Women's Organizations: A Resource for Family Planning and Development

Abstract

Womens organizations such as political professional social welfare religious community development family planning government program and commercial associations have increasingly assumed leadership in providing fertility control in the developing world as part of their concern with socioeconomic development and political change. The Nepal Womens Organization a political association initiated a program in 1973 to bring family planning services to 1000 villages assist in the official sterilization program and promote literacy and economic skill development. Volunteers selected from their villages on the basis of leadership and interest attend a 10-day seminar on family planning nutrition child care sanitation immunization literacy and marketing handicrafts. As a close relationship between acceptor and worker is essential each attempts to reach 20-30 women. The objective is to have 800 village workers operating by July 1978. The Womens Medical Society of Ecuador has provided clinic-based services for 8000 clients in urban slums since 1973. The Thai Nurses Association plans a new family planning service unit in addition to their research and publication efforts begun in 1975. Social welfare organizations in Korea Sri Lanka Pakistan Thailand Egypt and the Philippines are conducting family planning services. The Social Welfare Society of Pakistan and the Cairo Womens Club have active programs where volunteers are trained to serve their own communities. A womens leadership program conducted by the Korean National Council of Churches is reaching 1/3 of all women aged 20-44 serving 40000 users in the 1st year. Concerned Women a family planning association in Bangladesh enrolled 5634 acceptors and 154 underwent voluntary sterilization. A promising strategy by the Coptic Evangelical Services in middle Egypt has proved successful in 8 villages where the approval of the village leadership is 1st sought. The Raaidat program of Egypt has trained rural women as leaders to organize self-help programs. Population control and food production are the aim of 87 cooperative societies staffed by women of the Integrated Rural Development Program of Bangladesh.