Kaleidoscope: Reclaiming Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights and Justice (SRHRJ) for All
A transformative health systems initiative for safe abortion access, led by transnational women’s organisations, Kaleidoscope: Reclaiming Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights and Justice (SRHRJ) for All was launched in Nepal with a collaborative effort of the Kaleidoscope Collective (ARROW, WGNRR, MAMA Network, Global Fund for Women, and partners from 4 countries CommonHealth, SAHAJ, RUWSEC from India; Visible Impact, Beyond Beijing Committee from Nepal; CNGOB and COJAS from Benin; KMET, SRHR Alliance, RHNK, TICAH, Zamara Foundation, Ads Nyanza from Kenya), and co-hosted by Family Welfare Division, Ministry of Health and Population, Government of Nepal.
The launch was organised on 4 April, 2025 in Kathmandu Nepal and co-hosted by the Government of Nepal, representatives from the Government of Kenya and Benin, Kaleidoscope collective members, and health system stakeholders from Nepal.
The launch was a successful occasion to strategise together with the transnational partners and stakeholder allies, including governments to advance access to quality, safe comprehensive abortion care in respective countries. The launch also informed government officials and donors to learn about the vision, mission, and programme approach. It aimed to explore how the initiative’s programme links to country-specific goals within the 2030 Agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals.
The whole week was an opportunity to convene consortium and country partners from across the four pilot countries (India, Kenya, Nepal and Benin) along with other civil society and women’s rights organisations focused on sexual and reproductive health, rights and justice (SRHRJ).
During the launch we shared ideas, exchanged knowledge, and forged alliances. This helped connect Kaleidoscope collective members with government officials, potential donors, and UN agencies to foster collaborations and build relationships that will support SRHRJ, in particular Comprehensive Abortion Care (CAC).
The launch witnessed 101 participants from the Ministry of Health, Government of Nepal; UN Agencies, Civil Society Organisations participating and actively contributing. The event was chaired by Dr. Bibek Kumar Lal, Director – Family Welfare Division, Nepal and Dr. Tanka Prasad Barakoti, Director General – Department of Health Services (DoHS), Nepal served as the Chief Guest.
“At such turbulent times, we need Global partnerships and collaborations like Kaleidoscope to further the SRHR agenda especially in Global South countries like Nepal where a history of collaborations between Civil Society Organisations and the systems has resulted into a pathbreaking The Right to Safe Motherhood and Reproductive Act, 2018.”
– Dr. Bibek Kumar Lal, Family Welfare Division,Ministry of Health, Government of Nepal
ARROW’s Executive Director Sivananthi Thanenthiran shared an overview of the Kaleidoscope initiative highlighting the need for working on Comprehensive Abortion Care in the light of rising and stagnant Maternal Mortality Ratio.
Dr. Gauri Pradhan Sreshtha, Chief – Maternal and Newborn Health Section, Family Welfare Division, Department of Health Services, Nepal shared a country landscape of CAC in Nepal. Dr Edith Djenontin, Head of Reproductive Health and Family Planning, Ministry of Health, Benin. Dr. Jean N Patrick, Senior Deputy Director of the Ministry of Health, Kenya shared the country contexts of CAC of Benin and Kenya respectively.
The event also witnessed two interesting panel discussions with Sai Jyothirmai Racherla, ARROW leading a discussion joined by Shagun Sabhrawal, CoImpact; Anuradha Rajan, Women’s Fund India; Ankit Gupta, Global Fund for Women; Debanjana Choudhuri, WGNRR and Gordon Ochieng, TICAH. A need of the hour discussion on the SRHR funding ecosystem happened through the panel on Financing SRHR with Focus on Safe Abortion Services in Turbulent Times! The powerful call-to-action urged both philanthropies and governments to reimagine their approach especially with shrinking funding spaces for SRHR. Panelists highlighted the need to adopt an abundance mindset, build trust-based partnerships, and prioritise long-term, adaptable funding strategies, including the mobilisation of domestic resources.
Another panel Local Action: Partnership for Health System Strengthening for Safe Abortion Services was moderated by Medha Sharma, Visible Impact, Nepal. It highlighted the local joint efforts taken by countries to make CAC more accessible. Panelists who joined the discussions were Dr. Gampo Dorji, WHO Nepal; Renu Khanna, SAHAJ India; Caroline Nyandat, KMET Kenya; Dr. Cossi Raphael, CNGOB, Benin. They underscored the need for cross-border and cross-sectoral collaborations to make gender sensitive, just and equitable health systems that will improve the access to CAC. They stressed that integrating safe abortion services into broader health system structures—backed by both government and civil society—is essential to ensuring CAC is accessible, stigma-free, and sustainable.
The launch of the Kaleidoscope initiative provided a lift to the subsequent implementation of the Kaleidoscope initiative and to start the ball of systems strengthening for CAC rolling.
This launch was preceded by a three-day planning meeting for the initiative to kick off in four countries–Benin, India, Kenya, and Nepal. This included planning of the baseline activities that the national partners will conduct. The results will inform the actions around strategies of capacity strengthening, linking and learning, mobilising and influencing, and movement strengthening for the next four years.We hope to receive your support as we work towards ensuring sexual and reproductive health, rights and justice for all.
On behalf of Team Kaleidoscope,
ARROW, GFW, MAMA Network, and WGNRR
