Family Care International (FCI) strives to empower young people by providing them with the information, skills, and services they need to make responsible decisions about their sexual and reproductive lives. 1.2 billion young people between the ages of 10 and 19 are currently living in the world—85% of them in developing countries—representing the largest generation of adolescents ever. Meeting the needs of this underserved population is critical to FCI’s mission to ensure access to life-saving services and information to improve health, and to avoid unwanted pregnancy and HIV infection. We advocate for greater attention to young people’s needs and craft educational materials to reach adolescents and the groups that serve them. Finally, we work with reproductive health care providers to help them make their services more welcoming to young people.

Increasing Recognition of Youth Rights

At the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Children in May 2002, FCI worked with a coalition of more than 50 Northern and Southern non-governmental organizations to advance recognition of and protection for adolescents’ sexual and reproductive health and rights, preserve language supportive of the ICPD agenda, and counter opposition. In Latin America and the Caribbean, FCI is working with local partners at the national level to increase awareness and promote the implementation of supportive national youth laws and policies.

Increasing Access to Education and Information

FCI develops and disseminates education materials for youth on sexuality, reproductive health and building life skills in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and trains youth-serving organizations to use the materials effectively. Studies show that adolescents who receive comprehensive sexuality education are more likely to delay sexual activity, less likely to engage in risky sexual practices, more likely to use condoms and other contraceptives, have fewer sexual partners, and have sex less often than those who do not. Adolescent health programs are most successful when young people are active participants in design, implementation and evaluation.

Preventing the Spread of HIV/AIDS

In partnership with local organizations in Kenya, Mali, and Tanzania, FCI hasadvocated for the creation and implementation of policies and programs that will help young people, especially girls, avoid HIV/AIDS.

Building Capacity

FCI is working to strengthen the capacity of groups working with rural, indigenous and other vulnerable youth in several countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, and sub-Saharan Africa. We have developed  tools that youth-serving groups can use to plan, monitor and evaluate their work with adolescents, and to advocate for increased youth-friendly health services.

Strengthening the capacity of youth-serving partners in Latin America and the Caribbean

FCI's regional initiative aims to improve the reproductive health and rights of young people, particularly in poor and indigenous communities, in Latin America and the Caribbean. We work with community based organizations as well as youth-serving networks and organizations to strengthen their ability to reach young people with vital information and services. The project began in 2005 and is funded by UNFPA’s Latin American and Caribbean division.

FCI provides technical assistance to strengthen the institutional capacity of community based organizations to increase young people’s access to sexual and reproductive health services and information. As part of this effort, we have developed a number of important tools in Spanish, available to download:

The Methodological Guide for Participatory Needs Assessment

The Methodological Guide for Participatory Needs Assessment is a Spanish-language toolkit adapted from FCI’s Rural Girls Project conducted in West Africa.
Participatory tools to assess the unmet sexual and reproductive health needs of indigenous and rural young people; allowing community groups to involve youth directly in mapping their issues and identifying their priorities.
A report is available of the findings and recommendations from the participatory needs assessment conducted in Beni, Bolivia.

Género, generaciones y derechos: nuevos enfoques de
trabajo con jóvenes 

A toolkit to guide organizations and programs in developing strategies to reach young people, with an emphasis on rights. The tool kit includes a series of guides on rights, gender, generational issues, and others.


Tú, tu vida, tu sueños: un manual para gente jóven

A manual for young people, as well as teachers, peer educators, counselors, and others who work with youth.  Based on You, Your Life, Your Dreams, which was first developed by FCI in Anglophone Africa and since adapted and distributed worldwide, this book increases young people’s knowledge of sexual and reproductive health issues in a friendly, age-appropriate way, and has been extensively pre-tested by hundreds of young people in the region. (index and chapter 10 available)
         
Monitoreo y evaluatión de proyetos de salud sexual y  reproductiva con jóvenes

A manual  to guide programs’ monitoring and evaluation of their youth programming.