all citizens, including those focused on sexual and reproductive health and rights. Although these international agreements, including the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), Programme of Action (PoA) and the Beijing Platform for Action (PfA), preceded the MDGs, the responsibilities and commitments to sexual and reproductive health and rights that governments and donors established are broader than those encompassed in MDG5 and 5B. Read more...

VISIT THE FULL SERIES AT CONVERSATIONS FOR A BETTER WORLD

By: Janna Oberdorf, Director of Communications and Outreach at Women Deliver

Young people and contraception can be a tricky topic – for some reason, the idea that young people should have power over their sexuality and their reproductive health can be scary for decision-makers and people in power. But, when young people are able to choose whether, when and how many children to have and to protect themselves from unsafe sex – that’s a good thing. That choice not only improves young people’s health, it also affects their ability to stay in school, to get an education, to earn money, to improve their social and economic status, and to invest back into their communities, families, and countries. Basically, contraception is the key to their future. Read more...

By: Madeline Taskier, Strategic Partnerships Associate at Women Deliver

In India, boys continue to be preferred over girls, permeating gender norms and attitudes throughout the country. Boys carry on the family name, don’t require expensive dowries for marriage, and have more opportunities in education and the workplace. In 2011, 914 girls were born to every 1,000 boys, and gender inequalities are only increasing. Read more...

If questions like why women make up the majority of unpaid workers worldwide and why only one in five lawmakers globally are women leave you perplexed and—quite frankly—mad, tune and make your voice heard during the World Bank’s Open Forum, “Gender – Getting to Equal,” on Sept. 20th and 21st. Read more...

By: Gill Greer, Director-General of IPPF

In 2010, after too many years of neglect and denial, the value of womens and girls lives was finally recognised by Heads of State at the MDG summit, in the Muskoka G8 initiative, and in the Global Strategy for Womens and Childrens Health, Every Woman Every Child. Billions were pledged and promises made, by donor and partner governments, foundations, civil society, NGOs, professional groups and others. Yet two initiatives, which drove the largest commitments to womens and childrens health in many years and inspired optimism for a better world, came from outside the MDG and ICPD frameworks. But this is not surprising when we consider recent history. Read more...

By: Mariko Rasmussen, Communications Specialist at Women Deliver

A few months ago I wrote about a program that works to empower young women in Guatemala by providing essential health, education, and social services to an underserved population. Today I’d like to highlight the flip side: a gender project that works with men in rural Ethiopia.

In Ethiopia, the lifetime risk of maternal death is 1 in 40 and the contraceptive prevalence rate is just 15 percent. HIV prevalence in the Amhara region is significant. The Addis Birhan (meaning “new light” in Amharic) program seeks to promote HIV prevention by changing attitudes and promoting equitable relationships through educating and engaging husbands in issues related to reproductive health, including HIV prevention, family planning, gender violence, alcohol and drug abuse, and domestic responsibilities. Read more...