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Today policy makers, donors and advocates from across the world have come together in London to reaffirm their commitment to empowering young women and girls through voluntary family planning.
The Family Planning Summit, co-hosted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, DFID and the United Nations Populations Fund (UNFPA), highlighted the progress made over the last five years and profiled new pledges from countries confirming their commitment to universal access to sexual and reproductive health.
Comic Relief is supporting the Family Planning Summit and its partners in their commitment to work together to fight the challenges faced by women and girls when accessing contraception. Voluntary family planning saves lives, empowers women to take charge of their bodies and plan their futures and is one of the most cost effective ways to break the cycle of poverty – for families, communities, and for entire nations.
One of the new commitments to support the positive work already being carried out in sub-Saharan Africa was announced by Uganda to increase access to family planning.
As part of Comic Relief’s commitment, we are delighted to announce new matched funding with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to The Challenge Initiative (TCI), an urban reproductive health programme. This new funding of $6 million will support TCI’s work in sub-Saharan Africa.
Jennie Richmond, head of international grants at Comic Relief said, “We are hugely passionate about empowering women and girls to achieve their full potential. There has been so much progress over the years, but we must continue to take action to build safer, healthier and stronger communities by ensuring that family planning is an option for every women.
We’re really excited that countries, such as Uganda, have joined the cause by announcing a new commitment at today’s Summit. We’re also proud to make our first grant to The Challenge Initiative, supporting their innovative approach to ensure urban poor communities access essential family planning information and services.”
Visit familyplanning2020.org/summit2017(opens in new window) for more information on the vital work helping women and girls achieve their full potential. #HerFuture
