Suva, Fiji, 7 March 2025: “Advancing the Sexuality Agenda and Shifting Norms in the Pacific”, a new programme to promote Sexual and Reproductive Health, Rights and Justice (SRHRJ), challenge harmful norms, and empower Pacific communities has been launched. This programme is implemented as part of the Niu Vaka Strategy Phase II (2023-2028) by the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF)’s Sub-Regional Office for the Pacific (SROP) and 10 Pacific Member Associations. The programme is supported by the Pacific Women Lead Governance Board, facilitated via the Pacific Women Lead at the Pacific Community (PWL at SPC) programme as Secretariat to the board. Pacific Women Lead is Australia’s flagship regional gender equality investment for the Pacific, with the Governance Board driving the strategy and high-level decision making for the Pacific regional gender equality portfolio, championing the advancement of women across the region.
In the Pacific, cultural norms and gender inequality continue to be barriers to accessing safe, affordable and critical sexual and reproductive health care, information and/or education. This programme intends to implement strategic, evidence-based interventions to promote change.
Key activities include:
- Researching Cultural Barriers: Identifying and addressing key obstacles to SRHR in Pacific communities.
- Strengthening Gender-Transformative Programming: Enhancing policies and programmes that challenge harmful gender norms in nine (9) Pacific Island countries.
- Developing a Pacific Youth SRHR Strategy: Ensuring that young people, particularly young women and girls, have access to rights-based sexual and reproductive health care.
This project aims to improve gender equality, uphold women’s rights, and equip youths with fair access to resources and tools by emphasizing community-led outcomes and encouraging cross-sector collaboration to build a healthier and more inclusive and gender-equal Pacific community.
Dolores Devesi, IPPF’s Pacific Member Associations (MA) Support and Development Director, emphasized the significance of this programme, stating that this project presents an important opportunity to address the lack of access to SRHR, strengthening internal protocols and empowering young people.
“The project has come at the right time especially when we are seeing a global decline in investment towards sexual and reproductive health, while in the Pacific, HIV & STIs are on the rise at alarming rates, teenage pregnancies and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) continue to soar. We are grateful for the opportunity this brings as we work towards a better understanding and analysis of the barriers related to SRHR, the operationalization of internal SGBV protocols within our Member Associations and a platform for young people to lead groundbreaking work on SRHR in the region”.
The official launch marks the beginning of a journey towards a more inclusive and equitable Pacific region, committed to SRHRJ for all.
For more information and media enquiries, contact:
Maxine Tuwila
Communications, Voice & Media Officer
Sub-Regional Office for the Pacific
[email protected]
About IPPF in the Pacific
IPPF is a global healthcare provider and a leading advocate of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) for all. Led by a courageous and determined group of women, IPPF was founded in 1952 at the Third International Planned Parenthood Conference. Today, we are a movement of 158 Member Associations and Collaborative Partners with a presence in over 153 countries.
IPPF East and South East Asia and Oceania Region (IPPF ESEAOR) is one of IPPF’s six regional offices and includes the Sub-Regional Office for the Pacific (SROP).
SROP supports member associations and collaborative partners in 10 Pacific countries: Cook Islands Family Welfare Association (CIFWA), Kiribati Family Health Association (KFHA), Papua New Guinea Family Health Association (PNGFHA), Reproductive and Family Health Association of Fiji (RFHAF), Samoa Family Health Association (SFHA), Solomon Islands Planned Parenthood Association (SIPPA), Tonga Family Health Association (TFHA), Tuvalu Family Health Association (TuFHA), Vanuatu Family Health Association (VFHA) and Youth to Youth in Health (YTYiH) in the Republic of Marshall Islands.
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