Browse by Theme: Sexual Reproductive & Maternal Health

One persistent challenge with social accountability approaches is that, while they can and do bring meaningful change at the individual and community-level, they often struggle to maintain momentum without significant external support and thus fail to unlock regional and national resources. In 2015, CARE partnered with Malawi’s Ntcheu district government to explore new approaches for institutionalising social accountability efforts in family planning (FP) service delivery.

The COVID-19 crisis is disproportionately affecting women and girls. This makes it all the more important that their voices are equally included in the decision-making spaces and processes where responses are formed. CARE’s research has found that where women do have higher levels of leadership, governments are more likely to be responding to the crisis in a way that supports gender equality. Women’s participation is necessary at every level and in every arena, from national crisis committees to the local communities on the frontlines of humanitarian responses.

This report presents learning from the Vijana Juu project in the Democratic Republic of Congo which aimed to improve the youth-friendliness of reproductive health services for adolescents.

The MANI project was developed in 2015 to increase the survival chances of mothers and newborns by improving access to health services and promoting innovation for better maternal and newborn care. One of MANI’s interventions trains Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) to become Birth Companions, who refer and accompany pregnant women to health facilities for antenatal visits and delivery.

In 2012, CARE joined other civil society organisations, governments and donors to commit to providing an additional 120 million women and girls with family planning information and services by 2020. This report reviews CARE's progress towards our 2020 Family Planning commitments.

FP2020 has brought a powerful focus on family planning – but we must accelerate progress and fill key gaps to ensure we reach all people with the contraception/family planning services they want and need.

Of the 225 million women with unmet need for family planning, many live in areas affected by conflict or natural disasters. Delivering family planning services in these settings is critical to ensuring countries meet their FP2020 goals, as well as to fulfilling the sexual and reproductive health rights of the more than 32 million women and girls in need of humanitarian aid.