EuroNGOs – The European NGOs for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR), Population and Development – is a regional network of Europe-based NGOs that promotes sexual and reproductive health and rights in development cooperation and global policy.
EuroNGOs’ Annual Conference 2018 took place in Ghent, Belgium, on 6-7 November 2018. IFMSA actively participated in the conference titled under the theme “Act on Hope: How the European SRHR community can help unlock rights and care for all”. IFMSA was represented at the conference by our SCORA Regional Assistant for Europe, Eglė Janušonytė, our SCORA General Assistant, Laura Lalucat and our LRA, Frederike Booke.
This year, the main focus of the event was on how reproductive and sexual justice is linked with understanding and overcoming other forms of structural oppressions that pose a threat to democracy as well as prevent the meaningful exercise of political, social, cultural and economic rights of women and other marginalized groups. The conference aimed at identifying the ways in which the SRHR community can work together within human rights groups and other actors with linking interests such as LGBT, Disability or Migration movements.
Furthermore, the first evening IFMSA delegation took the lead together with other youth-led NGOs to organize a youth pre-conference. During the event, we discussed challenges we face when it comes to develop our projects, to work on comprehensive sexuality education and to ensure our safety while doing so. The discussion was followed by a brainstorm on possible solutions on how to effectively overcome these challenges. Our delegates learned about different ways to work towards meaningful youth participation and strengthened common values and joint approaches with the other participants. Additionally, IFMSA’s policy briefs on access to safe abortion and universal health coverage were also created and distributed.
All in all, the event was a fruitful platform to learn about many relevant SRHR topics such as sexuality in women living with disabilities and universal health coverage in regards to SRHR. We have also met our current external partners, such as Ipas, to develop shared action plans for our work in the European region, and initiated the development of possible new collaborations with other NGOs.
For any question about the meeting, the preparations or the outcomes, feel free to reach out to [email protected]
Recent Comments