Strengthening the Voices of Reproductive Health Champions

Family planning and reproductive health are crucial components of development, yet access to quality services that meet the needs of women and their families remains a challenge. Despite more than 40 years of investments in family planning by countries and donors, 215 million women continue to express an unmet need for family planning.

As governments and donors implement new development assistance programs, there is a growing emphasis on the importance of countries setting their own priorities and driving the development process. As host countries assume this leadership role it is critical that women’s voices are central in the process to ensure that family planning and reproductive health programs are prioritized in national debates and ultimately in country and donor resource allocations.

The goal of the Strengthening the Voices of Women Champions for Family Planning and Reproductive Health workshop was to strengthen host country and U.S. leadership and support for family planning and reproductive health programs by raising awareness of the importance of these issues in priority countries and among key U.S. communities. The two-week workshop was intensive and highly participatory and designed to:

• Enhance knowledge of key national and global family planning and reproductive health issues,
• Increase understanding of the US policy environment related to family planning and reproductive health,
• Strengthen capacity to develop and deliver strategic messages to policymakers in host countries and in the United States,
• Enhance messaging and communication skills, and
• Develop country action plans for mobilizing other groups in country to target policy makers with messages prioritizing family planning and reproductive health.