youtube facebook Español

Richard Lord

The Community Engagement and Mobilization (CEM) unit of Ipas, while new, has already initiated significant work around the world to increase women’s access to reproductive health care and to advance their reproductive and sexual rights. Formed in 2007 to guide the steadily expanding work at the community level in Ipas program countries, CEM’s work deliberately shifts focus from women as recipients of services towards the recognition of their voices, leadership and experience as essential to the creation of and demand for quality, affordable, women-centered care.  

CEM’s objectives are threefold:
• Provide opportunities to develop skills and increase knowledge on sexual and reproductive health rights;
• Identify and mitigate  social  practices that stigmatize abortion;
• Expand women’s, including young women’s, ability to obtain medical abortion-related information and care, through strengthened social networks and intermediaries in their communities.

Working with women in the communities is crucial because, as Leila Hessini, director of the CEM unit says, “Just because health services are in place doesn’t mean women can access them.” CEM engages women at the community level to raise awareness of where services exist, identify community factors that influence access (or the lack thereof), and work with community members to enable them to address reproductive health issues. Hessini says that while Ipas has traditionally worked with health systems and providers, “that work is not enough” to advance women’s reproductive and sexual rights.

CEM emphasizes building on local knowledge and uses participatory processes to design and support community-specific strategies.  For example, CEM collaborates with Female Community Health Volunteers in Nepal to provide reproductive health information and act as referrers to providers of comprehensive reproductive services including antenatal care, contraceptive services and abortion.  CEM also partners with community groups to engage communities on unwanted pregnancies and abortion using strategies that increase women’s and communities’ agency on reproductive health issues. For instance, in Aurangabad district, Maharashra, India, CEM is supporting a community-based behavior change campaign on women’s sexual reproductive rights using street theater performances and community dialogue. This initiative has reached more than 200,000 women and youth in 600 villages with information on safe and comprehensive abortion care. CEM also works by identifying community change agents and strategic partners and utilizing information communication technologies (ICTs) such as cell phones and YouTube, which have been particularly effective in reaching young people. “We develop community strategies that are appropriate for different groups of women,” Hessini says.

This work renders Ipas distinctive because “Ipas is one of the few organizations that works comprehensively on abortion, including at the community level,” Hessini says. “We learn from community groups, we develop innovative strategies and we link community work with service delivery and policy reform.”

---

For more information, contact media@ipas.org