“An intensive training program, focusing on Sexual and Reproductive Health, including Family Planning, was jointly organized by the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and the Centre for Excellence in Journalism at the Institute of Business Administration (CEJ-IBA) from August 11 to 13, 2023,” reports kashif shamim siddiqui from karachi.
The participants selected for this valuable project are journalists who were trained during the first National Media Fellowship.
The chosen fellows, representing diverse media outlets, underwent specialized training to gain a nuanced understanding of family planning and the UNFPA’s “Sihaat Mand Khaandaan (SMK) Project; Health Families for Pakistan Through Accelerating Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) and Family Planning (FP) Services.
The SMK, funded by the Global Affairs Canada (GAC) through the High Commission of Canada to Pakistan is a project which seeks to advance the rights and reproductive health of women, young people, and adolescents in the project’s focus areas. The goal of the initiative is to accelerate family planning and sexual reproductive health services from 2020 to 2024 to establish healthy families in Pakistan.
Exposure visits to different SMK project areas were also conducted during the training. The expected outcome of this project is to generate stories by media fellows that highlight the impact of the SMK and build awareness of the importance of reproductive health and rights. The stories will create a better understanding of the challenges faced by women, adolescents, and youth in accessing quality sexual reproductive health and family planning services and how the SMK is making a difference.
