My body! young women, health, sex & money in africa

My Body!

Young Women, Health, Sex & Money in Africa A publication Exploring Investing for Young Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Africa

Our Thoughts…

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his paper focuses on the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) investment needs of young women in Africa.

Urgent Action Fund-Africa (UAF-Africa) seeks to provide key stakeholders working in the field of SRHR of young women in Africa, with some preliminary insights and analysis of current funding trends, challenges and emerging opportunities. The Fund’s intention is to provide a foundation upon which muchneeded research in the area of work can be conducted, in order to advance the work already being done. The paper begins on the premise that it is always most effective to invest in the communities affected by the issues we seek to address. As an African feminist women’s rights Fund, we therefore recognize the need to invest in young women as change agents who indeed have solutions to their problems.

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The Benchmarks

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frica marks the 5th Conference on Sexual Health and Rights, 18 years since the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), 12 years since the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).

It’s time for Africa to take stock of its progress in achieving critical goals for SRHR. At international and regional policy levels, Africa has demonstrated commitment, on paper, to promoting and protecting SRHR through CEDAW, the Beijing Platform of Action, the Maputo Protocol, the Maputo Plan of Action and The African Women’s Decade. As of March 2012, 46 countries had signed the Maputo Protocol, 22 of which had ratified it, with only 4 countries left to sign and ratify it.1

The Inhibitors

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imited political will, serious leadership deficit, and inadequate resource allocation mean SRHR issues remain non-priority issues on most African countries’ development agenda.

The realities faced by millions of young people, and especially young women, across the continent, however continue to prove that the gap between policy and action is still a challenge that needs urgent redress.

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AU Commission, February 2010.

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It is one thing for us to recognize and accept that there is a link between SRHR and issues of development, and yet another to make the financial and technical investments needed to address these issues.

In most of Sub-Saharan Africa, young people constitute the majority of the population, and young women are often the most impacted by poor SRHR.

Doing it our way...

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ecognizing that not much is known about current funding trends for SRHR of young women in Africa, at least where specific data and analysis is concerned, this paper has been written using information gathered from literature reviews and key informant interviews.

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This paper also includes a brief case study (making the case) of one of Urgent Action Fund-Africa’s grantee partners – Katswe Sistahood in Zimbabwe.

SRHR, as used in this paper, is understood as the right for all, whether young or old, women, men or transgender, straight, gay, lesbian or bisexual, HIV positive or negative, to make choices regarding their own sexuality and reproduction, including respecting the rights to bodily integrity. This definition also includes the right to access information and services needed to support these choices and optimise health.

The revelation Status of investment in SRHR of Young Women in Africa

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n Africa, it is increasingly apparent that prioritizing SRHR as part of the development agenda is not an option; adolescents, youth and populations at reproductive age make up the majority of the population.

Negative cultural practices such as female genital mutilation (FGM), forced early marriage, and breast ironing, continue to expose young women to numerous sexual and reproductive health risks.

Ten years after the Cairo pledges, maternal mortality continues to rise and pregnancy and childbirth remain leading causes of maternal deaths. According to UNFPA, donor funding to African countries for contraceptives dropped from 30% in 1992 to 20% in 2004.

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Cases such as the recent discovery of a community in Northern Kenya where men admitted to washing and re-using condoms make interesting news but not surprising evidence of the severe shortage of contraceptives in Africa.

The rise in religious and cultural fundamentalisms across the continent, often financed by religious sects in the USA, is promoting a moralist approach to SRHR, despite the fact that instruments such as the Maputo Protocol have been developed and fought for by African civil society and women’s rights organizations.

A shocking 40% of abortions in Africa end in death, majority of which are young women

Poor SRHR in Africa is resulting in the deaths of thousands of young women on the continent. Every year, unsafe abortion claims an estimated 22,000 lives of women in sub Saharan Africa.2 According to UNFPA, 1 in 22 women in Sub Saharan Africa dies from maternal causes, compared to 1 in 120 in Asia, and 1 in 7,300 in developed countries.

A shocking 40% of abortions in Africa end in death, majority of which are young women.3 In Kenya alone, a 2004 study found that 300,000 abortions occur each year, 48% of which are among young women aged 14-24.

