Toolkit for advocacy

Advocates for Action, a youth led advocacy group coordinated by Students Partnership Worldwide has developed an advocacy toolkit to equip young people with the skills to become powerfull advocates for Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health & Rights (YSRH&R).

"There is no room for negligence and no time for bureaucracy when it comes to advocating for young people’s SRH&R." says Richard Wanzala, SPW Advocate for Action.

About the toolkit:

Do you think it's shocking that 7,000 young people around the world (aged 15 – 24) are infected with HIV every day2?
Do you think that young people have the right to decide what happens to their own bodies?
Do you think it’s crazy that despite 60% of all new HIV infections occurring amongst young people their sexual health is still not a priority for
the UK government's Department for International Development (DFID)3?

If you answered ‘YES’ to any of these questions then it’s time you joined us in taking a stand. Whether you are a student, a professional, an artist or an astronaut we want YOU to join us in influencing international policies, raising awareness of the specific needs of young people and advocating for our rights!
This toolkit has been created for young people in the UK to advocate for the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRH&R) of young people around
the world. It will equip you with the skills and knowledge to get the UK government to take this problem seriously, and push them to take action.

Inside you’ll find more information about SRH&R and a step-by-step guide to building an effective advocacy campaign — from figuring out who to
target to exploring ways to get people to listen.
We hope you enjoy this toolkit and will be inspired to join us in advocating for the rights of young people in this important issue.

Sexual and reproductive health care refers to the different methods and services that play a part in our reproductive and sexual well being5 i.e. a course of
antibiotics to treat Chlamydia or knowing where to obtain contraceptives such as condoms.

What about rights?
Sexual and reproductive health is not only about disease, it also encompasses a collection of related health and human rights issues.
We have rights over what we do with our bodies:

we have the right to plan when we want to
have children.
we have the right to decide if we use a condom
we have the right to say no to sex.
we have the right to enjoy sex.

download the document

Knowledge Base

Countries in this article

United Kingdom

UAFC lobby paper

UAFC has developed a profound advocacy strategy in order to achieve acces to female condoms for all. For background on this strategy and to strengthen your own lobby activities you have access to this paper.

download the document

Breaking down the barriers!

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Ilze Smit of UAFC Joint Programme presented the session Female Condom Programming and Advocacy: Braking down the Barriers! at the NGO Forum ICPD+15.

read her weblog

see the photo's of the Forum

Trainings in Rwanda

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"In our daily work in HIV prevention and even in our sexual and reproductive life sessions with potential users, in trainings and advocay, we talk about female condoms as you can see in these photos. I'm pushing to include FC in our major advocay themes. It recently has been included in the Rwanda National NGO forum on AIDS for the four year strategic plan (2009/2012)," says Fortunée Twiyubahe from ACORD/Oxfam International in Rwanda.

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UAFC December newsletter is out

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View our newsletter

Knowledge base live

Part of our new website is the revolutionary knowledge base. This is a repository of concepts related to the main theme of UAFC, the female condom. This repository is organized according to themes, geographic location and time. We invite you to start exploring our knowledge base.

If you feel you have anything to contribute don't hesitate to contact us.

ACMS Website

In Cameroon the Association Camerounaise pour le Marketing (ACMS) works on making Female Condoms available to a large usersgroup. ACMS has its own website, with which it reaches especially young people.

Interview with Victoria Archibong, SFH

"I believe the introduction of the male condoms was relatively easier. This could be because it was easier to target men as the “dominant” party in relationships and the ones who will wear the condoms. There was also a lot of support from donors and IPs. The female condom is regarded more as a “woman thing”. Some men may feel threatened as the female condom will empower women in demonstrating their sexual and reproductive health rights. For Female condom programming, programmers have to be more creative and strategic."

read the interview