Natalia Roca/CDD, Argentina, 2020
The newly renamed alliance brings together more than 135 organizations worldwide focused on sexual and reproductive health care and activism
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(New York, New York – October 29, 2021) The launch today of Fòs Feminista, formerly known as International Planned Parenthood Federation Western Hemisphere Region (IPPFWHR), announces a new platform for international action and feminist solidarity for sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).
Fòs Feminista is an international alliance that centers its work on women, girls, and gender-diverse people. With a bold vision for advancing SRHR from an intersectional lens and a commitment to feminist leadership, Fòs Feminista is on the leading edge of sexual and reproductive health care and is transforming advocacy spaces with voices from the Global South.
Fòs, meaning “strength” in Haitian Creole, reflects the alliance’s dynamism and drive to challenge all forms of oppression. Feminista, meaning “feminist” in several languages, underscores the alliance’s commitment to gender and reproductive justice. (Read the story behind the name.)
“Our new name honors our nearly 70-year history working in Latin America and the Caribbean to reach women and girls with sexual and reproductive health care,” said Fòs Feminista Board Chair Jovana Rios Cisnero. “And it is simultaneously a call to action for our aspirations to co-create a feminist future.”
Fòs Feminista carries forward the work and partnerships of IPPFWHR, CHANGE, and the International Women’s Health Coalition (IWHC), which formed an alliance in June 2021. The international alliance now works with more than 135 organizations in 35+ countries in all regions across the world. They are providers of sexual and reproductive health care and services and comprehensive sexuality education, and activists for sexual and reproductive rights.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Fòs Feminista has worked with its partners to implement a feminist response that prioritizes women and girls. To ensure continuity of sexual and reproductive health care, these partners scaled up telehealth models, established home delivery of contraceptives, and pioneered text and phone-based hotlines for counseling survivors of gender-based violence.
With local partners and a leadership presence in key advocacy spaces, Fòs Feminista is uniquely positioned to connect and amplify strategies and voices from the grassroots to the national, regional, and global levels. Fòs Feminista is rising the Green Wave from Argentina to expand abortion rights in other parts of the world. In Mexico, where the Supreme Court recently decriminalized abortion, Fòs Feminista supports more than a dozen local organizations to ensure the ruling translates into increased access to abortion for women and girls. The Green Wave victory in Mexico provides inspiration for U.S. feminist movements as they confront the Texas abortion ban, bolstering solidarity without borders.
“A stronger feminist voice is needed now more than ever,” said Giselle Carino, CEO of Fòs Feminista. “The growth of right-wing authoritarianism and anti-gender movements, the climate change crisis, and the ongoing pandemic all disproportionately affect women and girls, with negative consequences for their sexual and reproductive health and rights. By acting in solidarity, we can meet these challenges with creativity and resilience.”
For more information, contact Maria Boldt by email at mboldt@mrss.com or by phone at 319-541-8228.
* International Planned Parenthood Federation Western Hemisphere Region is not affiliated with the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) or Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA).
