New York, NY – The Women’s Refugee Commission welcomes the announcement by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) that a consortium led by the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), in which we are a partner, has been selected within the UK Aid Connect program under the theme of promoting sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).

The IPPF-led consortium comprises Frontline AIDS, Internews, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, The Open University, and the Women’s Refugee Commission. This partnership brings together powerful expertise in program delivery, research, capacity building, advocacy, and communications, ensuring vital information, education, and services reach marginalized populations and people in complex and challenging environments.

Approaches in Complex and Challenging Environments for Sustainable SRHR (ACCESS) will leverage the consortium’s expertise to design and test innovative solutions that enable the most marginalized and underserved people to access comprehensive, evidence-based SRHR. The project seeks to bridge the gap between research and programming by drawing on existing and emerging evidence to inform the design of the program through an adaptive, people-centred approach.  

The UK Secretary of State for International Development, Penny Mordaunt said:

“Some of the most marginalised women and girls in the world are those living in conflict and crisis areas. Together we are pushing for a humanitarian system that responds to women and girls’ specific needs, but also sees them as active agents of change.”

IPPF Director General, Dr Alvaro Bermejo welcomed the partnership. He said:

“We bring distinct areas of expertise and are united by a shared commitment to improving the lives of the most marginalised populations. We critically need to work together to develop new and innovative approaches for bringing sexual and reproductive health and rights for those most in need.”

Sarah Costa, Executive Director of the Women’s Refugee Commission, said:

“The Women’s Refugee Commission has worked to advance the sexual and reproductive health of displaced women and girls since our founding 30 years ago. We look forward to working with the ACCESS consortium to navigate complex environments and develop innovative solutions so that both development and humanitarian communities can better and more effectively reach the most marginalized populations with comprehensive sexual and reproductive health information and services.”

The partners of the SRHR Connect program were announced at a Women Deliver pre-conference event at the Canadian High Commission in London, UK. IPPF, Frontline AIDS, and the Women’s Refugee Commission are NGO Sponsors for the Women Deliver 2019 Conference, being held in Vancouver, Canada on June 3-6, 2019; the world’s largest conference on gender equality and the health, rights, and well-being of girls and women.