By Seyyada Burney, Research Intern, Nourishing the Planet
Women Deliver is collaborating with Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet project to highlight the important role of women, youth, and sexual and reproductive health and rights in sustainable development at the upcoming Rio+20 conference.
Les jeunes, os jovens, or vijana. Call them what you will, young people make up nearly 40 percent of the global population. According to statistics from the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 85 percent of the world’s children and youth currently live in the developing world, mostly in Asia. Read more...
Updates
Women and Sustainability: Five Youth-Led Initiatives That Are Shaking Up Rio+20
June 15th, 2012
Putting Youth and Reproductive Rights on the Agenda at Rio+20: An Interview with Ivens Reis Reyner
June 8th, 2012
by: Danielle Nierenberg, Worldwatch Institute
The Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet project is collaborating with Women Deliver to highlight the important role of women, youth, and sexual and reproductive health and rights in sustainable development at the upcoming Rio+20 conference.
As the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, or Rio+20, rapidly approaches, organizations from around the world are pushing for issues related to youth and reproductive rights to be prioritized within the sustainable development agenda. The Youth Coalition is an organization of young activists from around the world who bring attention to the sexual and reproductive rights of youth locally and globally. Representatives from the Youth Coalition will be at Rio+20 to inform governments about the connections between sustainable development and sexual rights. Read more...
Regional Maternal Health Advocates Convene in Mexico
June 7th, 2012
This week, over 200 key decision-makers, civil society advocates, donors, journalists, health workers and youth activists gathered in Mexico City for the regional consultation “Maternal Health in Latin America and the Caribbean: The Unfinished Agenda.” Convened by the Regional Task Force on Maternal Mortality (GTR) in partnership with Women Deliver, the meeting featured discussions on proven life-saving maternal health interventions and on the future development framework.
The meeting was the third regional consultation to be held by Women Deliver with partner groups. The sub-Saharan Africa consultation took place in Kampala, Uganda in collaboration with Partners in Population and Development’s Africa Regional Office, and the Asia consultation took place in Dhaka, Bangladesh in partnership with USAID’s flagship MCHIP program. Read more...
G(irls)20 Summit Communiqué Released
June 4th, 2012
_20.jpg)
The G(irls)20 Summit has released a communiqué following their May 24 – June 4, 2012 Summit. The Summit convened 21 representatives from the European Union (EU), the African Union (AU) and each G20 country. Each country delegate was a young woman between the ages of 18-20. This year, the Summit took place in Mexico City, Mexico, just two weeks ahead of the G20 Summit which will take place in Los Cabos, Mexico. The G20 Summit is an international forum which gathers the 19 country members and the European Union which constitute 90% of global GDP, 80% of global trade and two-thirds of the world’s population. Read more...
Plan International: Reach for the Stars
May 22nd, 2012
By: Keshet Bachan, Plan International; Plan International is a winner of the Women Deliver 50
A narrow one-way lane leads to a dirt track ab
out 5 hours south of Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. To one side of this dirt track sits a small one room shack where Srey Pha, her elder brother, younger brother and parents all live together. Srey Pha’s mother, Hean Ra, couldn’t attend school because she had to help her mother with the house chores and take care of her younger siblings. When she was 16, a local farmer who knew her parents asked for her hand in marriage. After a year of steady pressure by her parents, she relented and agreed to marry a man 10 years her senior. She now hopes her daughter will have a better future. “I advise my daughter to study hard, I tell her if you don’t study you will regret it, end up like me. I want her to be a teacher or a health worker”. Read more...
Celebrate Solutions: Chanan Development Association Empowers Youth
May 21st, 2012
By: Linda Nyanchoka, Women Deliver; Chanan Development Association is a winner of the Women Deliver 50
Young people play a major role in addressing the health and development issues affecting their country. At the young age of 12, Muhammad Shahzad protested against the arranged marriage of his 15 year old sister to an older man in his fifties by going on a hunger strike. This action influenced his family and community, and led to his family calling off the marriage. Muhammad has since dedicated his life to being an agent of change. Read more...
Africa Regional Consultation Youth Pre-Conference
May 3rd, 2012
From March 27-28 2012, Women Deliver, in partnership with Partners in Population and Development Africa Regional Office, held an invitation-only regional consultation for 100-150 participants from sub-Saharan Africa in Kampala, Uganda. Policymakers, researchers, experts, and advocates attended the consultation on Achieving MDG 5: Challenges, Opportunities and Lessons Learned to discuss regional success stories, lessons learned and pathways for future progress in maternal and reproductive health, with a focus on the International Conference on Population and Development’s (ICPD) Plan of Action and Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5. An outcome document is forthcoming and will be available on the Women Deliver website. View the agenda and all speaker presentations here. Read more...
We Must Act to Save Our Mothers and Our Sisters
May 3rd, 2012
By: Deusdedit Ruhangariyo; Originally posted on NewVision
Nargis Shirazi was one of the Women Deliver sponsored youth participants at the 2012 Africa Regional Conference
On 27-28 March, policymakers, advocates and researchers from across sub-Saharan Africa gathered at Speke Resort Munyonyo, in Kampala, Uganda, to reaffirm national and regional commitments to Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5 – reducing maternal mortality and ensuring universal access to reproductive health - reducing maternal mortality and ensuring universal access to reproductive health. Read more...
