In June 2008, a group of long-time activists and researchers in the field of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) came together in London, UK for a brief (1.5 day) meeting organized by Reproductive Health Matters (RHM). The subject of the meeting was the state of the sexual and reproductive health and rights field/movement. Participants in this meeting discussed issues related to the following questions: How can we characterize the sexual and reproductive health and rights field today, and the shifting power and influence in it, including the UN agencies, World Bank, governments and public health systems, private (profit and non-profit) health sector, global health initiatives, ‘corporate’/international NGOs, other NGOs and civil society and feminist groups?; Is a collective advocates' voice needed in the SRHR field today, given the extent of mainstreaming of our issues and given the huge and growing number of people involved in the work nationally and internationally?; If yes, in what priority areas is that voice required? If no, are there other reasons we wish to get together?; Do we want to organize to make this happen? If yes, how and with whom? What kind of international conferences does the sexual and reproductive health and rights field need? What kind are we having?
International Reproductive Rights Research Action Group (IRRRAG)
IRRRAG is an international consortium of women researchers, activists and health providers. In 1992, IRRRAG teams were formed in Brazil, Egypt, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Philippines and the United States to conduct a four-year study on women's reproductive and sexual rights and this was published as Negotiating Reproductive Rights: Women's Perspectives Across Countries and Cultures, edited by R. Petchesky and K. Judd. In 1999, ARROW became the International Coordinating Office (ICO) when IRRRAG decided to work together on the second research and action project titled Women's Reproductive and Sexual Health: Investigating Male Involvement.
Indonesia Reproductive and Sexual Health and Rights Monitoring and Policy Advocacy (IRRMA)
The IRRMA initiative, which began in mid-2002 and concluded in December 2006. The project involved a series of capacity building workshops for evidence-based monitoring, actual monitoring studies on seven aspects of SRHR, the publication of these reports, and the sharing of presentations based on these findings at national and international foray. These series of activities were planned in response to an assessed need to increase the number of NGOs in Indonesia that have the capacity to engage effectively at national and international level advocacy venues. The national level NGOs involved were: (PLS TAKE FROM IRRMA BOOK). As an outcome of this project, the IRRMA group launched a sustained effort to change the Health Law which limits access to safe abortion services. ARROW was envisioned as the facilitator for this process, based on our clear commitment to an empowering partnership process.
Rights and Reforms (RRI) (Health Sector Reforms)
This international women's NGO project was initiated in January 2002. RRI was originally a global research project coordinated by the Women’s Health Project of the University of Witswatersrand and funded by Ford Foundation. The project aimed to conduct a global research on the impact of World Bank-driven Health Sector Reforms (HSR) on SRHR. It was divided into various global teams of researchers designated at specific geographic regions for study. Meanwhile, three regional organisations—ARROW from the Asia Pacific, Red de Salud de las Mujeres Latinoamericanas y del Caribe (LACHWN) from South America and the African Partnership for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights of Women and Girls (AMANITARE) from Africa— participated in the process with the aim of implementing trainings aimed to disseminate the findings of the Rights andReform Initiative. The RRI resulted in the publication of a book, a training manual and a series of in-depth policy briefs which enable activists to engage with, to monitor and to advocate the issue.
Initiative for better research-based and evidence-based advocacy; and information and documentation practices to advance women's SRHR in Asia Pacific (KIC-ICPD Project)
The KIC-ICPD project was a short-term project (January 2007–March 2008), which focused on examining the research-based, evidence based advocacy methods and practices used in Beijing and ICPD monitoring projects previously coordinated by ARROW. It enabled ARROW to more effectively and efficiently incorporate lessons from past projects into the implementation of the ICPD+15 monitoring project, which began in 2008.
Monitoring and Advocacy on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR): ICPD Ten Years On
In December 2002, ARROW and women NGO partners played a critical lobbying role in ESCAP's Asian and Pacific Population Conference in Bangkok to prevent conservative attempts to undermine the ICPD document. Now that the review of ten years of ICPD has begun, a regional monitoring project on SRHR plays an important input into this accountability process. Yet there has been no evidence and positions presented by NGOs in relation to ICPD implementation as there have been no country monitoring study since 1998. Partner NGOs from eight countries (Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan and The Philippines) initiated monitoring studies using critical indicators and findings that was used as an advocacy tool to the relevant stakeholders of the country. Findings from the eight countries were synthesised into a Regional Overview Analysis that will set the regional platform to advocate issues under the banner of Women's Health and Rights Advocacy Partnerships (WHRAP).
ARROW carried out this project with the Centre for Reproductive Rights (CRR), New York entitled Women of the World: Laws and Policies Affecting Their Reproductive Lives - East and Southeast Asia. CRR invited ARROW to act as regional coordinator in regard of ARROW’s strong sexual and reproductive health and rights agenda as well as firm partnerships with NGOs in the region. The first phase of the project focused on the research and writing of the reports. The second phase of the work was concerned with the implementation of follow-up projects and activities based on the reports’ findings.
The Women of the World project focused its efforts on 51 countries located in Asia, Europe, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean and the Middle East. The entire project culminated in a global comparative report of the laws and policies in seven regions of the world.
