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Date: 15 November 2012 Early and forced marriage has terrible consequences for girls and young women. This film follows the story of Ashmita in Nepal, who is a survivor of child marriage and forced to give up her education at a very young age. In Nepal, the Civil Code of 1963 fixed the legal age for marriage of girls at 16 and made polygamy and child marriage illegal. However, early and forced marriage continues and the lack of implementing this law increases the vulnerability of girls from the poorest communities.

Big Victory: Nepal Government approved home use of medical abortion services though certified providers ensuring access to safe abortion services during COVID-19  IPPF welcomes the decision of the Ministry of Health (MoH), Nepal to endorse and approve the final MNCH guidelines that allow home-based Medical abortion through outreach model and telemedicine. This is a life-saving decision for many women and girls in need of service but facing the mobility and accessibility-related barriers owing to COVID19.  Many congratulations to Family Planning Association of Nepal  and partner CSOs part of the Large Anonymous Donors (LAD) consortium for their contributions and partnership with Family Welfare Division, Nepal. Read more about abortion services during COVID-19: South Asia experiences https://www.ippfsar.org/resource/enabling-abortion-services-during-covid-19  

School closures as a response to COVID-19 across the world has impacted education of children. Children and adolescents are spending more time online for virtual classes and to connect with their friends. This pandemic has made digital access necessary, but if misguided, this can be dangerous for young minds. There is an urgent need for parents and guardians to prevent their children from becoming participants of unwanted sexting, internet bullying or other transgressive behaviour. Accurate and responsible information about sex and reproductive issues can prepare children of all ages and enable them to reach out for support. We understand this can be overwhelming. We have put together a useful resource list which includes guides and interactive tools to help you find ways to start the discussion on sex, sexuality, reproduction, and relationships.  All One Curriculum: Guidelines and Activities for a Unified Approach to Sexuality, Gender, HIV, and Human Rights Education https://www.popcouncil.org/research/its-all-one-curriculum-guidelines-and-activities-for-a-unified-approach-to- Planned Parenthood tips for talking about sex with children of all ages ​​​​​​ https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/parents/tips-talking https://www.plannedparenthood.org/uploads/filer_public/6e/a4/6ea4bb87-e61e-4b99-a35e-8cf2e2c82a51/20171004-lets-talk-relationships-at-any-age-d01.pdf Videos on myths, consent, reproductive issues and sexuality https://www.ippfen.org/resource/basic-sex-ed-101-can-you-put-condom-banana https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM86exl8tIU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MFy7z8isU8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZjYESyxEEk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lInVibdN2GE Improve your knowledge about Comprehensive Sex Education https://www.guttmacher.org/sites/default/files/report_downloads/demystifying-data-handouts_0.pdf Tips for delivering sex-positive workshops for young people; An educator’s guide https://rb.gy/ejii2i IPPF Guide and messaging checklist to communicate effectively with young people https://www.ippf.org/sites/default/files/youth_messaging_checklist.pdf Share IPPF’s popular guide for young people - Healthy, Happy & Hot: A guide to your rights, sexuality, and living with HIV https://www.ippf.org/healthy-happy-and-hot  

