On February 16, the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) launched the Girls Decide initiative in London with a series of short films that share the stories of six girls from around the world and their journeys to make informed decisions about sex, pregnancy, abortion and relationships. Ensuring girls’ and young women have access to life-saving and life-enhancing Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) services and information is a human rights imperative and essential to tackle gender inequality and ill-health.
The Girls Decide initiative aims to reduce the risks related to girls’ pregnancy and to improve the health, well-being and development of girls and young women worldwide.
Among the Girls Decide films,
Pregnancy: Odeta's journey, Albania
tells the story of millions of adolescent girls who face unintended pregnancies and need support from their loved ones, including their male partners.
Girls Decide films shot in Bangladesh, Swaziland, Argentina, Indonesia, Syria and Albania can be viewed at
www.ippf.org/en/What-we-do/Adolescents/Girls+Decide.htm or www.youtube.com/user/webIPPF
IPPF also took the opportunity of this event to launch 3 new publications which have been developed in collaboration with IPPF Youth, Abortion, HIV and Advocacy teams.
The following publications:
Choices on sex and pregnancy
I Decide: abortion Diaries
What do i do if I am living with HIV and …
are all available at
www.ippf.org/en/What-we-do/Adolescents/Girls+Decide.htm
Also, as part of the same initiative, IPPF ran an earlier competition for young IPPF volunteers to submit proposals for small scale projects or activities that empower young women and girls. The youth network of IPPF European Network (YSAFE) were among the winners of this competition with their I [heart] being a girl project. This resulted in a blog
http://iheartbeingagirl.blogspot.com/ where young women share reflections on their experiences of being a girl. Girl from across the world are also invited to add their own videos via a special YouTube channel.
IPPF Member Association of the Republic of Macedonia, H.E.R.A. - Health Education and Research Association was also a winner of this competition with their short movie entitled "
Decision". This youth-led movie tackles the issue of contraception and provision of youth friendly sexual and reproductive health services.