Women around the world want the power to choose how many children to have – and when. Evidence shows that where women are empowered, there’s a natural fall in birth rate. However, many women – in both high and low-income countries – lack the contraception, knowledge and freedom to take control of their fertility.
To help tackle this issue, we’ve joined forces with selected grassroots NGOs to create Empower to Plan crowdfunding. It’s your chance to get behind effective family planning providers, back their projects and increase their impact.
Help us empower more women to plan – for their own sake, and for the wellbeing of future generations and the planet that sustains us all.
Our partners are carefully selected grassroots NGOs. Each is taking practical action, aligned with our mission and values, and with a proven track record of impact.
“The way forward is the full realisation of reproductive rights, for every individual and couple, no matter where or how they live, or how much they earn. This includes dismantling all the barriers— whether economic, social or institutional — that inhibit free and informed choice.”
- UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem
Check out our new video, showcasing some of our past and present Empower to Plan partners and highlighting the intersections of sexual and reproductive rights and environmental protection.
The Awakening was established in 2011 to empower vulnerable and disenfranchised women in rural areas of northern Pakistan through a variety of programmes that engage girls, boys, community elders and religious leaders in the Swat District.
Empower to Plan support will enable The Awakening to build feminist leadership, engage men and boys in gender equality and mobilise for social justice through the creation of weekly Girls' and Boys' groups for 200 children. They will also establish community groups with elders and religious leaders to encourage discussion around reproductive health, women's rights and family planning. Alongside these programmes, the organisation will organise medical camps providing contraception and post-abortion care, as well as a 24/7 safe abortion phone hotline. Empower to Plan funds will support the training of 30 young leaders as part of their Empowering Girls as Agents of Change programme, reaching 1,500 school students through peer mentorship on sexual and reproductive health and education.
Please help The Awakening strengthen and expand their unique and important work, safeguarding the rights of women and girls in northern Pakistan.
Established in 1997, Turimiquire focuses on family planning and education as well as sustainable livelihoods and agroecological community development. Over the past 25 years, Turimiquire has delivered 3,500 sexual and reproductive health and education workshops, reaching almost 70,000 participants.
With Empower to Plan funding, Turimiquire will be able to extend their services by offering 40 sex education sessions in seven different partner schools led by expert sex educators, as well as a youth coordinator to set up and maintain communication around contraceptive methods on designated Whatsapp, Facebook and Instagram groups. The workshops will also distribute contraceptives to young people who otherwise wouldn't be able to source them. Please support Turimiquire's long-standing work in building better futures for Venezuelan youth.
Since 1968, the Afghan Family Guidance Association (AFGA) has been working to ensure stigma- and discrimination-free reproductive health and rights for Afghans. They run nine clinics providing integrated essential sexual and reproductive health services, including for post-abortion treatments and survivors of gender-based violence. They also reach those with least access to medical services through two mobile clinics and 250 community outreach midwives.
Empower to Plan funding will finance the salaries of three midwives, who will provide expert 1-to-1 family planning counselling at three public hospitals in Kabul. During Afghanistan's unfolding humanitarian crisis, it is all the more vital that we safeguard access to basic human rights for all Afghans. Please join us in supporting the urgent and critical work of the Afghan Family Guidance Association.
If you support any of our current projects, Population Matters will use 100% of your donation to support grassroots groups to deliver healthcare and family planning, which also bring economic and environmental benefits. However, if you can't decide which project to support and would like us to give your donation to the project/s most in need, and contribute to the running costs of Empower to Plan at Population Matters, you can donate with a single, monthly or annual contribution here.
As well as meeting unmet need for family planning, Empower to Plan projects often benefit people and planet in other ways – helping to tackle cultural barriers to women’s reproductive rights, provide education for girls or protecting fragile ecosystems and wildlife.
More than 200 million women lack the contraception, knowledge and support they need to take control of their fertility.
Many women face cultural barriers – such as patriarchal attitudes or traditions of early marriage – preventing them from choosing the number and spacing of their children.
Unplanned and unwanted pregnancies can limit their life choices and keep their families trapped in a cycle of poverty, as they struggle to provide for more children than they can afford.
Meeting women’s unmet need for family planning and empowerment not only gives them the chance to improve their own lives, but naturally brings down birth rates – helping tackle the wider issue of unsustainable population growth.
Population Matters is primarily a campaigning and awareness-raising charity, but alongside this essential work we’re keen to support likeminded organisations that are busy putting our recommendations into action.
Do you know of any effective grassroots NGOs that may require crowdfunding support through Empower to Plan? If so, we would like to hear from you. Please send an email to Catriona Spaven-Donn, our E2P Project Coordinator, at catriona@populationmatters.org today.
*100% of your donation will be used to help fund empowerment projects, with all administration/running costs being borne by Population Matters. Whilst Population Matters will take into account any preference indicated in the making of your donation as to which project you’d like to support, Population Matters has the discretion to use some or all of your donation for other empowerment projects.
