Member Associations

Guinea-Bissau is one tenth the size of its neighbour Guinea-Conakry, but its people suffer equally distressing sexual and reproductive health (SRH) problems. The Associação Guineense para o Bem Estar Familiar was established in 1993 to address the major issue in family planning: equipping couples to make active, informed choices about the number of children they would have, and when they would have them.   Since then, the Member Association’s work has expanded to embrace a full range of SRH concerns. It provides young people with information, education and communication (IEC) and behaviour change communication (BCC) around sexual and reproductive health; it works on the prevention, diagnosis and management of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) includind HIV; it provides post-abortion care and support; it provides care for victims of gender-based violence (GBV); and it advocates strongly at government level for legislation to prevent GBV. Associação Guineense para o Bem Estar Familiar achieved these results through a small but committed team that operate over hundred service points, including static clinics and community-based service points. Despite the relatively small size of the organization, it is growing rapidly with strong central support from IPPF, influential government partnerships, and backing from non-governmental organizations including UNFPA.

AFPA has pioneered family planning services in Anguilla. Today, it continues to meet the demand for sexual and reproductive health services—particularly among vulnerable communities—by collaborating with relevant Government departments in Anguilla to ensure that the sexual and reproductive health needs of the population is met. Quite notably, the Anguilla Family Planning Association was instrumental in the convening of a National Multi-Stakeholder Commission in Anguilla to address the implementation of the CARICOM Integrated Framework for the Reduction of Adolescent Pregnancy in St. Lucia. During 2015, the Anguilla Family Planning Association worked with other partners to advance the work of the National Multi-Stakeholder Commission tasked with implementing the CARICOM Integrated Framework for the Reduction of Adolescent Pregnancy. The Anguilla Family Planning Association (AFPA) is part of the Caribbean Family Planning Affiliation (CFPA). Staffed entirely by volunteers, AFPA assists the government by providing contraceptives and clinical supplies, and delivers comprehensive sexual and reproductive health counselling and education through schools. AFPA’s umbrella organization, CFPA, is the only regional non-governmental organization (NGO) devoted to family planning, and SRH in the Caribbean. CFPA serves 13 island Member Associations and 5 Associate Member Associations in the Caribbean, Central and South America. It supports these Associations with technical assistance and materials, and represents their collective interests at IPPF meetings and in the Caribbean region among governments and NGOs. CFPA Member Associations are located in Anguilla, Antigua, Aruba, Bahamas, Bermuda, Curacao, Dominica, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Nevis and St. Kitts, St. Lucia and St. Vincent. CFPA Associate Member Associations are located in Belize, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago. The CFPA does not offer any clinical services or distribute family planning methods to clients, but rather focuses its work on governance and institution-building among its Member Associations. The CFPA oversees, manages and analyses core grants to 7 Caribbean Member Associations. The CFPA also submits project proposals for donor funding on behalf of the Associations.