In preparation for the upcoming International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP), members of the faith community are reaffirming their commitment to building the capacities of faith-based organizations in family planning advocacy.
The ICFP Faith Subcommittee is expected to hold a pre-conference on Saturday, November 12, that will unpack tools and strategies that can be used to engage religious leaders, youth, and individuals in influencing policies and programs centered on family planning.
The Faith Subcommittee will also discuss a MOMENTUM Country and Global Leadership program intervention targeted at 10-to14-year-olds and discuss other initiatives to build capacity for religious leaders in connecting family planning to their communities, as well as budget processes and framework, and also highlight climate adaptation and resilience.
Mona Bormet, Program Director for Christian Connections for International Health (CCIH) and co-chair of the ICFP Faith Sub-committee, remarked that “the faith pre-conference and faith track aim to build the capacity of those working in family planning to effectively implement a variety of tools in their advocacy and programs that enhance access and quality of family planning services and ultimately improve quality of life.”
Peter Munene, Co-Director of Faith to Action Network and ICFP Faith Sub-committee co-chair, said, “family planning has a major societal impact. One key factor to the future of FP is strong advocacy, which includes seizing opportunities from innovation and new technologies and further engaging individuals. To achieve this, we are placing advocacy at the heart of ICFP 2022. We will be equipping participants from the faith community with the information, resources, and tools they need to understand and help address the challenges families face in reproductive health planning.”
CCIH, Faith to Action Network, and Catholics for Reproductive Health serve as co-chairs of the Faith Sub-committee of this year’s ICFP, the world’s largest scientific conference on family planning and reproductive health. The conference will bring the family planning community from across the world together to share innovative research and best practice, celebrate successes and chart a course forward for the family planning and sexual and reproductive health community. This year’s conference is scheduled to take place in Thailand from November 14-17, 2022 with the theme “Family Planning and Universal Health Coverage: Innovate. Collaborate. Accelerate.”