Despite these devastating statistics, increased awareness of the negative impact of poor SRHR of young women has not resulted in sufficient increases in funding for the same. In fact, at the global level, funding for women’s rights in general has been dwindling steadily,4 while SRHR-specific funding is even less.

In Africa, The Maputo Plan of Action, which operationalizes the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Continental Policy Framework and seeks to take the continent forward towards the goal of universal access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services in Africa by 2015, has yet to receive the kind of investments needed to realize these goals.

Most health budgets across Africa are under-funded and there are no specific funds allocated to SRHR. SRHR activists therefore rightly argue that there is need for specific allocations to SRHR to enable tracking.5 Where SRHR funding has been available, it has been extremely depoliticized, primarily focusing on: narrow ABC-type HIV/AIDS programming that identifies adolescents as a high-risk group; maternal health; and cervical cancer prevention.

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BMC Report, Pg 2.

African Sexualities: A Reader, pp 323.

AWID “FundHer” Reports DAWN Report – Nigeria Case Study, pp 166.

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making the case...

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atswe Sistahood is a young women-led organization that is working on the so called ‘taboo issues’ in Zimbabwe. Katswe Sistahood is a feminist movement building institution that is committed to building feminist leaders to ensure young women have a strong voice, understanding and presence to deepen SRHR activism at the level of the individual, organization and broader social movements. This is achieved through mentoring, training and multi-generational dialogues.

Katswe Sistahood has built a regional SRHR network, called the Pepeta Platform in Southern Africa, which has a growing constituency of approximately 2,000 young women. They also have 25 ‘Pachoto groups’, which are feminist circles that are helping to build critical consciousness through storytelling, discussion-based performances, art, and reading groups. These young women have pushed boundaries through theatre and dance to bring to the fore issues of abortion, sex work and LBT women in a conservative and hostile context.

Katswe Sistahood has been performing their adaptation of Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monologues to showcase the lived reality of young women and use this as an advocacy tool. They have performed the vagina monologues for policy makers as part of a campaign for better health, legal and social support for survivors of sexual violence. Rudo Chigudu says, “The mention of the word Vagina by the Katswe Vagina Warriors is a political statement that silence has not helped women and that we will continue to suffer and die if we do not name the site or cause of our violations as well as celebrate what the vagina has and continues to enable us to do.”

Last, but not least, there is a commitment to ongoing mentorship within Katswe Sistahood, which includes daily check-ins, close guidance, and supportive and nurturing leadership.

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Funding that supports work around gender-based violence, abortion rights, sexual health and rights, including gender identity and sexual orientation (SOGI), or the needs and rights of young people, is much more difficult to come by.

Africa’s over-dependence on foreign aid has meant that progressive local SRHR initiatives have often been impacted by the “carrot and stick” strategy used by funders with conditions that requires grantees to sign a pledge not to support prostitution in their programmes.

On SRHR funding in Africa, Rudo Chigudu, from Katswe Sistahood in Zimbabwe says the following: Unfortunately the funding opportunities are focused largely on a de-politicised SRHR agenda that dwells on surviving pregnancy as reproductive health, and surviving sex as sexual health. Most of the focus has been on reducing maternal deaths and preventing HIV infection whilst young women’s SRHR issues are broader and political. GBV for example is a key SRHR issue but the two are treated separately. Sexual harassment, rape, sex work, abortion and LGBTI rights are key issues in the SRHR conversation, however these being out of the comfort zones of many, remain neglected. SRHR is an issue centered on issues of power and patriarchy but this lens is rarely utilized in analyzing SRHR issues. In Africa in particular, the political, economic, sociocultural context stands as a barrier to a real political analysis of SRHR issues. This is not just an issue in Africa though. A wave of religious fundamentalisms has stripped the politics out of the young women and girls’ SRHR agenda. — Katswe Sistahood Despite the difficult economic, political, legal and socio-cultural contexts that most women’s rights activists and organizations operate in across the continent, some of the most progressive SRHR work being witnessed is being led by young women-led organizations.

