Member Associations

Established in 1996, the Namibian Family Planning Association (NAPPA) is dedicated to providing services and assistance to people in need of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) care and support. The need is critical: women run a high risk of maternal death, child mortality levels are high, and HIV prevalence figures are among the poorest in the world. Much of NAPPA’s work to date has been focused on advocacy – lobbying the government and legislators to ensure that SRH and the human rights issues associated are given central consideration in the country’s health, planning and community policies. NAPPA operates 3 service points, including 2 clinics. The Member Association is relatively small, with a permanent staff of just 7 people, but it is building capacity to increase its coverage. Youth groups are a particular target, and NAPPA is developing strong peer education projects to ensure that a new generation of Namibians is equipped to make informed decisions about individual SRH in the future. NAPPA works in partnership with the Ministry of Health and with non-governmental organizations including Physically Active Youth and Lironga Epara (for people living with AIDS). Donors include UNAIDs, and the Association has close ties with other Namibian groups including Adolescent Friendly Health Services, the National Working Group on Female Condoms, the National Network of Aids Services, the Namibia Non-Governmental Forum, and the Namibia National AIDS Network. 

Created in 1965, APROFA is a non-profit public interest organization with more than 50 years of experience in the defense of sexual and reproductive rights of all people. They provide sexual health care with a gender perspective and a rights-based approach that facilitates access and information on safe and effective contraceptive methods, allowing people to make decisions in tune with their lifestyles and thus avoid unplanned pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections, prevent situations of gender-based violence and all those possibilities that come with the lack of information. They have developed a line of education, generating awareness and training activities for the educational community in general, families and health professionals, with the purpose that more people are trained in Comprehensive Sexuality Education and thus children and young people receive the tools and skills to live a life free of violence, without gender stereotypes, have negotiation strategies and inhabit the consent. They aspire to a world where all people are free to decide; free to seek a healthy and responsible sexual life; and a world where gender, gender identity and sexuality are free.