Projects
Reproductive choice changes lives. Learn about our projects to build a world where everyone has choice.
Reproductive choice changes lives, and it saves lives too. Yet around the world, 257 million women want to be using contraception but have no access, and 35 million are forced to resort to an unsafe abortion every year, because they can’t access safe care.
We’re working to change this. In 2023, together with donors, governments, civil society, and grassroots organisations, our local teams supported 23.3 million people with their reproductive healthcare — more than ever before.
Our priority projects, delivered with our key partners, made this impact possible. By delivering healthcare, with a focus on those with little to no prior access, training public and private sector providers, and advocating for change so that everyone has reproductive rights, we are transforming access for the next generation.
Learn about our projects to build a world where everyone has reproductive choice.
WISH
Women’s Integrated Sexual Health (WISH) is the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s (FCDO) flagship programme improving women’s health across multiple countries in Africa and Asia.
MSI is leading this work in West Africa, heading up a consortium of country programmes and six partners to deliver interventions to improve the sexual and reproductive health of hundreds of thousands of women, saving over 32,000 lives since 2018. The programme has a focus on reaching people living in poverty, adolescents and those living with disabilities, ensuring no-one is left behind.
Young people can face challenges in accessing family planning, so WISH aims to change this. By the end of 2022, almost a third of our work under WISH was with adolescents, supporting young people to stay in school or avoid unintended pregnancy. We also work with national and district health systems and their staff, supporting them to be equipped to provide comprehensive and high-quality reproductive healthcare into the future.
See our collection of Global Goods which are tools and resources developed throughout the delivery of the WISH programme based on the learnings and deep insights gained.
RISE
The FCDO-funded RISE programme in Uganda seeks to increase access to information and uptake of modern contraception across the country.
MSI leads a consortium of six partners delivering RISE in more than half the districts across Uganda, ensuring comprehensive and inclusive contraception, including through mobile services and clinics in a variety of settings.
The consortium works with youth groups to ensure young people have access to accurate information on sexual and reproductive health, and with a range of channels such as radio shows and social media to reach large numbers of people with information. In RISE, sustainability is key, and we work with health staff at all levels, supporting the skills and capacity of the health system to be well equipped to provide sexual and reproductive health sustainably.
Step-Up
Step-Up is CIFF’s flagship SRHR programme and has two pillars: Step-Up Pillar 1 was designed to support seven MSI country programmes in West and Central Africa. Step-Up Pillar 2 is a five-year strategic investment supporting MSI to achieve its 2030 global strategy and MSI’s ambition to serve 50 million women and girls by 2026.
In addition to Step-Up, MSI implements other programmes in partnership with CIFF, focused on the introduction of new contraceptive technologies, such as the self-injectable contraception, DMPA-SC, and the development and rollout of management information systems.
The Youth for Health Project
MSI is proud to lead the Youth for Health (Y4H) project, a consortium of eight partners* working to expand access to life-changing adolescent sexual and reproductive healthcare and rights. Youth for Health focuses on strengthening national health systems and reaching the poorest and most marginalised adolescent girls, including those living with disabilities.
Since its launch in July 2022, the Y4H project has reached more than 600,000 people with information about sexual and reproductive health. It has supported national Ministries of Health to provide more than 100,000 reproductive health consultations and prevent approximately 10,200 unintended adolescent pregnancies.
*The Youth for Health (Y4H) project is led by MSI Reproductive Choices, together with Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevölkerung (DSW), Centre for the Study of Adolescence (CSA) Kenya, Health Alert Sierra Leone (HASiL), Youth Advocates Ghana (YAG), Sikika in Tanzania, Restless Development Zambia and Youth Network for Sustainable Development (YNSD) in Ethiopia.
RESPOND
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly disrupted access to sexual and reproductive healthcare across Asia and the Pacific, with women and girls among those most impacted.
Strained health systems impacted the delivery of critical sexual and reproductive health services to some of the world’s most vulnerable communities. As a result, the region saw an increase in unintended pregnancies, maternal deaths, and gender-based violence. MSI Asia Pacific (MSIAP) and International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) are working together to address these challenges in 22 countries in the Asia region, through the Australian Government’s Responding with Essential SRHR Provision and New Delivery mechanisms (RESPOND) project.
Since the project’s inception in June 2021, RESPOND has averted an estimated 452,000 unintended pregnancies and 172,000 unsafe abortions, and provided sexual and reproductive health services to over 3.6 million clients. For more information on MSI Asia Pacific’s work, please visit www.msichoices.org.au.