From promoting sexuality dialogues, to protesting to end violence against sex workers, to performing vagina monologues, to raising awareness about violence against women and girls, to organizing the first gay pride event in Uganda, to using social media for advocacy and resource mobilization, young women in Africa are daring to invent a new future.

While some of these young women’s organizations have been able to access financial resources from funders, much of this support has been in the form sheer passion, civil disobedience, small one-off initiatives, projectrelated grants that do not promote long-term sustainability.

The existence of Women’s Funds, both at the international and regional level, has certainly had a positive impact, but the amount of funding available still remains limited.

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With aspirations towards achieving the MDG goals, and the impact of the MDG3 Fund, young women and girls are certainly receiving increased visibility and attention.

Funding Challenges • • • • • • •

Funding for small young women’s organizations in general is limited, and even more so for those working on SRHR issues; Most of the financial and technical support available for SRHR issues can only be accessed by larger and more established women’s rights organizations; Young women working on SRHR issues do not know which funders to approach for funding as donor criteria are vague; Despite all the funders education that has been done in recent years, especially by feminist philanthropists, many funders are still hesitant to shift from service provision to supporting work that seeks to make structural changes; Most Funders are also hesitant to finance new organizations led by young women who do not have a previous track record, and are thus less able to demonstrate their capacity to absorb and manage funds.

Funders’ conditions prevents young women’s organizations from working on issues such as safe abortion access or sex worker rights-real issues affecting their generation; Many young women’s organizations working on SRHR issues still fall through the cracks in the funding architecture because funders that traditionally finance children’s rights, don’t focus on SRHR, while many funders who finance women’s rights, don’t focus on young women.

Key Funders Financing SRHR of Young Women in Africa • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) American Jewish World Service (AJWS) Ford Foundation FRIDA – The Young Feminist Fund Global Fund for Children Global Fund for Women Hivos Mama Cash Packard Hewlett Foundation Open Society Foundations UHAI: EASHRI (The East African Sexual Health & Rights Initiative) UN Women UNFPA Urgent Action Fund – Africa My Body

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New & Emerging SRHR-Specific Funding Opportunities

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unders that have recognized the need to support grassroots advocacy efforts (grant amounts still quite small, but are making an impact and supporting strategic movement building).

UHAI: EASHRI (The East African Sexual Health & Rights Initiative) Red Umbrella Fund Open Society Foundations Hivos & Ford Foundation Regional SRHR Programme Fund

Recommendations for Stakeholders Investing in SRHR of Young Women

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t is encouraging to note that, albeit limited, the number of funders currently committed to supporting SRHR for young women in Africa is higher than in past years, it is crucial that we also reflect on the lessons that have been learnt during this time.

According to a recent report published by Development Alternatives with Women for A New Era (DAWN) on the impact of the MDG agenda on the SRHR agenda, much of the work being done on SRHR in Nigeria, for example, has been donor driven. The same is true in many other African countries where the argument that homosexuality is “un-African” is used by local governments and religious fundamentalists to thwart progressive SRHR initiatives that are often led by young women. Yet, as one Reverend Kaama says, it is not homosexuality that is un-African, “It is homophobia that is un-African.”6 Despite a growing African feminist voice in the continent, the fact that most African women’s rights organizations still primarily depend on foreign funding means that they are extremely vulnerable to arguments that their approaches are influenced by external forces that contradict local cultures. According to Dr. Sylvia Tamale, “It is crucial that the strategies employed by African feminists be informed by the lived experiences of women and men on the continent and the specificities of what they hold as their culture, taking into account that there is not always agreement among people in the same locale about the nuances and meanings of culture.”7 Increasing investments in the development and or documentation of local knowledge and solutions would therefore go a long way in anchoring the work being done by both civil society organizations and funders financing SRHR in Africa. As sisters at Katswe Sistahood in Zimbabwe say, “A deeper understanding of the politics of SRHR is required. Funders need to understand the contexts and social, economic and political nuances to SRHR on the continent. SRHR is linked to broader issues and the 6 7

Ahlberg, M. B., and Kulane, A., “Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights” in Tamale, Sylvia ed. “African Sexualities: A Reader”, Pambazuka, 2011, pp 326.

