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International Partnerships
News announcement6 October 2020Directorate-General for International Partnerships

Empowering vulnerable adolescents in Africa

Mother, Senegal

DEVCO is glad to announce the launch of a €30.5 million call for proposals to improve the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) of adolescent girls and other vulnerable adolescents in Africa in the framework of the intra-ACP Programme to strengthen health systems for universal health coverage.

The COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated the need for universal access to quality sexual and reproductive health information and services. Growing evidence suggests that basic essential services, including SRH, are being disrupted, with serious impacts on the mortality of women and children globally.

Adolescents face specific barriers to accessing SRH information and services, notably contraception. Adolescent girls in particular have little to say over decisions affecting their lives, and the access and cost barriers they face are amplified when combined with other factors, such as disability or living in remote, urban poor areas.

The call’s priority areas are linked to strengthening public and community health systems to better respond to the needs of these groups, and to creating an enabling environment for the effective delivery of SRH services and the protection of adolescents’ rights.

Civil society plays a critical role in advocating better policies and services, in bringing on social and behavioural change, and in strengthening health systems. DEVCO therefore invites NGOs to team up, respond to patent needs, empower vulnerable adolescents and improve their access to SRHR!

While the progress that was observed over the past decade has also been undermined by the reinstatement of the Global Gag Rule in 2017 and an influential movement opposing SRHR principles, SRHR remains a basic human right. The EU is strongly committed to ensuring SRHR and achieving gender equality in line with the Programme of Action of ICPD (International Cooperation on Population and Development), the Beijing Platform for Action, and the Agenda 2030.

Details

Publication date
6 October 2020
Author
Directorate-General for International Partnerships