Home Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights

Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights

Overview 

African women, girls, and gender-expansive persons deserve a rights-based sexual and reproductive health agenda that recognizes and respects bodily autonomy and choice as the cornerstone of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). Despite the progress being made globally in advancing health for all agenda, SRHR remains a contested intervention area. In many African countries, not all women and girls can exercise their sexual and reproductive health and rights free from coercion, violence, and discrimination. Negative societal attitudes and gender norms reinforced by the religious, community, and political leaders; policies and laws that ignore the needs and issues of certain groups of women, girls, and gender-expansive persons, criminalization of sexual and reproductive health such as access to safe abortion, and lack of funding for implementation of policies and laws, and contestations over Sexual Orientation Gender Identity and Expression remain barriers to the health and wellbeing of African women and girls in their diversities.

Our desire is for improved quality of life for all African women, girls, and gender-expansive persons through interventions that promote an intersectional approach to SRHR advocacy.

By boldly challenging negative social, religious, and gender norms and structures that undermine SRHR, strengthening the capacity of African feminists to demand SRHR, and supporting a diverse and inclusive African feminist movement. We see an intersectional approach to this work as the only way to challenge the systems of power and oppression premised on gender, sexual orientation, class, etc, that reinforce each other to deny access to SRHR.

 

Consortium Partnerships

Akina Mama wa Afrika is part of the Joint Advocacy for Sexual and Reproductive Rights (SRHR) in Uganda (JAS) programme.  JAS is a multi-organization Sexual Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) advocacy programme steered by the Centre for Health Human Rights and Development-CEHURD and supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency – SIDA. The programme aims at building a progressive social movement boldly challenging the deep structures affecting the realization of SRHR in Uganda.

 

Make Way seeks to break ground in operationalizing the concept of intersectionality in sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). In the next five years, we, as part of this consortium, aim to mobilize a critical mass of civil society as successful intersectional SRHR advocates in five countries (Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zambia), the (East) African region and at the global level.

 

The consortium comprises Akina Mama wa Afrika (AMwA), The Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians, Forum for African Women Educationalists, Liliane Foundation, VSO Netherlands, and Wemos as lead, in partnership with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

AMwA is the programme’s lead implementing partner in Uganda, responsible for coordinating with all stakeholders, including the Government of Uganda through the Ministry of Health, and with the Dutch Embassy.