World Sexual Health Day 2020 Growing up sex was a forbidden word. Our school curriculum accommodated basic formal sexuality education, but it was never really taught. Conversations about relationships, pleasure, masturbation, intimacy, and sexuality were even more restricted at home. Expression of intimacy and an interest in sexuality were not welcomed at school or home. In this environment, puberty struck as a horrid surprise for me. It became a subject of shame and came with a whole new set of restrictions – from being forbidden to visit a religious place to curfews and diktats over not playing any sport during “those days”. Active denial of love, sexuality, intimacy, and pleasure came in small doses of advice hidden behind the carefully crafted care and teachings of adults. For a 12-year-old girl these were enough to diminish self-confidence and worth. Fifteen years later, as I work on issues of sexual and reproductive rights in South Asia, I find that the high walls restricting young people’s access to conversations about sex and sexuality still exist. Institutions of trust (schools, family, government) continue to stigmatize sexuality and instil the ideal of abstinence till marriage. However, young people are curious and rightly so. Their curious mind use technology, unreliable media sources, erotica, and most of all pornography to find answers. Pornography exposes young minds to violent sexual acts, abusive sexual language and introduces them to negative messages around relationships. A survey in 2014 by Institute for Public Policy Research on Young people, sex and relationships, found that 7 out of 10 young people (typically aged 13-15) said ‘accessing pornography was seen as typical’ while they were at school. Of these young people, about 45 per cent young men and 29 percent young women agreed that ‘pornography helps young people learn about sex’, while 21 percent young men and 40 percent young women also strongly agreed that ‘pornography leads to unrealistic attitudes to sex’. Half as many young men (18 per cent) as young women (37 per cent) also strongly agreed that ‘pornography encourages society to view women as sex objects’. It is dangerous to let the idea of pleasure and sexuality be controlled by and imparted through unreliable mediums. The impact of this exposure is significant on young minds. It often leaves them in a state of confusion, uneasiness and with a future burdened with deeply problematic attitudes towards sex. In Bangladesh, a study done by Haider et. al, found that by age 19, approximately 88 percent of urban adolescent males and 44 percent of rural adolescent males reported premarital sexual intercourse. Differences in experimentation were even greater for girls. 47 percent of 19-year-old urban girls reported they had already experienced sexual intercourse but only 5 percent of their rural counterparts had. It was also observed that approximately 39 percent of male adolescents had sex with commercial sex workers and of them, 56 percent did not use a condom. [1] Moreover, the incidence of abortion was found to be 35 times higher in unmarried adolescents compared to their married counterparts and over a third of young girls aged 13-19 had experienced some form of gendered harassment and unwanted sexual attention.[2]   When the importance of consent, respect and sexual diversity is not understood it leads to abuse of women’s rights and limits the freedom over reproductive and sexual choices. As reported by the UNFPA, one in seven girls in the South Asia region have given birth by the age of 18 (married before their 18th birthday), often in the context of high unmet need for contraception and child marriage. Up to 63% of adolescent pregnancies in the region are unintended, contributing to a significant, although underreported, burden of unsafe abortion. While the importance of sexual health is globally recognized, education to promote it remains a controversial issue. In South Asia, socio-cultural and religious norms strongly shape and restrict the access of young people to sexual and reproductive health information and services. In some countries these norms get legal legitimacy through the prohibitions imposed by national laws and policies. Some of the other factors that play a significant role are low education, gender disparity, early and forced marriages, restricted access to family planning information and services, and legal regulations restricting access to abortion.   Comprehensive sexuality education is an undeniable right of every young person, but it needs to go far beyond the biology of reproduction, birth control, STI’s and HIV. Young people in the region have a desire to know more about sexuality, pleasure and that must be met with active efforts to include those ideas in our education. Asia as a region has some of the most populous countries with higher percentages of younger population in countries such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Philippines– all have median ages of 30 or younger. We should strive to build a conducive environment supporting young people’s right to a healthy and happy transition into adulthood. Sexuality education should be an integral component of our pedagogy today, it needs to expand its scope- from being limited to sexual and reproductive health information on reproduction, negative health consequences, safety, consent and harassment- and include in its ambit pleasure, love, desire and sexuality. Looking back in time, I realize if I had access to an enabling environment to empower me with comprehensive sex education, I think I would have been better prepared for my life as an adult. ________________________________________________ Roshnee Burma, Youth Officer at South Asia Regional Office of International Planned Parenthood Federation [1] Rob, U., & Mutahara, M. U. (2000). Premarital Sex among Urban Adolescents in Bangladesh. International Quarterly of Community Health Education, 20(1), 103–111. https://doi.org/10.2190/nflm-e0my-q26n-dbvh [2]Burnet Institute, Kennedy, E., Willenberg, L., Mohamed, Y., Baravilala, W., & Sauvarin, J. (2016). Sexual and Reproductive Health of Unmarried Young People in Asia and the Pacific Review of knowledge, behaviours and outcomes. Unfpa. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107415324.004        

