SNI members presenting at ICFP Conference
The International Conference for Family Planning is coming up, and several members of Share-Net International are presenting, including many sessions with Share-Net Netherlands member Rutgers – Read on to learn more about all their exciting sessions!
Tackling Taboos: Talking About the Most Commonly Avoided Sexuality and SRHR topics
Date & Time: Nov 16 – Daytime Show, 5:00pm, LIVE Stage
Presenter: Laura Ramos Tomás, Share-Net International Member
Description: TabuTabu – who’s mission is to healthy dialogue about sex & sexuality – will be tackling SRHR taboos at ICFP LIVE! A taboo is an activity or topic that is, through social consensus, deemed forbidden and/or offensive to be practiced… or even discussed. Dismantling taboos involves standing up to years, and often generations of silence, judgment, and shame. But it can be very liberating and empowering to break that silence, and less lonely than one might expect. In fact, it takes Community to detaboo. During TabuTabu’s LIVE segment, the audience will choose which SRHR taboos founder Laura should talk about, and thus, begin to dismantle. How many people can intentionally come together to detaboo SRHR?
Speakers Bio: Laura Ramos Tomás (ella/ela/she) is a European sexuality educator based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Laura has worked across Latin America at the intersection of poverty, lack of access to education, and gender- and social inequalities for 5 years, working with organizations that support survivors of trafficking, sex workers, and youth and young mothers living in social vulnerability. In 2020, Laura launched TabuTabu, an organization on a mission to normalize healthy dialogue about sex and sexuality for people of all walks of life. TabuTabu’s Impact initiatives co-create contextually-relevant sexuality education programs with communities in Brazil and Honduras that center sex- and pleasure-positivity.
Ana Autoestima: Pleasure-based Sexuality Education for Women in Brazilian Favelas
Date & Time: Nov 15, 4:15 – 5:35 PM
Track: IBP Track Program Implementation, FP/RH resources and tools for and from Latin America and the Caribbean (Spanish Knowledge Management Session – Co-organizers: Rodolfo Gomez (PAHO) and Anne Ballard Sara (Knowledge SUCCESS))
Presenter: Laura Ramos Tomás, Share-Net International Member
Abstract/Description: Ana Autoestima is a virtual friend to cis women living in brazilian favelas. She offers pleasure-based sexuality education through WhatsApp, and seeks to change the hyper-medicalized and frequently oppressive narratives that her friends usually hear when accessing SRHR services. Ana was ideated by TabuTabu and a focus group of women in a favela in Rio, and refined in a trial with her first friends who helped her make her content truly accessible and constructive. With Ana’s sex-positive information, her friends increase safe pleasure practices and demonstrate being able to improve confidence and through that, self-actualize.
Speakers Bio: Laura Ramos Tomás (ella/ela/she) is a European sexuality educator based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Laura has worked across Latin America at the intersection of poverty, lack of access to education, and gender- and social inequalities for 5 years, working with organizations that support survivors of trafficking, sex workers, and youth and young mothers living in social vulnerability. In 2020, Laura launched TabuTabu, an organization on a mission to normalize healthy dialogue about sex and sexuality for people of all walks of life. TabuTabu’s Impact initiatives co-create contextually-relevant sexuality education programs with communities in Brazil and Honduras that center sex- and pleasure-positivity.
Navigating the Pleasure Gap: Why Pleasure Matters to Deliver Sexual and Reproductive Health
Summary of Panel: The Panel will follow the trajectory of Pleasure Based Sexual Health from evidence, policy to practise. It will be varied, fun and use videos, audience participation and a teaser poster campaign in advance through the conference halls and on social media. Speakers range from researchers to those implementing community-based interventions – and a wide range of experience, nationalities, and perspectives. The panel is mainly female, and represent the UN, donors, service providers and small community activist’s organisations (WHO, Amplify Change & its partners, IPPF and The Pleasure Project). The panellists are all joined in a mission to ensure this missing tool, of addressing sexual pleasure, is no longer stigmatised.
