Raising our Voices: Global Campaigning for SRHR

2019 has been busy year WGNRR! We are happy to announce that we held a joint WGNRR Africa and WGNRR Global Board meeting in Tanzania where we set-out the new strategic direction of the network. The final document will soon be available on our website.

We are excited to welcome our new staff members in our Africa office, Matilda Deus as Youth Officer, Numbilya Kiseko as Advocacy Officer and Brenda Mageda Esolyo joined WGNRR Africa as the Regional Advocacy and Campaigns Coordinator. She is also the focal person for our Male Involvement project. Manila Team was joined by Abigail Roa Matres as Programme Assistant. Manila team will soon be joined by our new Youth Coordinator, Finance and Admin Assistant, Advocacy and Communications Specialist and Networking Officer.

We were also present at the global and regional advocacy spaces. During our pre-ICPD +25 Summit strategy session, we established the SHE Acts Alliance (Strong, Harmonized and Empowered Advocacy Alliance) in Nairobi, Kenya. The Alliance is a grassroots-led network that strengthens and develop effective strategies to advance SRHR advocacy and campaigning across African countries and contexts. Please find SHE Acts Alliance statement here: http://wgnrr.org/grassroots-leaders-pre-icpd25-summit-gathering-statement/

In her presentation at the Nairobi Summit concurrent session on Humanitarian Case Studies Workshop, our Executive Director Marevic Parcon highlighted the importance of comprehensive SRHR services, including abortion services, in humanitarian and conflict situations.

Our Asia Regional Coordinator, Teta Sibugon, participated in the Asia Pacific Regional Review on Beijing +25. In her intervention at the CSO Forum, Teta said, "one of the momentous things that we have today is young people speaking on safe abortion rights and having the space to talk about this issue even with the global pushback on abortion rights."

In Africa, Mageda Esolyo participated in the Africa Regional Beijing +25 Review in Addis Ababa. She joined the young feminist caucus. The young feminist statement urged the African regional Beijing+25 outcome to uphold the principles that recognize the diverse needs of young women and girls without discrimination of any kind.

Recently, our Manila Coordination Office launched a campaign to mobilize support for women and girls affected by Taal Volcano eruption where over 60,000 individuals were affected, most of whom are taking temporary shelters in evacuation centers. Taal Volcano in Batangas, Philippines, about 60 kilometres away from Manila, is one of the country’s most active volcanoes. WGNRR Coordination Office partnered with organisations in conducting relief operations to provide additional sanitary and basic hygiene supplies, including much needed items to address menstrual hygiene. We still need your help.