United Nations Adopts Landmark Resolution on Adolescents and Youth
April 30th, 2012
Late Friday, 27 April 2012, at the 45th Session of the United Nations Commission on Population and Development (CPD), member states issued a bold resolution in support of young people’s sexual and reproductive health and human rights.
This victory comes on the heels of a UNICEF report released this week highlighting the challenges that the largest-ever generation of young people face—including HIV/AIDS, violence, and unintended pregnancy—and reaffirms long-standing international agreements including the 1994 United Nations International Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action. Read more...
Celebrate Solutions: Skillz Street Changes the Game for Girls in South Africa
April 30th, 2012
By: Elise Braunschweig; Grassroot Soccer is a winner of the Women Deliver 50
South Africa is enduring one of the world‘s most severe HIV epidemics with an adult prevalence rate of 16.9%. Research shows that three inter-related risk factors—harmful gender norms and gender-based violence, multiple partners, and age-disparate sex—are driving the epidemic and that HIV is disproportionately concentrated among women and girls. Read more...
Ipas Calls for Youth Development Support at UN Commission on Population and Development
April 26th, 2012
Oral Statement delivered by: Cecilia Espinoza, Youth Program Associate from Ipas at the United Nations Commission on Population and Development 2012
Oral Statement by Ipas
at the 45th Session of the Commission of Population and Development on the theme:
Adolescents and youth
April 2012
My name is Cecilia Espinoza, I am from Nicaragua and I am speaking on behalf of Ipas, an international NGO working with local, national and global partners to ensure that women can obtain safe, respectful and comprehensive abortion care, including counseling and contraception to prevent future unintended pregnancies. Young women especially are often seriously harmed by the lack of such care. I would like to tell you about one of them today.
Read more...
Advocates for Youth Introduces ‘Time is Now’ Campaign
April 11th, 2012
Advocates for Youth, an organization focused on helping young people make informed and responsible decisions about their reproductive and sexual health, has kick-started their “Time is Now” campaign. It was developed in collaboration with a youth advisory board of 40 young people from around the world, and revolves around changes for greater inclusion of gender and youth in the upcoming Rio+20 summit. Read more...
Youth as Changemakers: What the Past Dreamt, the Present Thought, and the Future Became
April 4th, 2012
By: Yemurai Nyoni, Zimbabwe (President: Zimbabwe Young People's Network on SRH; Executive Committee Member: African Youth and Adolescents Network on Population and Development) to participants at the Africa Regional RMNCH Advocacy Strategy Implementation Meeting hosted by PMNCH and the Africa MNCH Coalition
Today we have the largest youth population in history. This demographic trend translates to the need for deliberate investment in the development of young people in the broader global development context, because our gains in this regard rely greatly on what we do and don't do for young people.
As a young person, I appreciate that efforts have been made by African governments to involve us in the development processes that affect us. Read more...
Women Deliver 2013: Apply for a Scholarship - APPLICATION CLOSED
March 26th, 2012
Women Deliver is excited to announce that all scholarship applications for Women Deliver 2013 are open today.
There are two different scholarship applications - one for young people who will be under 30-years-old at the time of the conference and one for those who will be 30-years-old or over at the time of the conference. All scholarship applications are due April 23, 2012. We will offer full scholarships to a select number of participants in order to maximize participation from those who are traditionally under-represented; namely, young people and those from the Global South. This support includes conference registration, round-trip economy class airfare, hotel accomodations and a fixed stipend for visa fees and other incidentals. Read more...
Women Deliver 2013 Youth Scholarship Application Opens - APPLICATION CLOSED
February 15th, 2012
Women Deliver is excited to announce that the Youth Scholarship application for Women Deliver 2013 opens today for young people who will be under 30 years old at the time of the conference! We will offer full scholarships to a select number of participants in order to maximize participation from those who are traditionally under-represented; namely, young people and those from the Global South. This support includes conference registration, round-trip economy class airfare, hotel accomodations and a fixed stipend for visa fees and other incidentals. Read more...
Women’s Health Issues in a World of 7 Billion
November 21st, 2011
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...
G(irls)20 Summit Communiqué Lists Recommendations for G20 Leaders on Closing Gender Gap
October 25th, 2011
Delegates participating in the G(irls)20 Summit in Paris presented French President Nicholas Sarkozy with a communiqué featuring recommendations on how G20 leaders can help reduce gender inequality and recognize the pivotal role women and girls play in advancing the global economy. Drafted by 21 young delegates -- all women under the age of 20 -- the communiqué features more than 30 specific recommendations on gender-based violence and inequality; education, training, and employment; political, economic, and social representation; and health; designed to influence global leaders convening at the G20 meetings in Cannes, France next month. Read more...
World Contraception Day: The Importance of Educating Young Women
September 30th, 2011
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...
World Contraception Day is For Women’s Rights, But It’s For the Environment, Too
September 29th, 2011
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...
World Contraception Day: “Hombres y mujeres jóvenes y el acceso a anticonceptivos”?
September 28th, 2011
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...