How Women and Girls Are Leading Change in their Communities
Despite significant advances in preventing maternal and child mortality, the adolescent birth rate in sub-Saharan Africa is more than double the global average. The high pregnancy rate in adolescent girls is exacerbated by a lack of education and family planning resources, along with a low demand for and use of contraceptives.
The Her Future Her Choice (HFHC) project focuses on advancing women’s and girls’ rights, responding to the direct need for information, services, and social and political change. Together with local organizations, we are empowering young women and adolescent girls to make decisions about their sexual and reproductive health (SRHR).
Your generous support is helping to secure the rights of women and girls around the world. From banning child marriage to providing access to contraception and protecting them from gender-based violence, here are some of the individuals and groups working hard to secure their rights, thanks to your support.
Romeo Quinn Burton
In Malawi, Romeo Quinn Burton and his colleagues at their health center initially lacked the tools to help visitors seeking information about contraceptives and sexually transmitted infections. However, through Oxfam-supported training, Romeo and his team gained the skills they needed to help adolescent girls and young women, who were often told that contraceptives were only for older people.
Thanks to the training, Romeo now confidently discusses Sexual Reproductive Health and dispels myths about contraceptives. He has become a trusted resource in his community.
Chimwemwe
In another region of Malawi, Chimwemwe, aged 24, took control of her sexual and reproductive rights after participating in a peer-to-peer educator training session. Despite the community's resistance to women asserting control over their own sexuality, Chimwemwe involved her initially hesitant boyfriend in the conversation.
She recalls, “At first, he was surprised with my stand because, in my community, it is taboo for a woman to initiate a sexual discussion in a relationship.”
Despite the community's belief that contraceptives cause infertility and birth defects, Chimwemwe, inspired by a training session organized by the *Network for Youth Development* under the HFHC project, proudly states, "I am now free and happy. I am no longer scared of an unplanned pregnancy because I use contraceptives."
Ethiopia
Kulil Abebaw
Kulil Abebaw was in grade 10 when her family informed her she would be married to a 31-year-old man she had never met. As a peer educator in Oxfam’s Her Future Her Choice project, Kulil had gained valuable information about her sexual and reproductive health and rights. Armed with confidence and communication skills, she convinced her family to call off the wedding.
Kulil didn’t stop there. Determined to protect other girls from the same fate, she led a massive mobilization in her community. The result? All forced marriages were canceled.
Today, Kulil and her friends remain in school, continuing their studies and mobilizing others to become agents of change against forced marriages.
Support Her Future Her Choice
Her Future Her Choice projects are undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada, provided through Global Affairs Canada, the generous Canadian public, and loyal Oxfam donors. If you’re inspired by this story and want to support projects, activities and communities like these, please donate.
Photo: Steve Makupe Photography/Oxfam
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