Sexual Reproductive Health & Rights for All
We enable choice and action for the most marginalized, reaching poor and vulnerable women and girls, people living with HIV and people with disabilities in our most isolated areas in Zimbabwe.
Despite Ntengwe’s substantial gains made in reducing Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) by challenging stigma and discrimination that undermines the human rights of people with disabilities and poor women and girls to have access to comprehensive reproductive health services, and to reduce the burden of gender-based violence, we are lagging behind to realizing the visionary agenda for SRHR and to reaching those who have been left behind.
During the Evidence and Collaboration for Inclusive Development program, Ntengwe has gathered evidence that persons with disabilities, poor women and girls often encounter grave barriers when accessing sexual and reproductive health and rights services.
That’s why we are committed to increasing access to Sexual and Reproductive Health services and information for people with disabilities, women and girls. We specifically target those living in the most isolated areas who are most vulnerable to unsafe sexual practices, harmful social norms and are victims of gender-based violence.
We support community-based, civil society, networks and women-led grassroots groups in order to ensure a long-term, sustainable impact on the rights of women, children, their families, people with disabilities and their community and to increase an understanding of SRHR.
We work through local, national and regional structures to reach wider networks and alliances with consistent and regular information, education and communication to ensure that parents, caregivers, teachers, healthcare workers, traditional leaders and policy makers have a shared responsibility to break the silence around issues of sexuality, gender, SRHR and issues around HIV and AIDS, and disability.
We encourage organizations and all stakeholders to commit to and engage with the institutionalization and the dissemination of comprehensive education for young people, people with disabilities and the most vulnerable, at both local, national and regional levels to feed into long-term objectives of advocating, revision and implementation of national and regional policies and frameworks on sexuality, gender, sexual reproductive health and rights, which protect communities from HIV infection.
Our four Strategies for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
Community-led research
We generate and capture both objective and subjective data (priorities and perspectives) that reflects the experiences of the most marginalized and make these accessible. This amplifies their voices within decision-making processes at all levels – from local to national and regional level to foster greater connection and collaboration between stakeholders (civic and government) and to increase accountability, responsiveness and effectiveness so that SRHR services are realized.
Advocacy for SRHR
We take extensive and various approaches to promote advocacy activities, which aim to create awareness on SRHR and gender issues, and to reduce the multiple risks that marginalized people are exposed to. To increase support for SRHR at local, national and regional level, we advocate with members of parliament, government, opinion creators, mass media, business sector and national/regional organizations through networks with grassroots people, especially, grassroots women leaders. We conduct various campaigns to promote SRHR such as holding events and seminars open to general public to disseminate SRHR issues for local, national and regional mainstream discussions, for example with line ministries to increase official development assistance for SRHR to influence and implement policy on SRHR and disability and women’s empowerment.
Monitoring and Evaluation, strengthening community participation and accountability in SRHR
In reducing stigma and discrimination against marginalized groups, we give voice to the poor, under the theme of “Can Anyone Hear Us”? to ensure that their rights to protection and services to health is responded to by duty bearers. Our communities are fully involved in articulating their needs, planning, implementation and monitoring and evaluation. We establish direct contacts with marginalized people to develop increased awareness of the general public on SRHR, as well as to share stories of Most Significant Change, collected by and from local communities.
Partnerships
We build networks with like-minded organizations to strengthen solidarity and linkages between civil society groups working on the same subject in the same region to support advocacy within local and national settings. Together, with members from the Huairou Commission, Ntengwe works with regional partners and grassroots women-led organizations to build and strengthen grassroots women movements through the Women Land Link Africa platform advocating for sexual and reproductive health and rights to support more sustainable and resilient local, national and regional responses. We provide knowledge for advocacy to smaller women grassroots organizations by building effective partnerships and their capacity that fosters changes and implementation of laws and policies that promote SRHR, ensure access to information and services, decrease the gender gap in education and to help foster for sustainable change that can help build resilience within the most poor and marginalized communities.
