Despite official foreign policy priorities, Swedish development assistance for sexual and reproductive health and rights has plummeted by SEK 1.2 billion since 2021. At the same time, global SRHR funding is projected to fall by half, reveals a new report by RFSU.
While the US and other key donors are pulling back funding for health, the global health architecture is also facing historic shifts.
In the shadow of the Greenland crisis, the Trump administration is taking the next step in its attempts to eradicate abortion rights around the world. On January 23, the administration announced that it is further expanding its anti-abortion policy known as the “Global Gag Rule” — a disaster, according to RFSU, the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education.
RFSU gathered 100 feminists from around the world to chart the way forward in a time of resistance.
RFSU has initiated a collaboration with a new partner organisation in Sri Lanka, the Women's Education and Research Centre (WERC), which works for women's rights. The organisation, founded in 1982, has played a key role in promoting gender equality and women's participation in society through research, education and advocacy.
RFSU launches My body, a digital platform offering reliable information about the body, health, and sexuality in 16 languages. It is aimed at anyone who wants to learn more about sexuality and health in the language they feel most comfortable with.
U.S. President Donald Trump is halting all U.S. foreign assistance and attacking sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). The lives of millions are at stake. Together with like-minded actors, the Swedish government must lead the way by speaking out on and increasing funding for safe abortion, SRHR and human rights globally.
Hello, Judy Amina, executive director of the SRHR Alliance in Kenya. Tell us more about your Pleasure Project!
On the outskirts of Kisumu in western Kenya, the organisation Talanta brings together young LGBTQI people through art and culture — building community and driving change.
In the aftermath of Sri Lanka’s decades-long civil war, one women-led organisation has emerged as a beacon of resilience and recovery. RFSU’s partner organisation The Suriya Women’s Development Centre has spent over 30 years supporting Tamil and Muslim women in the Eastern Province through justice work, cultural expression, and survivor-centered care.
Bolivia has received a large number of recommendations on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in the latest UN review. RFSU's partner organisations, which played an important role in the process, see success in both the number and content of the recommendations. Now, the next step begins: ensuring that they become reality.
In much of Southeast Asia, lesbian, bisexual and queer (LBQ) women live in the shadow of laws, religious norms and deeply rooted patriarchal structures. To be a woman, and a queer woman at that, is to live in an environment where access to basic healthcare is scarce and the right to one's own body is constantly questioned.
In Sweden, a government inquiry is proposing to weaken the role of sex education in schools. Meanwhile, Cambodia is taking big steps in the opposite direction. Through a partnership with RFSU and RHAC, comprehensive, rights-based sexuality education is now being integrated into the country's schools.
In the shadow of Donald Trump's trade war, millions of lives are threatened by the President's dismantling of US foreign assistance. Today, RFSU releases a new report predicting further US attacks on development cooperation, gender equality and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) - but also on the UN system and international law.
How Kenyan feminists are creating space for recovery and resilience.
In early November, Ulrika Persson, Emma Fransson and Magdalena Abrahamsson from RFSU’s national office travelled to Sri Lanka to visit our partner organisations. Here they share impressions from the first days.
In northern Ghana, young people are taking charge of the conversation about sex, relationships and bodies. Through the new podcast Adventures Too, created by Masi Media and Youth Harvest Foundation Ghana, sex education becomes a conversation between peers rather than a lecture from above.
RFSU supplements school sex education not only in Sweden but also abroad. Around the world, committed young people from RFSU's partner organizations talk to their peers about the body, relationships, and consent. Join us for a sex education session outside Homa Bay in Kenya!
In 1994, the International Conference on Population and Development marked a historic shift for sexual and reproductive health and rights. Instead of population control the narrative changed to a concern of human rights. Now 30 years later, decision-makers, civil society organisations, and UN agencies met to recommit to the ICPD agenda.
Despite uncertainties about the continued funding from Sida for RFSU's international activities, the work continues as planned in 2024. In Kenya, two large organisations have been phased out to make room for three new, smaller ones. RFSU recently organised a meeting with all Kenyan partner organisations in Nairobi.
In, 2024 RFSU is empowering change through social innovation. This is how!
The world is poised to mark a historic occasion as the first ever Global Day of Action to Destigmatize Abortions is set to be observed on March 28th this year. RFSU is one of over 35 organisations co-convening the campaign.
The US presidential election is over. How will a new Donald Trump presidential term affect sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR)?
A new report from RFSU shows that “Project 2025,” a far-right, ultraconservative plan for a takeover of the US government, could have enormous negative global consequences for gender equality, LGBT+ persons rights, and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). RFSU is now calling on the Swedish government to create a European emergency plan. Regardless of the outcome of the US elections, Project 2025 is here to stay.
The Inclusive Development Initiative (IDI) is one of few organisations addressing disability rights in Liberia. IDI aims to make sexuality education accessible to everyone.
For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, 1,500 Latin American feminists were able to have a meeting and plan together. What were the key issues and what could be agreed? RFSU was there and can now report.
Liberia still does not have a law against female genital mutilation, and four out of ten women live with the consequences. This is where the West Point Women for Health and Development organization operates, in one of the capital's most vulnerable areas.
RFSU obtained historic results from the Keystone International Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) Survey, which independently benchmarks partner perceptions of international NGO donors. Over 50,000 aid-receiving organisations have responded to the survey over the years.
Using simple machines, a group of women in Sri Lanka has been given the opportunity to make their own sanitary pads while spreading important information about sexual and reproductive health. The Muslim Women's Research and Action Forum (MWRAF) is using the production as an entry point to educate young people about menstruation and dispel old myths. At the same time, they are fighting for the rights of Muslim women in a society where personal laws hinder gender equality.
Sweden holds the Presidency of the Council of the European Union during the first half of 2023. The Swedish Presidency is a unique opportunity for the Swedish government to highlight Swedish priorities, including sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).
RFSU's partner organisations in Bolivia have recently published two important reports on LGBTIQ+ rights. Programme manager Iván Prudencio, who works with RFSU’s partners in Bolivia, attended the report launch.
When RFSU is given the opportunity to highlight SRHR and gender equality as important issues in EU development policy, we choose to enlist the help of our partner organizations.
This week, the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU concludes and the Spanish Presidency takes over. RFSU and IPPF put forward clear messages on how the EU must seize the opportunity to further strengthen its commitment to gender equality, SRHR, and LGBTQI+ rights.
The climate crisis affects everyone everywhere and it is one of the most urgent challenges of our time. RFSU's vision is a world in which everyone is free to make decisions about their own bodies and sexuality – but what does RFSU's work with realising sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHR), have to do with the climate crisis?
No one is immune from the devastating consequences of the climate crisis. It concerns everyone and those who are most marginalised, will be most affected. RFSU’s vision is a world in which everyone is free to make decisions about their own bodies and sexuality - but can this vision be upheld in a world where everyone’s lives will be more and more impacted and possibly restricted by the climate crisis?
Right now, pregnant women in Ukraine are being forced to give birth in shelters, while bombs fall outside. People are paying for Putin's war with their health, security and lives. It is a violation of their human rights, says Hans Linde, chair of RFSU.