Advocacy is one of Family Planning International’s key work areas. We view it as a process of influencing decision makers and public perceptions about issues of concern and mobilising action to address those issues of concern. We carry out our advocacy:
At the national level, Family Planning International is active in motivating New Zealanders to take action on global population and development issues. This includes organising events, producing briefings and resources, and working to influence policy makers and the media.
To raise awareness of the issues we work with among the public, Family Planning International has most recently begun hosting lunch time sessions, which we call ‘What’s Eating FPI?’.
Keep an eye out on our Events page for the next 'What's Eating FPI?'.
A big part of our national advocacy work is providing technical and secretariat support to parliamentarians to take action on population and development issues in the Asia-Pacific region.
Family Planning International houses the secretariat of the New Zealand Parliamentarians’ Group on Population and Development (NZPPD), which is a group of just under 40% of all current New Zealand Members of Parliament, committed to furthering the ICPD agenda.
Read more about NZPPD here.
Family Planning International works to build relationships with organisations with similar mandates in the Pacific. These include regional governmental bodies, donor organisations as well as NGOs. We monitor action around population and development issues in the Pacific, and ensure that policies, strategies and programmes address sexual and reproductive health needs.
Family Planning International is an active member of WRAP (Women’s Rights and Advocacy in the Pacific), which is an Aotearoa-based group made up of New Zealand organisations promoting the rights of women and girls pertaining to health, economy, political empowerment and climate change in the Pacific.
Working at the global level is a crucial aspect of Family Planning International’s work. This work involves engaging with UN processes and attending United Nations meetings (such as the UN Commission of Population and Development and the Commission on the Status of Women), presenting at global conferences, and being actively involved in international networks and coalitions working on issues on the ICPD agenda. FPI is a UN ECOSOC accredited member organisation.
Read more about FPI's engagement with the UN here.
We are also active members of the Asia Pacific Alliance for Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (APA) who jointly take action on international population and development issues.
APA is a network of organisations from seven Pacific Rim countries who work to ensure that we all enjoy the key areas of the International Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action:
- sexual and reproductive health; sustainable development;
- environmental sustainability;
- education;
- gender equality.
Each of the seven member countries has a group of organisations from that country who are members. These members jointly take action on international population and development issues.
The New Zealand APA coalition includes:
The coalition has been working in New Zealand since 1999 and has undertaken many interesting and effective projects. APA New Zealand coalition activities have included: