Knowledge Generation

Adolescents in Timor-Leste face barriers to obtaining accurate and constructive information about sexual reproductive health. Teenage pregnancy is 24%, and early pregnancies are often swiftly followed by marriages; 19% of girls are married by the time they are 18. Deeply entrenched gender inequalities, high rates of violence against women, barriers to reproductive health care and the limited availability of comprehensive sexual education – play a role in these grim figures.

FGM is a violation of girls' & women's rights internationally. Kenya is ranked 3rd among countries with most cases of medicalisation of FGM. National prevalence is 21%. Its performed mostly on girls aged 12-18. The practice causes significant health risks including infections, bleeding, damage adjacent organs, sterility, birth complications & even death. Reasons of practising FGM: Requirement before marriage & prevention of premarital sex; Social acceptance; Personal hygiene; Religious identity.

In remote Amazon communities, women face daily threats: domestic violence, cultural exclusion, and lack of citizenship.Although programmes have targeted these challenges, many gender-related issues are accepted due to a patriarchal arrangement. This has been poorly addressed by the lack of proper tools of engagement and education. This has intensified a conservative culture, with no proper participation of women in communities' decisions -- jeopardising their social power, health and life.

Despite the deaths of many women in Malawi due to unsafe abortion, there is huge silence on the issue which is regarded as a taboo. With that silence engulfing Malawi despite over 141,000 women procuring abortion every year, interventions to address the public health challenge are not being discussed. Women continue to die in silence due to unsafe abortions. Due to the prevailing restrictive law, most abortions result in serious complications and deaths.

Madagascar reste le 4e pays le plus pauvre au monde avec 90% de ses habitants vivant sous le seuil de pauvreté. Dans un tel contexte, la situation des femmes demeure inquiétante. Près du tiers des femmes (même jeune ou urbaine) pense qu'un homme a le droit de les battre, pourtant 50% des femmes violentées montre des hématomes. La coalition de la société civile dénonce la quasi indifférence du gouvernement vis-à-vis de la VSCS vu le faible budget alloué à la promotion de l'égalité des sexes.

Access to Sexual Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) is a major barrier to most girls in Zimbabwe. This is due to legal restrictions on adolescent access to SRHR, lack of knowledge, lack of available SRHR commodities, distance from services, harmful cultural practices and an insensitive justice delivery system. These factors exacerbate Gender Based Violence, early child marriages, teenage pregnancies and community case resolution. They also limit the girls' right to health and other human rights.

GBV remains underreported and GBV services under-utilised in humanitarian settings.[1] Significant barriers to disclosing GBV exist, including fear, stigma, lack of recognition of abuse and lack of knowledge of existing health services. Relying on survivors to self-identify and come forward with their needs will miss the vast majority of them. In turn, by relying on survivors to self-identify, the low uptake of GBV services likely maintains the status quo of impunity for perpetrators.

FGM/C is a global child protection and human rights issue. 98% of young girls and women in Somalia have experienced FGM/C. Ifrah Foundation believes that the implementation of grass roots community education and empowerment programmes will support the behavioural change required to eradicate FGM/C. Research evidences that community led change is the most effective and prefaces long-term sustainable solutions. This coupled together with a national media programme will evidence the change. .

Adolescent Girls' vulnerability to child marriages, backyard abortion, increased maternal mortality rate and commercial sexual exploitation, the effects of the HIV epidemic, sexually transmitted infections, early and unintended pregnancies as well as inadequate ASRHR knowledge coupled with lack of access to ASRHR services. It will also address the challenges faced by marginalized girls who were sexually abused particularly rape survivors who often face stigma, trauma or discrimination.

Community engagement through informed, sensitive dialogue is known as one of the most effective catalysts towards achieving the abandonment of Female Genital Cutting (FGC). But in India, where the anti-FGC movement is new and intensely polarised, community members lack a) accurate information and b) effective communication skills to engage in these difficult conversations and counter pro-FGC arguments. Our innovation aims to simultaneously plug both those gaps.