Sexuality and Reproductive Health

The Ford Foundation’s Work on Sexuality and Reproductive Health

Since the 1994 U.N. Cairo Conference on Population and Development, the Foundation’s work on sexuality and reproductive health has been designed to help implement concepts enunciated in the Conference declaration. In 12 of the Foundation’s 14 offices in the US and overseas, we currently have active programs on sexuality and reproductive health, attuned to local and national circumstances, and full time staff dedicated to this work. Since 1996, in all locations where the Foundation works, staff making grants in this area have been located in the Asset Building and Community Building Program. In 2002, the Foundation decided to expand our work in the field and relocate staff doing the work within the Foundation’s program structure. Why are we making changes? In the many locations in which we work on sexuality and reproductive health, we have been pleased to see progress in bringing issues into the public realm, a growing public dialogue, and a significantly widening circle of organizations dedicated to work advancing sexual and reproductive rights. While our grantees and others still struggle to gain full acceptance for their ideas and goals, they are being heard and creating momentum for change. Our program structure is evolving to reflect the field’s maturation and diversification and to assist those providing leadership in the challenging areas of sexuality and reproductive rights. In the U.S., after October 1, 2002, the Foundation’s Peace and Social Justice Program (PSJ) will house work on rights related to sexuality and reproductive health. David Winters will continue to be responsible for grants to address AIDS/HIV stigma, to build systems for prevention and care that ensure dignity and community safety, and to strengthen the worldwide AIDS/HIV movement. PSJ will also have a new staff person with a portfolio focussed on clarifying and protecting rights related to sexuality and reproductive health. The new position will enable us to consolidate and expand existing reproductive rights efforts. The Education, Media, Arts, and Culture Program (EMAC) will oversee continuing efforts to build knowledge about human sexuality and to translate the growing body of knowledge into practice and policy. In EMAC, Sarah Costa will continue to manage the portfolio concerned with the international movement for sound policies on sexuality and reproductive health. She and a new staff person will be responsible for a new global initiative to build knowledge, practice and policy related to human sexuality. The Asset Building and Community Development Program, which oversees work related to youth development, will include attention to young people’s sexuality and reproductive health. In the foundation’s overseas offices, work in sexuality and reproductive health will continue to address the particular circumstances of each overseas location. Grants will support such efforts as establishing and protecting sexual and reproductive health and rights, building capacity and knowledge to address the H.I.V./AIDS pandemic, developing knowledge about human sexuality and the implications of that knowledge for fields of practice, and youth development. A new global initiative on human sexuality is being launched in FY 2002. Its aim is to support the emergence of regional resource centers that can help develop knowledge about sexuality, translate knowledge into practice and foster public understanding. In both PSJ and EMAC, the foundation’s programs for sexuality and reproductive health will continue to pursue ideas described in the 2001 “Field Statements of the Asset Building and Community Development Program.” This was originally developed after broad consultation among staff and outside experts. A learning group for Ford staff and grantees working in Sexuality and Reproductive Health will provide a forum for staff and grantees to meet and discuss the work undertaken in these areas across the foundation. While it is too early in our budget cycle to project program budget levels for the next year or biennium, we expect that the new global initiative will bring increased funding to this area. May 31, 2002

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The Ford Foundation is an independent, nonprofit grant-making organization. For more than half a century it has been a resource for innovative people and institutions worldwide, guided by its goals of strengthening democratic values, reducing poverty and injustice, promoting international cooperation and advancing human achievement. With headquarters in New York, the foundation has offices in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and Russia.