Youth Sexuality, Reproductive Health, and Rights
Overview
The goal of this work is to improve the sexual and reproductive health and rights outcomes for marginalized young people, with a particular focus on girls and young women.
The Challenge
When given the opportunity and resources to lead, young people around the world can be found at the fore of social change efforts. Yet, at the same time, gender inequality and poverty close off countless life options for them, in particular young women and girls.
Globally, 10 million girls are married each year before their 18th birthday, many as young as 7 or 8. Child marriage lies at the intersection of a broad set of structural and social problems facing girls today. In South Africa, girls age 15 to 24 are four times as likely to be HIV positive than their male counterparts. Of the 19 million unsafe abortions carried out each year in the Global South, a quarter of them are to girls ages 15 to 19, contributing to high maternal mortality rates among these age cohorts. In the United States, 1 in 4 girls have a sexually transmitted infection.
Programs and policies designed to improve these statistics often fall short by ignoring the social, cultural and economic factors that prevent young women from being able to make healthy decisions. These factors also contribute to their vulnerability to sexual violence, undesired or unsafe pregnancy and exposure to HIV. This is compounded by the lack of resources targeted to more disadvantaged communities where access to information and services is typically scarce.
What We're Doing
We support interventions that meet young people's sexual and reproductive health nad rights (SRHR) information and service needs by addressing the social, cultural, legal and economic factors that limit access to both. We focus on efforts driven by local leadership with the potential to reach large numbers of the most marginalized young people and engage them as active leaders in their own right.
Our grant making aims to:
- Identify new, and expand the reach of existing, SRHR programs and policies that take a rights-based approach to address gender and sexuality
- Leverage resources and build partnerships in support of such programs and policies
- Promote digital and other media platforms to advance SRHR education and advocacy
- Expand and strengthen sexuality and gender expertise where this can have a strategic impact
- Increase youth activism and leadership around SRHR
Request for Proposals
We are seeking submissions in response to our "Sexuality, Health and Rights Among Youth in the United States" RFP to help social science researchers inform public policy and public understanding of youth sexuality issues. The deadline is Jan. 6, 2012.
Learn more about how our strategies and approaches shape our grant making.
From the Newsroom
- 2011: Furthering Our Commitment The foundation looks back on a year of social change
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News from Ford:
Child Marriage Issue Discussed Prominently in USA Today
The urgent human rights issue gains momentum following major announcement of support by The Elders, Ford and other foundations
- Ending Child Marriage: A Crucial Step Toward Gender Equality New initiative will work to end a practice that robs girls of opportunity
- Ford Foundation at the Clinton Global Initiative Launching new global effort to end child marriage and participating in panel discussion about metropolitan opportunity
Regions
Team
What We're Following
- TECHSex USA White Paper Internet Sexuality Information Services examines the potential of multimedia to reach young people and impact the sexual health and well-being of vulnerable youth populations
- Child Brides A frontlines report on the “the secret world of child brides” from National Geographic
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