Advocating for Women’s Reproductive Rights in the Forests of Colombia
This story is from Planet Women’s 2022 Mid-Year Report.
Women’s reproductive rights are top of mind in the United States right now. Planet Women believes that reproductive rights are human rights and essential to gender equity. Beyond its intrinsic value, reproductive justice has numerous positive effects on communities and nature.
Many studies show that when women have access to education and family planning, they are more likely to stay in school and pursue a career, more likely to delay pregnancy and have fewer children, and more likely to be able to provide food and education to the children they do have. And all of this leads to healthier families, improved community wellbeing, less pressure on nature and reduced carbon emissions. Women’s reproductive rights and education are a critical part of breaking cycles of poverty, violence and oppression in every society across the globe.
With support from our donors, Planet Women and Women For Conservation (W4C) have teamed up to provide education and family planning to women in Colombia. W4C is run by two Colombian women who grew up in the biodiverse forests of remote Cauca and they are passionate about protecting nature and empowering women.
W4C focuses on rural communities at the edge of nature preserves, offering them environmental education, career support and family planning. With funding from Planet Women, W4C has been able to support their staff salaries, train women to become forest guards and expand their educational offerings and family planning. Here’s what Sara Ines Lara, Executive Director of Women for Conservation, said about our partnership:
"With the support of Planet Women this past year, we have multiplied our impact exponentially and been able to serve more than six times as many people as in previous years. Every person we serve creates the potential for another girl to finish school, a mother to provide basic needs for her family, or a woman to pursue a career in conservation. Planet Women’s funding has been absolutely essential to our growth and success in this critical moment for conservation and environmental justice...Words cannot describe how incredibly grateful we are for the opportunities you have given us to profoundly change lives in the communities where we work while protecting some of the world's most critically diverse ecosystems.”
Family planning workshop in Zona Bananera, 2022. © Women for Conservation
This year, W4C had a record number of women participate in their family planning services. Health care workers from another local organization, Profamilia, provided women (and men) with health education and explained family planning options. For women who wanted an operation, W4C helped cover costs and transportation.
It’s extremely important to emphasize that these classes are given by local women whose goal is to share information and only offer health care at the request of their patients. No one is compelled to join the class or use contraception. Planet Women strongly believes that every woman deserves the right to make her own reproductive decisions.
So far in 2022, 329 people have chosen to get family planning operations (implants, tubal ligations, vasectomies) from two communities—Zona Bananera and Carmen de Atrato, both near biodiversity hotspots and key protected areas. This is an increase from last year—in large part due to word of mouth from women who’d had positive experiences with the previous family planning workshops.
“Personally, I decided to get the implant because it’s necessary to prevent unwanted and early pregnancies. This program has helped us a lot because here in our community, there are many, many girls who haven’t finished school, and they’re already pregnant...I believe that this program has been very good for all of us.” — Linda Gabriel Sierra, 20 years old
Andean cock-of-the-rock, Colombia. © Brenda Berry
Progress update from Planet Women’s current Andes-Amazon projects:
From May 2021-May 2022, 876 women participated in environmental education programs in Colombia led by Women for Conservation—from naturalist classes to ranger training to reforestation and native plant nursery workshops. And 372 women participated in sustainable livelihoods programs, from ecotourism career training to workshops for entrepreneurship.
A drone monitoring workshop was held for forest guards at the El Dorado Reserve to improve forest health surveys.
Through our partnership with the Indigenous-led group Cultural Survival, Indigenous women in the remote Amazon Rainforest are developing local radio stations and programming for their communities. Planet Women is also funding training modules for women and girls on human rights, freedom of expression, Indigenous rights, healing and decolonization, land defense, and climate solutions.
We’re celebrating Planet Women’s two-year anniversary this month! As you look back at all that’s been accomplished, please help continue the momentum by making a secure donation below.
Your support uplifts women, families, and communities and helps safeguard the precious forests, waters and wildlife that keep Earth’s ecosystems in balance. Thank you so much!