Human Rights and the ICPD Beyond 2014

September 23, 2013

This past July, more than 300 participants representing governments, civil society organizations, youth networks, United Nations (UN) agencies, and human rights experts and defenders converged in the Netherlands for the International Conference on Human Rights: ICPD Beyond 2014. Hosted by the Government of The Netherlands, in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, attendees addressed the links between human rights, equality, accountability, and population and development.

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Reviews of Evidence and Tools Support Rights-Based Family Planning Framework

September 10, 2013

In 2013, EngenderHealth and Futures Group published a new framework, Voluntary Family Planning Programs that Respect, Protect, and Fulfill Human Rights: A Conceptual Framework, that offers a holistic approach to realizing human rights as a part of voluntary, high-quality family planning (FP) services. The framework’s linkage of FP and human rights was informed and supported by systematic reviews of supporting evidence and available tools. The results of these reviews are now available in two companion papers:

Voluntary Family Planning Programs that Respect, Protect, and Fulfill Human Rights: A Systematic Review of Evidence synthesizes the findings from a literature review of more than 290 relevant interventions, evaluations, and case studies, to engender a better understanding of the elements of a successful rights-based FP program. The report reviews the current evidence for rights-based FP and identifies practices that protect and fulfill the rights of clients and prospective FP users to achieve desired reproductive intentions.

Tools Paper Cover Voluntary Family Planning Programs that Respect, Protect, and Fulfill Human Rights: A Systematic Review of Tools presents an extensive review of 150 training and assessment tools, frameworks, methodologies, implementation guides, and job aids that support and promote the fulfillment of rights at the policy, service, community, and individual levels. Links to tools reviewed are provided to allow policymakers, program planners, and managers to access resources that will enable them to assess, design, implement, monitor, and evaluate rights-based FP programs.

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Respect, Protect, and Fulfill Human Rights: A New Conceptual Framework for Voluntary Family Planning Programs

August 19, 2013

How can public health programs oriented toward increasing family planning access and use ensure they reach as many people as possible with lifesaving contraception in a way that respects, protects, and fulfills human rights?

Today, the Futures Group and EngenderHealth launched a joint publication, Voluntary Family Planning Programs that Respect, Protect, and Fulfill Human Rights: A Conceptual Framework that presents a new framework for holistic, quality family planning (FP) programs with clients and their rights at the core. This practical framework integrates human rights law and principles with FP program and quality of care frameworks, and depicts how key concepts translate into concrete interventions, outputs, and outcomes into programming. It offers a pathway for governments and other implementing partners to fulfill their commitments to the provision of voluntary FP services that respect, protect, and fulfill individuals’ human rights as programs pursue health and development goals.

A mother and child in Mwea Village, Kenya. Photo credit: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

“In the wake of the London Summit on Family Planning, we have seen a reenergized commitment among governments and donors to expand access to FP, especially under the FP2020 initiative,” said Jan Kumar, Senior Technical Advisor at EngenderHealth and one of the framework’s authors. “As this framework highlights, however, it is critical that any efforts to scale up family planning over the next decade must be met by equal attention to ensuring that programs respect, protect, and fulfill human rights and put clients’ needs and preferences at their core.”

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Contraceptive Choice and Human Rights in Malawi: Q&A with UNFPA’s Dorothy Nyasulu

Over the past decade, Malawi’s family planning (FP) program has made remarkable strides in expanding access to FP to help women and couples better meet their desired family size. As a direct result of advocacy efforts and renewed government commitment to FP, a broader mix of contraceptive options are becoming more widely and equitably available, including long-acting and permanent methods (LA/PMs) such as implants and female sterilization. However, despite impressive gains [1], high unmet need and barriers to FP information and services persist. To learn more, EngenderHealth’s Holly Connor sat down with Dorothy Nyasulu, Assistant Representative for UNFPA/Malawi and a leading champion on human rights and gender equality for over 20 years, to discuss the intersection of FP, contraceptive choice, and human rights in her home country.

[1] The modern contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) increased from 22.4 in 2004 to 32.6 by 2010 (Malawi Demographic and Health Surveys)

Dorothy Nyasulu and Holly Connor of EngenderHealth/The RESPOND Project at a regional family planning stakeholders meeting in Malawi in February 2013.

Dorothy Nyasulu, Assistant Representative of UNFPA/Malawi and Holly Connor, Senior Program Associate, EngenderHealth/The RESPOND Project at a regional family planning stakeholders meeting in Mzuzu, Malawi in February 2013.