Make Way

Our vision: sexual and reproductive health and rights for all

Everybody, including those who are most marginalised, should be able to realise their sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). SRHR are human rights, that allow people to make informed decisions about relationships, their bodies, family planning, sexuality, and wellbeing.

It also means having access to a full range of sexual and reproductive health services, including antenatal and maternal care, prevention detection and treatment of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, choice of safe and effective contraceptive methods, prevention and management of sexual and gender-based violence, and positive comprehensive sexuality education.

The MakeWay programme

Our five-year programme (2021-2025) aims to break down barriers to SRHR by promoting a new way of looking at, and organising, SRHR issues, through an intersectional lens.

This means making overlapping vulnerabilities visible to understand their effects on people’s SRHR. With insights and sound data, as a consortium, we develop innovative tools and build capacities of other civil society organisations to advocate the needed policy and societal changes.

Who we are

The Intersectionality Consortium, which leads our programme, consists of:

• Akina Mama wa Afrika
• The Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians, Kenya
• Forum for African Women Educationalists
• Liliane Foundation
• VSO Netherlands
• Wemos

And we work in partnership with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We will implement the programme in Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zambia, the (Eastern and Southern) African region and at the global level.

Why we participate

Children and youth with disabilities are like all other youth: they have dreams, ambitions and hopes for the future, including education, access to health care, a decent job, a partner and a family. Due to misguided beliefs and social prejudices, they are excluded and denied information and access to SRHR-related services and care, leaving them amongst the most marginalised groups when it comes to SRHR.

Furthermore, people with disabilities are found in all key and vulnerable sectors of society when it comes to SRHR and can therefore not be seen as a separate target group. By contributing to Make Way the Liliane Foundation ensures the inclusion of children and young people with a disability in SRHR-related policies and programmes.