Advocating for change

We create real change by transforming the environments in which we work.

Every day, in every country where we work, we see our services restricted by unnecessary regulation and over-medicalisation.

This prevents women and girls from seeking and receiving the care and services they want.

In response, we are playing an ever more active role in helping to remove these restrictions and to ensure that the progressive policies that do exist are understood and implemented.

Advocacy has never been more important to our vision. Our strategy for the next decade recognise the need to partner to remove barriers to access via national-led advocacy. We will work across community-based, governmental and global partnerships to be an influential advocate for change, collaborating to remove the unnecessary legal, medical and regulatory restrictions that prevent access to timely reproductive healthcare, and cost lives.

MSI team member counselling an outreach client in the community

Our approach to advocacy

Our advocacy work is based on both the needs of our clients and the innovations we’ve shown can work.

Our voice is critical in ensuring that policies support access to contraception and safe abortion, and are fit for purpose - informed by the latest medical guidance.

We focus on the issues that affect the frontline of service delivery so that advocacy directly translates into increased access to services on the ground.

Since 2016, MSI has contributed to the reform of over 78 policies that increase access to safe family planning and abortion services across the countries where we work.

These include:

Expanded access to abortion for unmarried women and survivors of rape in India
Contraception to be included in Ghana’s National Health Insurance Scheme, so cost is no longer a barrier
At-home abortion (via telemedicine) becoming a permanent option in the UK
New and improved safe abortion care guidelines across multiple countries ensuring more women have access to quality abortion services
A new family planning law which removed the requirement for parental consent for girls under 18 to use contraception in Madagascar. This has meant that more girls can complete their education without being interrupted by an unintended pregnancy.
Together with the Ministry of Health in Afghanistan, new guidelines were introduced prohibiting virginity testing. The team is now working closely with doctors and nurses in health facilities in every Afghan province to make sure the new policy is understood and communicated.

Advocacy by doing

Our advocacy goes beyond influencing alone.

Through pioneering practices, informed by WHO global guidance, we strengthen health systems and support governments to roll out, scale up and implement policies thereby increasing sustainable access to services.

We have always pioneered an ‘advocacy by doing’ approach. We do this in our own unique way - showing what works, pushing for change and ensuring reforms are then implemented – using our expertise so that women and girls are no longer denied the services they have a right to.

For further information about our advocacy work please contact Bethan Cobley, Director of Results Based Advocacy.