Member Associations

The Association Congolaise pour le Bien-Etre Familial (ACBEF) opened its doors for the first time in 1987. Then it was a small operation dedicated to attending to the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) needs of the urban poor. 25 years later, ACBEF reaches out to the whole country through a network of over 100 community-based distributors (CBDs) backed by static clinics and permanent staff. In addition, ACBEF relies on over 1,000 volunteers, including fully-trained peer educators and a Youth Action Movement.  ACBEF provides a comprehensive range of services covering integrated family palnning, voluntary counselling and testing (VCT), prevention and management of HIV and AIDS, post-abortion care, antenatal and post-natal care, youth-friendly education and information projects, contraceptive and laboratory services. Stigma and taboos around HIV and AIDS are strong in Congo, and ACBEF is engaged in major re-education and sensitization on this front. ACBEF aims its work at a wide public, with particular emphasis on young people (aged 25 and under), internally displaced people, sex workers and women of child-bearing age. Work occurs in both rural and urban areas. With high visibility in the national media, ABCEF is making major inroads in SRH in a very difficult environment. ABCEF works in close partnership with the government’s ministries of Health, Foreign Affairs, and Gender, and with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) including Jeunesse Action Sida. ABCEF receives financial support from the European Union, UNFPA and the Congolese Government.   Website: http://www.acbef.org/

The Mouvement Français pour le Planning Familial (MFPF) runs 40 clinics in France and delivers services to over 350,000 people annually. Half of its clients are under the age of 20.   MFPF provides counselling on a range of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) problems, including physically and emotionally traumatic incidences of rape, marital violence and female genital mutilation. It runs training courses and produces material for health personnel covering a whole range of SRH issues. MFPF is lobbying for improved administrative procedures with regard to the abortion law (to cut down on delays), it provides support to young girls denied parental authorization for abortion, and it has been highly active in challenging opposition to fertility regulation. MFPF is a leading member of the High Council for Information on Sex, a national umbrella entity for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in the broad field of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). It has also conducted solidarity campaigns with immigrant women, and with sexual and reproductive health organizations in other European countries (such as Bosnia and Poland) where women's sexual and reproductive rights are violated.   Contacts Website: www.planning-familial.org Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ConfederationPlanningFamilial Twitter: https://twitter.com/leplanning