Document Type

Brief

Publication Date

2015

Abstract

The human rights dimensions of family planning programs have been recognized for nearly half a century and affirmed in numerous declarations, conventions, and treaties endorsed by governments and the international community. While discourse about respecting, protecting, and fulfilling these rights is growing, a gap persists between human rights rhetoric and integrating rights in family planning policy, programs, and practice. Governments and programs struggle with defining and operationalizing a rights-based approach to family planning. Overall, there is scant evidence on: how to implement rights-based family planning (RBFP) programming, how to measure rights-based programming and outcomes, and the effect on family planning/reproductive health outcomes of implementing RBFP. Furthermore, literacy about human rights and family planning is generally low at the global, national, and subnational levels. Working with a range of stakeholders, the Evidence Project conducted several activities to address these gaps, and this activity brief outlines these activities: Defining RBFP and synthesizing resources; incorporating and operationalizing rights-based approaches in costed implementation plans; testing an index to measure adherence to RBFP; and defining rights-based indicators for family planning programming and monitoring.

DOI

10.31899/rh9.1039

Language

English

Project

The Evidence Project

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