Sexual Health and Empowerment (COVID-19) – Philippines

The project aims to improve the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) of women and girls in remote and conflict-affected regions in the Philippines. The project is supporting the Government of the Philippines in its fight against coronavirus (COVID-19), by addressing the heightened vulnerabilities of women and girls to unwanted pregnancies and gender-based violence (GBV) during the pandemic. The project aims to expand ongoing outreach services through mobile clinics for obstetric, prenatal, and postnatal care, including family planning (FP) services. These outreach services also aim to cover the procurement of dignity kits and FP commodities. The project also works to augment existing response activities, such as the procurement of personal protective equipment, the establishment of a SRHR and GBV emergency hotline, and the distribution of COVID-19 information materials.

Project activities include:

(1) increasing the knowledge, skills, and capacities of women, girls, and boys; (2) working with influencers to change negative social norms on SRHR and gender-based violence (GBV); and (3) enhancing the capacity of the health system to provide comprehensive and gender-sensitive health information and services. The project is supporting local women’s rights organizations in improving their organizational capacity, and their ability to conduct learning and research initiatives in support of SRHR and GBV advocacies and policies at the national and local levels. Through the project, over 86,400 women and girls, as well as men and boys, are expected to benefit from improved quality, availability, and access to SRH information and services, in line with the implementation of the Philippine Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Law.