This is the abstract presentation of Biplabi Shrestha, which took place as part of the fifth session of #APCRSHR10 #Virtual on the theme of "Climate change and sexual and #reproductivehealth and rights in Asia and the Pacific" | more details are online at www.bit.ly/apcrshr10virtual5 SESSION CHAIR Noelene Nabulivou co-founder Diverse Voices and Action for Equality (DIVA), Fiji PLENARY SPEAKER Adrian Hayes School of Demography, Australian National University Improving SRHR in an age of climate change and sustainable development A B S T R A C T P R E S E N T A T I O N S Leiloa Asaasa SRH and building stronger Samoan communities through the Community Disaster and Climate Risk Management (CDCRM) program Safieh Shahriari Afshar Humanitarian assistance through the provision of SRH services in flood affected areas of Golestan Province, Islamic Republic of Iran by Family Health Association of Iran Biplabi Shrestha Raising the bar on SRHR in the Age of Climate Change through Women and Earth (WORTH) Initiative Ashish Bajracharya How Do Environmental Changes Affect the Health and Wellbeing of Vulnerable Populations in South and Southeast Asia: Evidence from Country Studies in Cambodia, India and Pakistan For more information on APCRSHR10 Virtual, go to www.bit.ly/apcrshr10virtual #SRHR #sexualhealth #reproductiverights #familyplanning #womenshealth #LGBT #genderequality #SDGs

2. Raising the bar on SRHR in the Age of Climate
Change
Women and Earth (WORTH) Initiative
Biplabi Shrestha
Asian-Pacific Resource & Research Centre for Women
(ARROW)

3. The Asian Pacific Resource and
Research Centre for Women
(ARROW) is a regional non-
profit organization with a
consultative status with the
Economic and Social Council of
the United Nations (ECOSOC).
We work with more than 80
national organisations in 17
countries in the region.
About ARROW
Vision: An equal, just and equitable world, where every woman and young person
enjoys their full sexual and reproductive rights.

4. • Monitoring and Evidence
Generation for Change
• Mobilising communities for
SRHR accountability
• Building New Constituencies
for SRHR
• Information and
communications for Change
• Advocacy

5. • Perspective Building
• Research and scoping studies
• Development of advocacy briefs
• Advocacy at national, regional an
international levels
Climate Change and SRHR

7. The region is vulnerable to
floods, cyclones, earthquakes,
droughts, storms and tsunamis.
Forty-five
percent of the
world’s natural
disasters have
occurred in the
region in the
last three
decades.
More than 200 mil people
were affected, which
constitutes 90% of the world
total; more than 70,000 were
killed by natural disasters,
which represent 65% of world
total annually.
Vulnerable to
disasters
45%
200
mil
Asia and the Pacific is at the forefront
of experiencing the impact of climate
change.

8. Impacts of climate change related events are not gender-neutral;
women and girls are more vulnerable and disproportionately
impacted due to pre- existing gender inequalities

9. Gendered Impacts specially on
SRHR
• Added burden within the households
• Girls dropping out of school to help gather energy, food and
water needs of families
• Early age marriage used as a coping strategy in many poor
communities
• Gender-based violence within family increased
• Sexual violence in camps
• Food insecurity and malnutrition of girls and women
• Lack of access to health care services specially for SRH

11. Gaps and Challenges
• Lack of accountability framework
• Women are made invisible in
environment and climate related
discourses
• Limited or no spaces for CSOs in
decision making spaces
• Disconnected processes: national
regional and global
• Absence of human rights framework
• Lack or absence of gender
mainstreaming and SRHR in climate
related policies and programmes –
despite Gender Action Plan (GAP)
• Use of ‘population control’ narrative

12. ARROW’s Advocacy Work
• Traditional
• Innovative

14. Women and Earth Initiative (WORTH)
Innovative Ideas for Equitable and Sustainable Change
…business as usual is
inadequate to meet the
challenges of today and their
consequences

15. An Innovation Programme and fund
A platform to unleash creativity
and develop new integrated
solutions to gender equality,
sexual and reproductive health
and rights and environmental
sustainability.

16. The lack of knowledge about
interlinkages between SRHR and
environmental
sustainability/climate change
The lack of civil society capacity to
innovate the work for these
interlinkages to be translated into
policies and practices
The lack of civil society owned
funding opportunities to realize
advocacy work and projects.
Three issues will be
addressed

17. Overall Purpose
Sexual and reproductive health and rights
are respected, protected and fulfilled as an
end goal in itself and as a fundamental
means to achieve gender equality, human
well-being and environmental
sustainability
Goal
To foster innovation and creation of ideas to
solve the challenges that exist in the nexus
between SRHR and climate
change/environmental sustainability

18. Key Component : Innovation learning Lab
Innovation Learning Labs: 1) raise awareness
of environmental civil society
representatives about the interlinkages
between SRHR and environmental
sustainability/climate change, and 2)
capacity strengthening on how to develop
ideas and implement innovative work

19. The Lab consists of
two physical and
one online course
modules, which
together form a
comprehensive
capacity
development setup

20. Key Components: Civil Society Based Funding
Mechanism
Civil society based Funding Mechanism: to
support advocacy activity implementation
using a setup that is owned by civil society
itself. Lab participants are able to apply for
funding to test, develop and implement their
innovative ideas.

21. Countries …
Bangladesh
Myanmar
Pakistan
Philippines
Partners and
Committee
ARROW
DFPA
Steering Committee
Advisory Board
Working Group

22. WORTH First Cohort grantees
‘Cookie Jar for SRHR’
‘SRHR and Environmental
Defenders for Climate-
resilient Healthcare’
‘ Step in the Lobby’
‘Media Molds for Women
and SRHR in Climate Change’
project.

23. Media Molds…
Pakistan

24. SRHR and Environmental
Defenders …
Philippines

25. Cookie Jar for
SRHR

26. Twitter
@WorthInitiative
Website
www.worthinitiative.org

27. Thank you