This report presents findings of a study exploring the influence of law on young people’s access to sexual and reproductive health in Nepal. Whilst there is a wealth of global research on the social, cultural and economic dimensions of sexual and reproductive health, much less is known about the influence of law on access to rights and services. This is despite the fact that every state around the world, without exception, has developed legislation that is in some manner designed to regulate, enable, restrict and control sexual and reproductive health, for different groups of people, and in different situations and circumstances.

Annual Report of IPPF SARO for 2016

This report summarises highlights of the results achieved during the past three years, findings of the assessment of the project, lessons learnt, challenges faced and outline of what impact it leaves for future in terms of sustainability of these achievements. In responding to address the unmet need of family planning services in the region, IPPF SARO provided 22.8 million services in 2016. Nearly, 38 percent of these services were provided to young people. The project played an important role in demand generation through reaching to young people. Moreover, the values and learnings from the Champions Project were adopted globally in IPPF’s new strategic framework 2016-2022. This will allow IPPF to maintain the momentum, deepen further advocacy efforts through the champions and expanding engagement of support groups.

This political mapping exercise seeks to conduct a situational analysis and understand the policy and programmatic environment pertaining to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) in nine countries of the International Planned Parenthood Federation’s (IPPF) South Asia region, namely Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. It also aims to identify and prioritize issues of advocacy for SRHR in each of these countries as well as at the regional level and suggest strategies for advocacy on these issues with the government, non-government organizations, civil society organizations (CSO) and other relevant stakeholders. 

 “When I was about to give birth, we called for an ambulance or a vehicle to help but even after five hours of calling, no vehicle arrived,” recalls 32-year-old Mona Shrestha. “The birth was difficult. For five hours I had to suffer from delivery complications.” Mona’s story is a familiar one for women in rural Nepal. Like thousands of women across the country, she lives in a small, remote village, at the end of a winding, potholed road. There are no permanent medical facilities or staff based in the village of Bakultar: medical camps occasionally arrive to dispense services, but they are few and far between. Life here is tough. The main livelihood is farming: both men and women toil in the fields during the day, and in the mornings and evenings, women take care of their children and carry out household chores. The nearest birthing centre is an hour’s drive away. Few families can afford to rent a seat in a car, and so are forced to do the journey on foot. For pregnant women walking in the searing heat, this journey can be arduous, even life-threatening. “Fifteen years ago, there was a woman who helped women give birth here, but she’s no longer here,” Mona says. “It’s difficult for women.” Giving birth without medical help can cause severe problems for women and babies, and even death. Infant mortality remains a major problem in Nepal, and maternal mortality is one of the leading causes of death among women. Only 36% of births are attended by a doctor, nurse or midwife.  A traumatic birth can cause long-term physical, psychological, social and economic problems from which women might never recover. Access to contraception and other family planning services, too, involves walking miles to the nearest health clinic. Mona says she used to use the contraceptive injection, but now uses an intrauterine device. Like many villages in Nepal, Bakultar is awash with myths and gossip about the side-effects of contraception. “There are so many side effects to these devices – I’ve heard the coil can cause cancer,” Mona says. “This is why we want to have permanent family planning like sterilisation, for both men and women.” These complaints heard frequently in villages like Bakultar. As well as access to facilities and contraception, people here desperately need access to education on contraception and sexual health and reproductive rights. Misinformation as well as a lack of information are both major problems. “It would be really helpful to have family planning services nearby,” says Mona.

This mapping study of networks, youth-led organisations, organisations that focus on youth development as well as youth-serving organizations has been conducted. A key aim of the study has been to bring these diverse organizations and networks on the same platform based on commonalities and also highlighting their strengths, so that through sharing of experiences, expertise and learning, SRHR with and for youth, including advocacy, can strengthen in the region