Presenter bio : The Pleasure Project is the global thought leader on pleasure- based sexual health. We have been leading the effort to put sexy into safer sex since 2004. We build bridges between the public health world and the pleasure and sex industry and help develop the evidence base for a sex-positive and pleasure-based approach to sexual health and rights. We promote sexual health and agency through an emphasis on ‘good sex’ by primarily, focusing on the pursuit of pleasure as one of the primary reasons people have sex. Secondly, we work with the World Health Organisation and other global health organizations to expand the evidence base on what works in acknowledging diverse desires and means of satisfaction. Our work has been incorporated in the new Sexual Pleasure Declaration released by the World Association of Sexual Health. In 2021, we won the WAS award for innovative sexuality education for our pleasure-based work. In 2022 we released a systematic review along with WHO and The Case for Her exploring What is the added value of incorporating pleasure in sexual health interventions?
“Nothing about us without us”: Results and Learning from Participatory Youth Evaluation of Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Programs Across the Globe.
Date & Time: Thursday 17 November 10-11 am in Grand Hotel Jomtien 2.
Description: In this panel Rutgers supports young co-researchers from The Netherlands and Indonesia to present key findings from their researches on sexuality education (NL) and youth sexuality (Indonesia) and to reflect on their experiences of being a young co-researcher. Goal is to inspire researchers and organizations to meaningfully engage young people as researchers in Adolescent and Youth SRHR research and evaluations.
Presenters: The panel is led by Save the Children & Rutgers
Scaling up access to CSE: Successful Strategies from Ghana, Indonesia, and DRC
Date & time: Tuesday 15th November 11:50 am – 1 pm at the Beach Hotel Royal Opal Theater.
Description: This panel will discuss how to address barriers to scale up CSE. Panelists who work for CSE implementing organizations in DRC, Ghana and Indonesia will share their practical experiences, insights and strategies on what helped to achieve commitment and support for scale up in their contexts.
Presenters: This panel is led by Rutgers, with speakers from Planned Parenthood Association Of Ghana; Save the Children, and Rutgers Indonesia.
SETARA Online Interactive Module as an Alternative Delivery Method of Comprehensive Sexuality Education for Junior High School Students in Denpasar City Indonesia: A Pilot Study
Date & Time: Tuesday 15 November at 2:40 pm in PEACH Pattaya 3.
Description: In this presentation Rutgers WPF Indonesia will present their experiences and pilot study findings in relation to the digital version of the Setara CSE curriculum for very young adolescents (12-14 years) in junior high schools.
Presenters: By Rutgers Indonesia as part of the panel ‘ Innovation in addressing SRH and CSE’
Say it Out Loud: Sexual Wellbeing and Sexual Consent Matters, Perspectives from Young People in Ecuador and Uganda
Date & Time: Tuesday 15th November from 10-11 AM at PEACH Pattaya 10.
Description: Positive or healthy aspects of sexuality remain understudied, and few studies have explored how young people perceive their own sexual wellbeing and sexual consent, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. In this presentation Plan International shares key findings from a study that sought to understand young people’s perspectives on what positive sexual experiences are, including their evolving capacity to consent to sex, and what contributes to their sexual wellbeing and how Plan uses this to inform their SRHR programming. The research was carried out by Rutgers in partnership with researchers from Ghent University, Karolinska Institutet, Mbarara University and Cuenca University.
Presenters: This presentation is part of the Panel: Sexual well-being, health and pleasure
“Let me go think and then I will be back”. Post-abortion Contraceptive Counseling and Uptake by Young Women in Kilifi County, Kenya
Date & Time: Wednesday 16 November from 2:40-4:00 PM at PEACH Pattaya 5
Description: Post-abortion care (PAC) counseling and the provision of contraceptive methods are core components of PAC services. Nevertheless, this service is not always given to PAC patients. This presentation explores the factors contributing to young women leaving health facilities after PAC without counseling and contraceptive methods. Findings revealed that post-abortion contraceptive counseling and methods were not always offered to patients as part of PAC. Whenever PAC contraceptive counseling was offered, certain barriers affected uptake of the methods, including inadequate information, coercion by providers and partners, and fears of side effects. Factors that encouraged women to accept contraceptives included the desire to fulfill their life goals and the wish to avoid going through the experience of unsafe abortion again. Findings derive from a larger study on abortion in Kilifi county, carried out by APHRC, Kilifi County Department of Health, and Rutgers jointly in 2021.
