A Commitment to Research and Innovation for SRH in humanitarian settings
Commitment description:The International Rescue Committee reaffirms its commitment to bringing the promise of the ICPD Programme of Action to women and girls whose lives have been shattered by conflict. Recognizing that humanitarian settings have made uneven gains in reducing maternal mortality and reducing the unmet need for contraception, the IRC commits to making sexual and reproductive health (SRH) an organization research and innovation priority. This will include investments in generating a set of innovations and ground-breaking research on the most effective interventions to reduce the incidence and consequences of unintended pregnancy in humanitarian contexts. Specifically, in the next five years, the IRC aims to identify feasible and effective approaches for increasing access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services in acute and protracted emergencies. This includes investing in interventions to make comprehensive SRH services accessible at the onset of every crisis, elevating the voices, priorities, and preferences of women and girls, and empowering individuals and organizations to demand that recovery efforts include quality health services for all.
These efforts are critical to achieving Universal Health Coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals and to ensuring women and girls living in humanitarian setting are not left behind.
Understanding the link between gender equality and women’s and girl’s ability to control their lives, bodies, and fertility, this commitment is directly aligned with the IRC's goal of becoming a feminist organization driving gender equality in crisis settings through a feminist approach to policy and practice.
Modes of engagement:
- Budgetary and financialWe will make financial investments in ground breaking research on the most effective interventions to reduce the incidence and consequences of unintended pregnancy in humanitarian settings in the next five years.
- Policy and guidanceWe will continue advocating for policies that increase access to comprehensive SRH from the onset of every emergency including through full implementation of the MISP guidance to ensure organizations can quickly and effectively respond to SRH needs.
- Programmatic actionWhile researching new interventions, we will continue executing programs that strengthen local and national health systems to ensure uninterrupted delivery of comprehensive SRH services at all phases of a crisis.
Uphold the right to sexual and reproductive health care in humanitarian and fragile contexts(12) Ensuring that the basic humanitarian needs and rights of affected populations, especially that of girls and women, are addressed as critical components of responses to humanitarian and environmental crises, as well as fragile and post-crisis reconstruction contexts, through the provision of access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health information, education and services, including access to safe abortion services to the full extent of the law, and post-abortion care, to significantly reduce maternal mortality and morbidity, sexual and gender-based violence and unplanned pregnancies under these conditions.
