2015 was a critical one for the NGO community, marking the end of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and the beginning of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (previously called post-2015 agenda). It was crucial that sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) be recognised as a critical part of this new agenda, and that voices from our region and the global South be heard in mainly New York-based negotiations. ARROW was proud to stand up with partners and allies for SRHR at the intergovernmental sessions for post-2015, the UN Sustainable Development Summit, the 3rd Financing for Development Conference, HLPF, CSW, ESCAP, and other venues globally and regionally. There were successes though gaps remain in the agreed 2030 Agenda, but we will endeavour to monitor and ensure that implementation will be to the highest aspirations and standards.
With partners and supporters, we have achieved a lot in 2015: from strengthening partners’ capacities to advocate and use social media for universal access to SRHR, to developing rights-based SRHR indicators and SRHR database covering 50 countries and distributing 47,747 copies of cutting-edge resources in 114 countries globally. From incorporating adolescent sexual and reproductive health in school curricula in high school committees in Bangladesh and community women demanding for quality abortion services in Nepal, to documenting deaths and morbidities at a sterilisation camp and filing a case on this with the National Human Rights Commission in India. We also collaborated with other social movements working on diverse issues—such as climate change, disability, labour, religious extremisms and fundamentalisms, and right to food and nutrition—for better understanding on how these intersect and impact SRHR.
Read more for what ARROW and partners did in 2015