Presenters: This presentation is part of the Panel: Choices in counseling approaches – what works?
L’implication des Parents dans la Prise de décision et la Gestion de l’avortement de leurs Fillesau Bénin.
Date & Time: Thursday 17th November from11:50 AM to 1:10 PM in Beach Hotel Royal Summit Chamber B.
Description: In this presentation (in French) the researchers explain the involvement of mothers in their adolescent daughters’ abortions in the Atlantique Department in Benin. Especially when it concerns adolescent girls, mothers often become involved in their daughter’s decision making for abortion and their care seeking pathways. Mothers have specific reasons to do so; including preventing GBV in their own marriage, preserving her own status within a polygamous marriage, protecting her daughter etc. Both motivations of mothers and the type of support they offer will be discussed. The findings lead to recommendations that not only young women and girls need information about safe abortion methods, mothers are an important target group for information campaigns as well. Findings derive from a larger study on abortion in Atlantique, Benin carried out by APHRC, ABPF and Rutgers jointly in 2021.
Presenters: This presentation is part of a Francophone multi-track flash panel
Meaningful Youth Engagement in Research: Critical Reflections from Young Co-researchers on How to Create Conditions for Success
Date & Time: 12 to 13 November. Part of the Youth Pre- conference
Description: The “insider” status of young people as (co-)researchers can increase access to study informants; reduce power between researcher and informant; enhance data quality and depth; and empower young people. But being a young researcher is not always easy. What can we learn from young people who have been involved as (co-)researchers on SRHR topics? In this session young co-researchers from The Netherlands, Kenya and Indonesia reflect on how they experienced benefits and challenges, and what worked for them. Together with the participants of the session we will interactively explore and discuss what is needed to create conditions for successful, ethical and meaningful youth engagement in research and how it can be used to increase youth led accountability; youth advocacy and youth voices in decision making around SRHR policy and programs.
Presenters: This is a session co-organized by young researchers with support from Rutgers and APHRC.
Global Early Adolescent Study: Pre-conference Workshop
Date & Time: Sunday 13th November. Part of the pre-conference workshop at the InterContinental Hotel
Description: Partners from the Global Early Adolescent Study (GEAS) are organizing a pre-conference workshop where the latest GEAS findings will be presented and discussed, including the results of the impact evaluation of Rutgers’ CSE program Setara in Indonesia. The GEAS seeks to better understand how gender socialization in early adolescence occurs and how it shapes health and wellbeing trajectories. The workshop include interactive discussions on implications for very young adolescent programming and research; ethics in working with adolescents; round table and panel discussions with youth leaders and donors on the future of early adolescent health research and interventions.
Presenters: The GEAS Pre-conference workshop is organized by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Global Early Adolescent Study (geastudy.org)
Side Event: Are You Ready for the Future of Comprehensive Sexuality Education?
Date & Time: Wednesday 16 November 07:00-08:25. Location to be announced.
Description: Comprehensive sexuality education works. But keeping up with the changing needs of young people, emerging technologies and new medical practices can seem like a mammoth undertaking. Join our session to learn and experience how to make your comprehensive sexuality education future proof. The session will have open, insightful and practical discussions with experts and practitioners that share their latest best practices, new tools and research with you.
Presenters: This session is organized by Rutgers, IPPF and partners.
Rutgers Booth
At the ICFP, Rutgers will be talking openly about sexuality. Want to join them? Rutgers will be at booth #144