With the rise of conservatism and opposition to women's rights, Alliance Droits et Santé continues its mobilization in West Africa. In this context, the network's members gathered for their annual meeting during the week of March 6 in Ouagadougou. It was an opportunity to take stock and capitalize on its various actions in favor of social change for SRHR, and more specifically FP.
Political and social mobilization in favor of FP is already bearing fruit
Alliance for Rights and Health took advantage of this week of meetings to take stock. With advocacy strategies developed in each of the Alliance's five countries, there have already been several successes:
- In Savalou, Benin, family planning included in municipal budget
- In Burkina Faso, the effective participation of young people/adolescents in the evaluation of the previous FP repositioning plan for 2013–2015 and in the development (currently underway) of the FP acceleration plan for 2016–2020.
- In Niger, seven influential figures (religious and traditional leaders, politicians) have joined forces to campaign against child marriage and early pregnancy.
In order to convey these advocacy messages and create a more favorable environment for PF, the campaign "Generation PF: Together, let's choose the future!", coordinated by Equipop, was launched at the end of 2016 with a petition calling on the governments of the Alliance countries to implement their commitments to PF. Bringing together the testimonies of nearly 50 FP champions, the campaign is being rolled out on: – the web with a website – social media with already more than 18,000 fans on Facebook, – 10 partner community radio stations broadcasting a dozen programs on young people and FP – and through events in each of the countries.
And this is just the beginning! Members are mobilized to increase the reach of the campaign and its advocacy for youth FP.
Continuing efforts to strengthen West African civil society
In addition to these field activities, work on strengthening civil society organizations continues across the network with support from Equipop (organizational, administrative, and financial development, resource mobilization, advocacy, and communication/ICT).
An opportunity for network members to reflect on their experience and continue along this path:
"That's the point of strategic partnerships: they're a powerful lever for transforming associations. At CeRADIS, thanks to capacity building, major changes are underway: we're in a process of continuous improvement," reports Christian Adoukonou, project manager at CeRADIS in Benin.
"Advocacy is a slow process that must be approached step by step. It is important to understand that all these capacity-building efforts are ultimately aimed at strengthening advocacy capacities," emphasizes Caroline Tapsoba, project manager for Asmade in Burkina Faso.
"Our organization is both a youth organization and a young organization: the Alliance has enabled us to greatly improve our financial and administrative management, which was something we were lacking," adds Ousmane AJCAD in Senegal.
"The information monitoring carried out as part of the Alliance has been a great success for SOS JD: we have obtained the AFP and Pathfinder grants," concludes Etienne Koula, SOS/JD Burkina.
The movement for the rights and health of women and girls in West Africa is gaining momentum with the network's members. We are continuing to mobilize!