Tamale, Sylvia, “African Sexualities: A Reader” Pambazuka Press, 2011, pp 4.

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programming needs to be responsive to that. Interventions around an issue such as rape in a context where the justice system is dysfunctional, social services non-existent, and community attitudes promote stigma, makes the reintegration process of rape survivors impossible in many African contexts. The responses therefore must be context- specific.”

Recommendations to Funders by Young Women’s Organizations 1.

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Provide core and multi-year funding to enhance growth, program efficacy and sustainability of young women’s rights organizations; Provide more flexible support that promotes more integrated approaches to SRHR; Be willing to take risks with young organizations using new and innovative approaches to promote SRHR of young women in Africa; Invest in action research to increase local understanding of young women’s SRHR issues in different African contexts e.g. investigating positive cultural systems that regulated young women’s reproduction prior to colonization; Invest in both young women’s individual leadership capacity building as well as provide institutional development support; Build the capacities of civil society organizations to promote accountability with respect to the delivery of comprehensive SRHR services and implementation of regional and international polices by national governments; Increase and support linkages between young women’s organizations and established women’s rights organizations and movements e.g. by investing in spaces that promote multi and intergenerational dialogue; Support more cross and inter-movement learning and engagement spaces to promote multi-issue integrated approaches to social justice and development, which include SRHR or young women; Provide technical support to young women’s organizations, including increasing linkages to legal aid and support structures; Support initiatives that promote the ratification and implementation of the Maputo Protocol, which most African feminists have accepted as a good guide for Africa on SRHR; Support regional and international advocacy initiatives that place young women’s SRHR at the center of development efforts, such as the RESURJ (Realizing Sexual and Reproductive Justice) 10-point action agenda. This agenda includes a call on all decision-makers to “Guarantee that financing for development is sustainable and harmonized among Funders and multilateral agencies, and that SRHR programs are prioritized.”8 See RESURJ 10-Point Action Agenda & Cairo @20 via http://www.resurj.org

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Her Last WORD…

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n line with the MDG Goals, Funders therefore need to support initiatives that promote the integration of SRHR services into primary health care; reposition family planning; develop and promote youth-friendly services; safe abortion; quality safe motherhood; resource mobilization; commodity security; monitoring; evaluation; reporting and learning.

Finally, Funders should also conduct regular monitoring and evaluation to learn and refine their own contributions. This is one of what Mama Cash and Global Fund For Women have identified as the “Five Principles of Global Feminist Philanthropy”9. These include: 1.

Own the “How”: Quality is more important than quantity. Best practices include: being accessible; listening to grantees; publicizing funding priorities, application processes and deadlines; providing flexible funding; providing long-term funding; thinking beyond projects; setting goals and evaluating progress jointly with grantees; sharing challenges by learning with and from grantees.

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Know your power & use it: Feminist philanthropists acknowledge their power, build respectful partnerships, and also know how to strategically use their power to engage other Funders in the movement for women’s rights.

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Fund connected activism: Social justice philanthropy for women and girls requires thinking differently about concepts like “impact” and “sustainability” where these mean different things in various contexts, especially in contested fields such as SRHR. 4.

Make a bigger pie or bake a whole new one: Move past rhetoric to action, ensuring that both the quantity and quality of funding available for women’s rights increases. When existing frameworks don’t work, new ones need to be developed to respond to the needs of the communities most affected.

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Learn and share: Donors also need to evaluate their approaches, reflect on their strategies and priorities, get feedback from their partners, and refine their own practices and processes to become even more effective, responsive, and accessible.

Acknowledgements

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rgent Action Fund-Africa would like to thank the following stakeholders for providing some of the valuable insights and resources that informed this paper: Zawadi Nyong’o- Independent Social Justice Consultant Kasha Jacqueline - Freedom & Roam Uganda (FARUG) Amina Doherty - FRIDA - The Young Feminist Fund Alexandria Garita - Realizing Sexual & Reproductive Justice (RESURJ) Jaron Vogelsang - American Jewish World Service (AJWS) Rudo Chigudu - KATSWE Sistahood, Zimbabwe Miller, K et al, “5 Principles of Global Feminist Philanthropy”

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References 1.

African Union Commission, (February 2010).

