International Planned Parenthood Federation
Overview of IPPF
The International Planned Parenthood Federation Africa Regional Office (IPPFARO) is one of the leading providers of quality sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services in Africa, and a prominent sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) advocacy voice in the region. We remain committed to gender equality and to ensuring that women, girls, and young people realize their rights and have control over their own bodies, their lives, and their futures. Headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, IPPFARO delivers its critical mission with the support and leadership of 33 Member Associations (MAs), 9 Collaborative Partners, youth advocates, staff, and a network of dedicated volunteers who provide high quality, youth focused and gender sensitive services to those who are most vulnerable and marginalized. In 2020 alone, the MAs provided >10.5 million sexual and reproductive health and rights services. Further details can be found here: IPPFAR Factsheet 2021 English.pdf
Overview of the engagement
IPPF is committed to advocating for the SRHR of all. Yet a multitude of barriers still exist, resulting in shocking data on health outcomes: 220 million women who want to avoid pregnancy do not have access to modern contraception; 25 million have an unsafe abortion every year; and one in three experience sexual violence at some point in their lives.
Governments worldwide have signed numerous international and regional political commitments that clearly state that everyone must have universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights. However, these aspirations are far from being translated into urgent action.
The recent COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the SRH outcomes cited above and brought to the fore the need to prioritize SRHR in health care systems to ensure equitable access to health care for all people for more resilient communities[1]. Moreover, there is increasing discourse and momentum on Universal Health Coverage (UHC) as a way of building back better and ensuring the right to health for all[2]. However, there are gaps in integration of comprehensive SRHR in UHC as only a few services are prioritized[3] raising the need for strengthening advocacy efforts at national, sub-regional and regional level.
IPPFAR, in collaboration with the Guttmacher Institute, is implementing the Global Policy Project that aims to advance SRHR, particularly the popularisation and adoption of the recommendations of the Guttmacher-Lancet Commission (GLC) on SRHR in regional and national policy instruments and integration of these recommendations in UHC.
To this effect, IPPFAR is looking to recruit a short-term consultant to develop a policy brief on advancing advocacy for access to comprehensive SRHR in UHC on the continent.
Specifically, the assignment will entail:
- A review of the existing research and policy papers on SRHR and UHC to understand the trends, opportunities and challenges for advancing GLC recommendations in UHC across Africa. This builds up on the IPPF position paper on UHC and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights accessible here and IPPF AR’s policy review on SRHR as an Essential Component to Achieve UHC in Africa here
- Assess the level of domestication and implementation of existing regional policy frameworks on UHC and SRHR and identify the relevant regional and sub-regional accountability mechanisms as entry points for advocacy on the same
- Develop a policy brief detailing priorities, key messages and strategies to advancing GLC recommendations in UHC in intergovernmental platforms in Africa
Roles and responsibilities
- Conducting a quick desk review of key regional policy instruments, available documentation on countries’ progress towards UHC with integration of SRHR and any other relevant written documents on UHC and SRHR, including the IPPF policy papers on the same.
- Holding meetings with key stakeholders from global, regional and national organizations and coalitions advocating for SRHR/UHC, including relevant UN Organizations (technical experts from the Ministries of Heath, WHO/ PMCH secretariat), UNFPA, AFOG focal persons in identified countries, UHC 2030 coalition etc), to understand implementation of UHC in the focus countries, identify gaps, opportunities and priorities for CSO engagement to advance the GLC recommendations in UHC
- Writing a policy brief using the above, outlining recommendations for advocacy to advance GLC recommendations in UHC at regional, sub-regional and national levels. The policy brief will include relevant country examples from at least one anglophone and one francophone country.