EngenderHealth Commits to Address Gender-based Violence and Expand Access to Contraception and Safe Abortion for All as Part of Generation Equality

EngenderHealth today commits to expand partnerships and programs in support of two focal areas of the landmark Generation Equality Forum: Gender-based Violence (GBV), and Bodily Autonomy and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR).

“EngenderHealth works to advance gender equality in and through gender- and youth-transformative SRHR programs,” said President and CEO Traci L. Baird. “Our goals fully align with those of Generation Equality, and our historical strengths and current strategic focus position us especially well to support these two Action Coalitions through the bold commitments we’re announcing today. We are eager to join with partners and colleagues worldwide to accomplish these priorities.”

To address gender-based violence, EngenderHealth will work with governments and civil society partners in at least five countries to co-create and implement evidence-based multi-sectoral national GBV prevention and response strategies. Among other actions, we will:

• engage with local communities, including youth- and feminist-led organizations and men and boys, to transform gender norms that perpetuate GBV
• support healthcare workers and systems to ensure respectful, high-quality care for survivors
• advocate for supportive laws, policies, national guidelines, and protocols, including to fulfill governments’ commitments under international and regional agreements

“Eliminating all forms of gender-based violence and comprehensively addressing survivors’ complex needs is essential to ensuring that all people can exercise their sexual and reproductive health and rights, and to achieve gender equality,” said Malayah Harper, EngenderHealth’s Director of SRHR. “EngenderHealth has a strong track record of supporting effective multi-sectoral GBV prevention and response, and we look forward to building on this experience.”

EngenderHealth’s second commitment builds on our extensive experience supporting national health systems and our belief that high-quality SRHR information and services, including contraception and safe abortion care, must be available and accessible for all who need it. Among other steps, over the next five years, we will:

• support community-based and youth-led organizations to reach in- and out-of-school adolescents and youth with reproductive health and rights education
• advocate for inclusion of SRHR, gender, and bodily autonomy in national guidelines, including in alignment with African countries’ commitments to the Maputo Protocol
• strengthen health systems through training, service integration, and other elements of management support, to provide high-quality contraception and abortion care

“The world has made tremendous progress in the last several decades in expanding access to critical SRHR information and care,” said Baird. “But too many gaps remain, especially for young people, people with disabilities, sexual and gender minorities, and other marginalized populations, and the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated many such needs. Working together, we can—and must—close those gaps.”

EngenderHealth prioritizes SRHR and gender equality in our operations as well as in our programs, and our internal Generation Equality commitments reflect this longstanding emphasis. We pledge to integrate an intentional, comprehensive Gender, Youth, and Social Inclusion (GYSI) lens into all our programs and structures, to support stakeholders to reflect, challenge, and change personal gender-, youth-, and social marginalization-related biases and beliefs that impede access to SRHR information and services.

“Integrating the meaningful and inclusive participation of young people is a key focus across all our programs, operations, and structures,” said Ana Aguilera, EngenderHealth’s Deputy Director for Adolescent and Youth SRHR. “In implementing our Generation Equality commitments, we will use, and share with others, a range of tools and approaches to ensure that our work is done with and not for young people.”

For the full text of EngenderHealth’s Generation Equality commitments, and to explore opportunities for partnership, please email us at info@engenderhealth.org.

About EngenderHealth

EngenderHealth is committed to creating transformative, sustainable change by delivering high-quality sexual, reproductive, and maternal health services; expanding access to information and training; and advancing acceptance of sexual and reproductive rights as human rights. To achieve this vision, EngenderHealth collaborates with governments, private-sector partners, international experts, and local organizations and communities around the world to deliver programs that give girls and women freedom to reach their full potentials. www.engenderhealth.org