FP2020 at Women Deliver
By Hilary Johnson, Chief of Staff, FP2020
The 2019 Women Deliver conference was a whirlwind: from the Power Stage to the plenaries, speakers were ready to make progress for women and girls worldwide. FP2020 was involved in several events every day, and also hosted a large booth in the fueling station exhibit hall. The booth told the stories of six women and their access to family planning services and contraceptives: Sandra from Guatemala, Wude from Ethiopia, Caroline from Uganda (who is also featured on the cover of our annual progress report), Dolena from Bangladesh, Emeline from Madagascar, and Khoeriyah from Indonesia.
Women’s stories were at the heart of the conference. FP2020 Executive Director Beth Schlachter’s Power Talk highlighted her personal reasons behind her involvement in FP. An FP2020 co-led panel, NOT Optional! SRHR Essential to Humanitarian Action, discussed the importance of SRHR in humanitarian response, to make sure women and girls in the most vulnerable communities are still able to make their own reproductive health decisions. Two FP2020 focal points — Dr. Grace Kodindo of the Ministry of Health, Chad, and Dr. Sathya Doraiswamy of UNFPA Bangladesh — spoke to the powerful role that FP, as part of an SRH package, can play in the early days of a crisis, and all the speakers brought their country experiences and individual stories of need to the panel.
Onyinye Edeh, FP2020 Anglophone Africa Associate and Founder of Strong Enough Girls’ Empowerment Initiative, participated in the Information, Education, Advocacy session of Power Talks, and told the story of her auntie, who became pregnant at the age of 13 because she received confusing and incorrect information about sex and pregnancy. Onyinye used her family’s story to speak to the harmful consequences of depriving girls and young women of accurate and comprehensive information about their sexual and reproductive health and rights. Also on the Power Stage, Beth moderated the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights session, which prominently featured discussions of barriers to access and the importance of choice: When women and girls have the ability to choose if, when, and how many children they have, they have more control over their lives.
Lastly, we hosted an FP2020 Reference Group breakfast for current and alumni members and a side event, Beyond 2020: The Future of the Global Family Planning Partnership, with a broad range of stakeholders and global partners. During the side event, representatives from FP2020’s four Core Convener organizations presented the initial findings and responded to audience feedback on the consultation to date. You can read more about the drafted vision (and leave your feedback) here.
