Askala's story
"Family planning has given me freedom" says Askala. She lives in the town of Ticho in a rural part of Ethiopia with her husband and two children, aged six and eight. "I heard about family planning from a volunteer from the centre."
Our Member Association, Family Guidance Association of Ethiopia (FGAE), opened a small family planning centre near the local market. Before that there weren't any family planning services in the town at all.
"My husband would never have been able to fulfil his dream of becoming a teacher unless I had been able to support the family while he trained."
"I run a tea shop near the market, it gives me my own income. If there are big decisions to be made in the family, I have a say in them.
I am healthy and active, this wouldn't have been possible without contraception, I would have been tired with so many children. Now I have the benefit of a smaller family."
Family Guidance Association of Ethiopia (FGAE) is a leading provider of sexual and reproductive health services.
Every morning, long and winding queues of women, men, and young people form at FGAE, one of Ethiopia’s most respected and leading providers of sexual and reproductive health services.
Established in 1966, the Family Guidance Association of Ethiopia (FGAE) has emerged as an ally of the poor and marginalized, many of whom have reproductive health needs that are not met by national health services or the private sector.
From providing family planning, we have increased our mix of services in response to the needs of our clients. Currently, FGAE provides a comprehensive package of sexual and reproductive health services ranging from:
We have also increased access to quality and youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health services, with a specific emphasis on the prevention and management of sexually transmitted infections, HIV/AIDS, unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortion.
In efforts to reach groups that are increasingly marginalized FGAE is implementing projects to provide sexual and reproductive health services to street children, AIDS orphans, sex workers, including young migrants in eight of the 11 principal towns of Ethiopia.
Community-based distributors and health extension workers assist people living in the areas where public services are difficult to reach.
These efforts have been useful. The number of clients served in 2006 was over one million, of which 900,000 were ranked as poor or marginalized.
Advocacy efforts resulted in the expansion of the country’s abortion laws to give women more freedom to choose whether or not to terminate a pregnancy.
Family planning has been successfully integrated into maternal and child health services and family life education in school curricula.
Our centre in Addis Ababa is recognized as a national facility for sexual and reproductive health training.
However, there is still more to deal with. There is a maternal mortality rate of 850 per 100,000 live births, a modern contraceptive prevalence of 6 per cent; total fertility rate of 5.5 – representative, in part, of unmet need – and only 6 per cent of women delivering with the assistance of a skilled birth attendant.
Service delivery points
8 branches and 18 clinics
Youth centres
28
Staff and volunteers
553 staff, 5,000 volunteers
Members of governing body
38
Peer educators
740
Community based distributors
740
Partnerships
Government: Ministry of Health have a representative with an advisory role on the Governing Body of FGAE
NGOs: Family Health International; JPHEIGO; Mary-Joy Ethiopia; Christian Children’s Fund-Ethiopia; DKT- Ethiopia ; Jamini trust Ethiopia; Ethiopian Women Lawyer Association(EWLA); Dawn of Hope; Mekdem Ethiopia; Tilla HIV Positive Women’s Association; Hiwot HIV/AIDS prevention service and care organization; Abebech Gobena project; Integrated Service for AIDS Prevention and Support Organization; Christian Relief Development Association
Private sector: Betezata Hospital; Janmeda/medical bio laboratories
Donors: Royal Netherlands Embassy, Packard Foundation, IPPF Japan Trust Fund and Irish Aid
Partnerships Network: Consortium of Reproductive Health Association