2.

Oronje et al.: Operationalising sexual and reproductive health and rights in sub-Saharan Africa: constraints, dilemmas and strategies. BMC International Health and Human Rights (2011) 11(Suppl 3):S8.

3.

Institute of Development Studies, “Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights” in Health Key Issues Guide. IDS: Brighton (2006).

4.

African Sexualities: A Reader, pp 323.

5.

Godia, J “Tragedy of three condoms a year”, The Sunday Standard, (2 September 2004) quoted in Tamale, S. (ed) African Sexualities: A Reader, Pambazuka Press (2011).

6.

Oronje et al.: Operationalising sexual and reproductive health and rights in sub-Saharan Africa: constraints, dilemmas and strategies. BMC International Health and Human Rights (2011) 11(Suppl 3):S8.

7.

Tamale, S., “African Sexualities: A Reader,” Pambazuka Press (2011).

8.

See “Fund Her” Reports via Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) “Where Is The Money For Women’s Rights” Initiative – www.awid.org (2005-2010)

9.

Sen, G. & Rheddy, B. (eds.) “Breaking Through The Development Silos: Sexual & Reproductive Health & Rights, Millenium Development Goals and Gender Equity: Experiences From India, Mexico and Nigeria,” Development Alternatives For A New Era, (2012).

10.

Ahlberg B.M, and Kulane A., “Sexual And Reproductive Rights” in Tamale, S. (ed) “African Sexualities: A Reader” Pambazuka Press (2011)

11.

Willan, S., “Young Women’s Leadership In the Field of Sexual Reproductive Health & Rights”, Ford Foundation Report, (May 2012).

12.

Ahlberg, M. B., and Kulane, A., “Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights” in Tamale, Sylvia ed. “African Sexualities: A Reader”, Pambazuka, (2011).

13.

Tamale, Sylvia, “African Sexualities: A Reader” Pambazuka Press, (2011).

14.

See RESURJ 10-Point Action Agenda & Cairo @20 via http://www.resurj.org

15.

Miller, K et al, “5 Principles of Global Feminist Philanthropy”, National Committee For Responsive Philanthropy, (Summer 2012).

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Creative Direction: Caroline Kiarie, Liz Makimaro, Zawadi Nyongo & Ndana Tawamba Published by Urgent Action Fund-Africa UAF-Africa gives permission for this work to be distributed and transmitted for non-profit purposes only and in the promotion of human rights, provided such use duly acknowledges UAF-Africa as the copyright holder of the publication. For queries on other use and appropriate attribution, contact the Urgent Action Fund – Africa.

ISBN 978-9966-017-13-0 This edition © 2012 The copyright for this publication is held by Urgent Action Fund – Africa Design and layout by: Centrepress Media, P.O. Box 19063-00100 Nairobi Tel: 020 21 00 705/6 info@centrepressmedia.com

This paper focuses on the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) investment needs of young women in Africa. Urgent Action Fund-Africa (UAFAfrica) seeks to provide key stakeholders working in the field of SRHR of young women in Africa, with some preliminary insights and analysis of current funding trends, challenges and emerging opportunities. The Fund’s intention is to provide a foundation upon which much needed research in the area of work can be conducted, in order to advance the work already being done.

Contact Details Urgent Action Fund - Africa CVS Plaza, 2nd Floor Kasuku Road, Off Lenana Road Kilimani P O Box 53841 00200 Tel/Fax: +254 20 2301740 Off. Cell: +254 726 577560 Nairobi, KENYA info@urgentactionfund-africa.or.ke www.urgentactionfund-africa.or.ke

Urgent Action Fund- Africa is a consciously feminist and women’s human rights Pan African Fund established in 2001 in Nairobi, Kenya. As the first rapid response Fund in the continent, UAF-Africa adds value to the work of activists and civil society organisations focusing on women’s active sociopolitical participation and visibility by leveraging resources and opportunities for critical engagement that advance women’s human rights.

Committed to working across Africa, UAF-Africa builds broader alliances with partners at national, regional and international levels. To date, we have provided critical support for women’s strategic initiatives in 46 countries across Africa and supported more than 500 women’s organisations.