Updates

By: Jill Sheffield, Founder and President of Women Deliver
Originally posted by The Huffington Post

This past month, the world met a milestone. We officially live in a world of seven billion people -- an impressive figure that drives home just how much responsibility we all have to take care of our globe, ourselves and each other. This benchmark has sparked many conversations anew, from the impact of population on the environment to the undeniable importance of contraception. But as UNFPA's recently launched State of the World's Population 2011 report points out, a world of seven billion is not a time to ask, "Are we too many?" but rather, "What can I do to make our world better?" Read more...

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

By: Saba Ismail, one of the Women Deliver 100 Young Leaders and program manager of the “Sahailee Hotline”

In Pakistan, talking about sexual and reproductive health, sexuality and contraception is considered taboo. The truth is, Pakistan is a conservative country and the people here have feudal norms and culture. Young people cannot talk about contraception nor discuss it with their friends – when they do, they are considered vulgar. They’re not allowed to ask questions about topics like contraception because their use is considered a sin, and some doctors won’t give their patients permission to use contraception because they consider it anti-Islamic. According many people’s religious beliefs, women shouldn’t use contraception because children are “a gift from God” and we should not reject such a precious gift. The only way doctors recommend that husbands and wives stop having children is by avoiding intercourse altogether – they make no mention of modern contraception. People here believe that if someone does not want to produce children, they should just avoid intercourse. Read more...

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

By: Rachel Cernansky, blogger at Treehugger.com and winner of the Women Bloggers Deliver contest; excerpted from the original post at Treehugger.com

The connection between increased access to family planning and greenhouse gas emissions has been covered here before, but since World Contraception Day was this week and we're still so far from where we need to be on both issues, it's worth another look. 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...

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

By: Bridget Akudo Nwagbara, Chair of the Youth Health Workers Advocates, Nigeria – MNCH

“I had a dream to be the best that I can at anything I want to be….I couldn’t because I became a mother at 15 years. I never wanted the baby. Now, I have to cope with the demands of being a mother without going to school. That is not the life I wanted”…*Anne

These voices echo those of Nigerian youths who don’t have access to basic reproductive health choices today. They were never told what contraceptives were all about, where to get them, how to get them and how to use them. Then, the big question is: Why are they denied the right to decide freely and responsibly when to start having sexual relationships, when to have children, and how many children they want? The answers are not far-fetched and it is important we bring them to fore this week to celebrate World Contraception Day. Read more...

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

By: Dalia Al-Eryani, one of the Women Deliver 100 Young Leaders

A little over a year ago, I was working to raise awareness regarding the safe age of marriage in a small rural village in the mountains of Yemen. One of our biggest supporters was, Fatima, an old woman from the community who hosted our team meetings in her home every month with her family. Fatima couldn’t have been that old really, but the hardship she had endured in her life left her looking like a fragile old woman with sun-kissed cracked brown skin, tired eyes and a big heart. One morning our meeting ended early and she sat down to talk to us. She hugged her legs to her chest and began telling us why she believed in what we were doing. Read more...

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

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

Happy World Contraception Day! If you haven’t heard of World Contraception Day, welcome, get excited, and tune in. The theme this year is “Live your life, know your rights. Learn about contraception.” It’s a pretty simple slogan but it has a powerful implication.

Young people have the right to access accurate and unbiased information about contraception and safe sex, which they need to prevent unwanted pregnancies, STIs, and improve their lives in a number of ways. But they don’t often know that, or they can’t realize those rights. We are trying to change that. Read more...

By: Maria Inés Romero (26, Paraguay) and Wieke Vink (20, the Netherlands), members of the Youth Coalition for Sexual and Reproductive Rights

This next blog in our series "2015+" is a conversation between two Youth Coalition members (ages 20 and 26) about youth sexual and reproductive rights and why they think it’s important to put young people at the heart of the next development agenda. Read more...

Today is the culmination of the International Year of Youth: Dialogue and Mutual Understanding, which began on 12 August 2010. There are 1.8 billion young people in the world today, who make up 1/3rd of the world’s population. We hope that although the International Year of Youth has come to a close, momentum and progress for youth involvement and focus in development will not be lost. 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: Rati Bishnoi, Special Projects Intern at Women Deliver

The Kenyan finance ministry this month announced plans to allocate $3.4 million in the current fiscal budget to provide free sanitary pads to school girls in an effort to remove a major barrier to education in the east African nation. Read more...

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

We are back in the office after an exciting few days at the United Nations. Government representatives, heads of UN agencies, advocates, and youth from across the world gathered in New York July 25-26, 2011 for the United Nations High Level Meeting on Youth. The theme of the High Level Meeting was “Youth: Dialogue and Mutual Understanding” and began on July 25 with two thematic panel discussions focusing on strengthening international cooperation and addressing challenges regarding youth and social integration, employment, poverty eradication and sustainable development. Read more...

By: Jill Sheffield, President of Women Deliver

With 2014 and 2015 approaching, advocates are beginning to talk about what will happen to maternal health and sexual and reproductive health and rights when major international agreements, like ICPD and the MDGs, reach their deadlines. What will happen to the global architecture for maternal health if and when these targets are or are not met? There is some talk of collapsing all the health MDGs (MDG 4, 5, and 6) into a solitary goal to make room for other critical issues, like non-communicable diseases, pandemics, or terrorism. Some thought leaders are talking of creating a whole new framework, while others think the MDGs and ICPD should be extended or have no timeline. Read more...

Want to see how young people from 50 countries all over the world find a way to come together in action for 10 days?

There are 1.8 billion young people in the world today, who make up 1/3rd of the world’s population. Below 90% of them live in developing countries – a number that will increase in the next 20 years. Y-PEER launches a 10-days campaign between July 1st – 10th, 2011 within the International Year of Youth (IYY). The goal of the campaign is to bring young people and youth organizations from 50 countries around the world together, unite forces and make their voice heard on youth issues including sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). “10 Days of Activism” will take place simultaneously at national, regional and international levels and will be matched by a social media campaign. Read more...

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

It was raining when we got to the Malava Girls school--the loud, heavy kind of rain that makes it hard to hear your own voice inside--and we weren't sure we would get to visit with the girls we came to see. The plan was to demonstrate a LifeStraw Family and to hear what they had to say about clean water and the impact of waterborne diseases on their lives.

But we waited the rain out and did get to see the girls, just an hour or so later than scheduled. And we got to hear about so much more than just water. Read more...

By: Toyin Ajao, winner of the Women Bloggers Deliver contest

As part of the Women Bloggers Deliver contest, and the Carbon for Water campaign, I am excited to be traveling around the Western Province of Kenya, meeting women and girls who are hard-hit by the issues associated with the Millennium Development Goals. Yesterday, I got the chance to visit the Malava’s Girls High School -- a reaffirmation time that the Millennium Development Goals are so important, especially the goal addressing women and girls’ issues. Read more...

By: Esther Agbarakwe & Kikelomo Taiwo, Women Deliver 100 Young Leaders; posted on the WRA blog here

Globally between 350,000 and 550,000 girls and women die from complications due to pregnancy and childbirth every year, while 10-20 million girls and women suffer from maternal morbidities according to UNFPA. Each death represents a family’s loss of a sister, daughter, partner, mother, or friend. Early sexual exposure is an important reproductive risk factor among young people in Nigeria as many of them lack information and life planning skills to delay the onset of sexual activities. Read more...