| 31 March 2016
Fianakaviana Sambatra, Madagascar
Relative to much of Africa, Madagascar has high levels of contraceptive use, but high birth rates coupled with endemic poverty and limited government-led sexual and reproductive health (SRH) provision mean that child mortality and maternal death figures are high. Fianakaviana Sambatra (FISA) has been fighting since 1967 to improve the nation’s SRH through advocacy, education and direct service provision. Currently, it runs 67 service points, including: 11 permanent clinics, 3 mobile units and 12 community-based services (CBSs), across 6 of the country’s regions. FISA works with 5 associated clinics and 29 private practitioners. FISA has 70 full-time staff, 184 peer educators, and a youth action movement made up of 42 members. FISA delivers a wide range of services: family planning, prevention and management of HIV and the provision and dissemination of comprehensive SRH materials. FISA has used its on-the-ground experience to advise government on national SRH policy. It has partnered with the Ministry of Health, Family Planning and Social Protection, and the Ministry of Youth to advocate for a concerted approach to resolving the critical SRH issues currently facing the country. At the same time, it works with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as Marie Stopes International, and the ASSONG coalition of NGOs. FISA receives financial support from UNFPA, the Big Lottery Fund, Amélioration de la Qualité De Services, the EU and IPPF’s Japan Trust Fund. It’s also closely connected to other organizations promoting SRH rights across the country and the region.
| 05 April 2024
Teen Services (Bermuda)
Teen Services, as the name suggests, provides sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services to Bermudan teenagers. It provides individual and group counselling for teens and their families, focusing on sex, pregnancy, social skills, career education and placement. The male outreach programme introduces young men to the responsibilities of fatherhood. A key part of Teen Services’ work is a Teen Pregnancy Prevention Campaign. Teenage pregnancy rates in Bermuda are high, particularly so within the Latino community, and many of these (and many adult pregnancies) are unplanned. Unplanned pregnancy is perceived to be at the root of a number of important public health and social challenges. Teen Services runs 'Teen Haven': a 24/7, fully-staffed supported living project which provides young mothers with the necessary life and parenting skills for readjustment back into the community. It also operates a Continuation School which offers a holistic programme designed to meet the emotional, social and physical needs of pregnant teenagers and young mothers. BFLA is an Associate Member Association of an umbrella organization known as the Caribbean Family Planning Affiliation Ltd (CFPA). The Caribbean Family Planning Affiliation (CFPA) is the only regional non-governmental organization (NGO) devoted to family planning and sexual and reproductive health 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.