Canon Grace Kaiso has called on development partners to empower faith communities into using their spaces and
institutions to promote family planning.
The chairperson of Faith to Action Network said on this on July 11, 2017 while addressing the Family Planning Summit in London, UK. He was accompanied by Prof Ahmed Ragab and Peter Munene, the Vice Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer respectively of Faith to Action Network.
In his presentation, Canon Kaiso felt sorry that religion is wrongly associated with impeding quality of life, “because as you well know religion is about enhancing life, it’s about improving life, improving the quality of life and creating opportunities for people.” He added, “Faith communities are at grassroots they have seen the impact of early pregnancies on girls and how that is impacting on their opportunities in terms of access to education and many other issues that are related to poor access to family planning information and services.”
He said global efforts to reach Family Planning 2020 goals and ensure that more women and girls around the world are able to plan their families and their futures, have both moral and scientific dimensions. “This is where the faith communities come in strongly to challenge traditional attitudes towards family planning by making the interlinkages between quality of life and access to family planning services and information,” he added.
In his appeal to development partners, Canon Kaiso pointed at the promising interventions by Faith to Action Network (F2A), such as mobilising faith communities into conversations with emerging champions around issues particularly issues that are being felt at the communities. He referenced this form of capacity building to the Holy Scriptures where “Iron sharpens Iron” (Proverbs 27: 17 and Hebrews 4:12).
Other interventions already in place by Faith to Action Network include mapping studies on faith-based approaches to SRHR in Indonesia, India and Africa, study on teenage pregnancy in Kenya’s Kilifi County, and the community educational caravan at the Kenyan Coast.
A video recording of the address by Canon Grace Kaiso is available at this link.
The Family Planning Summit is a meeting of policymakers, donors and advocates from around the world to discuss strategies for realizing Family Planning 2020 goals. It was hosted by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and UK’s Department for International Development.