Solthis at the ICFP: side event, booth, posters, oral presentations, and numerous meetings.
Solthis participated in the International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP), a major gathering of global actors in sexual and reproductive health.
Our side event, Caring for oneself, caring for others: self-care approaches as a lever for empowerment, organized on November 4 at the International Conference on Family Planning, brought together participants from around the world to discuss initiatives aimed at empowering women and helping them reclaim ownership of their bodies.
After a friendly discussion about some of our tools, such as the OH WOMAN® educational game and our anatomy boxes, we shared our experiences during a roundtable discussion that sparked interest and reactions.
👉🏾 Sarah-Marie Maffesoli, from Médecins du Monde, presented feminist self-defense approaches with sex workers in Ethiopia and Madagascar.
👉🏾 Hermine Bokossa, from EngenderHealth, shared her experience with contraceptive self-injection initiatives in the DRC.
👉🏾 And our SRHR technical advisor, Aurélie Musca Philipps, concluded this inspiring round table by reviewing our self-gynecology workshops in Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea, as part of our POUVOIR and SUCCESS projects.
To conclude the meeting, five young SRHR activists took part in a self-gynecology workshop led by Aurélie Musca Philipps and Clémence Doumenc Aïdara. It was a unique and enriching experience based on listening, discovering one’s body, and kindness.
We also had the opportunity to present four posters, including one as part of a “flash oral” presentation:
Empowerment workshops to strengthen the capacity of adolescents and young people to take action and promote their sexual and reproductive rights and health in Côte d’Ivoire.
Evaluation of the quality of family planning services in Senegal: Analysis of the contraceptive method information index and a user experience score in Senegal.
Oh Woman®: adapting a traditional board game to promote sex education and strengthen adolescents’ and young people’s knowledge of sexual and reproductive health in West Africa.
Provision of integrated services in MNCH, family planning, and nutrition: feedback from the SANSAS project in Senegal.
Finally, one of our abstracts was selected for an oral presentation: Rollout of a DMPA-SC self-injection service: empowering sex workers in terms of contraception in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
At the same time, and throughout the conference, we presented our SRHR strategy and our intervention materials at our stand: practical guides, educational tools, anatomical boxes, and the OH WOMAN® game, which attracted a lot of interest. They illustrate our approach focused on capacity building, access to sexual and reproductive rights and health, and self-care approaches.
The conference provided an opportunity for fruitful meetings with committed professionals and for sharing our experiences in the field in West Africa.
In a context of budget cuts that are undermining development aid, these opportunities for dialogue and collaboration remain essential to maintaining our collective mobilization!
