UAFC ADVOCACY
Advocacy objectives
To achieve the goal of making the female condom accessible, available and affordable, UAFC has conceived a major advocacy policy.
TRAININGS IN RWANDA
"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.
DOCUMENT
FAILING WOMEN, WITHHOLDING PROTECTION
Policy makers lament women’s vulnerablity to HIV infection, yet for 15 years they have failed to utilise a technology which can help women to protect and empower themselves.NEWS
THE FEMALE CONDOM AND THE MDGS
The MDGs on child mortality and morbidity, maternal mortality and morbidity rates as well as HIV/AIDS will not be attained if existing technologies, such as the female condom, remain out of reach of women who need it.DOCUMENT
ADVOCACY TOOLKIT
'Young people are the solution, not the problem' - tools for advocacyUAFC ADVOCACY OBJECTIVES FOR 2009
The four fields of activities for advocacy are:
1. The supply of the female condom
2. International policy and organizations
3. Building bridges: unite the voice of civil societies and donor agencies
4. Communication means
1. Supply of the female condom
• Develop a joint advocacy message on variety, marketing, choice and competition
A key assumption of the UAFC Joint programme is that more variety and marketing of the female condom (and with that more choice and competition on the market) will lead to more use of the female condom and a reduction in the price of the female condom. This argumentation needs to be explained to UAFC partners, networks and targets; since it finds its basis in marketing, instead of in governmental discourse. The advocacy message will be spread via the UAFC platform, networks and communication channels.
2. International policy and organizations
• Convince international organizations and Southern governments of the importance of more large-scale female condom programming and a broader procurement policy of the female condom.
UNFPA is taking leadership in condom programming with their Comprehensive Condom Programme (CCP) in more than 52 countries. Female condom programming is part of CCP. UAFC supports UNFPA in their leadership role.
Southern governments have the ownership to develop the CCP in such a way as they think is most adequate for their country. Because of priorities of Southern governments, female condom programming is mostly directed to one vulnerable target group (mostly sex workers). UAFC Joint programme has the conviction that female condoms should be available, accessible and affordable for all women. This implies that the CCP needs an explicit focus on large-scale female condom programming. Therefore, Southern governments will be included in the advocacy work of UAFC.
The advocacy message towards UNAIDS will be strongly rights- and evidence based. The focus will be on the right of all women and men to have access to female condoms, in order for them to have a choice to protect themselves against HIV/AIDS. UAFC will also emphasis the fact that there is a demand for female condoms in Africa and that large-scale female condom programming is effective.
3. Building bridges
• Build bridges: unite the voice of civil societies and donor agencies
In the advocacy work UAFC did in 2008, it became clear that the demands of the regional civil societies for the female condom are not unified. Moreover, the communication channels between southern civil society organizations and donor agencies are often weak. It is important to unify the demand and to build communication channels. Therefore, the international platform for female condoms has been established in 2008.
The platform includes partner-organizations, large donors, American and European civil society, Southern civil society (mostly African) and international organizations. In 2009, UAFC Joint Programme will further strengthen this platform. In the fourth quarter of 2009, an international platform meeting will be organized. The international platform will jointly work out advocacy activities.
An important bridge for evidence-based advocacy is the link with the country programmes. The advocacy message will use the quantitative and qualitative data of the country programmes.
The Dutch NGO’s and the networks they can tap into are another group that is influential in the field of SRHR and HIV/AIDS. UAFC Joint Programme will use the networks to promote the female condom within the Dutch civil society.
4. Communication means
The communication means and the advocacy strategy are strongly linked. The new developed website of the UAFC Joint Programme will play an important role in the advocacy activities.
Other communication means will be a knowledge base and e-alerts with information and news on the female condom, research & development, large-scale programming and international advocacy.
