Family Planning Advocacy Course Inaugurated at Islamic University, Al Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt

4/25/2002

From: Pamela Pine of the Futures Group 202-775-9680 ext. 529

CAIRO, Egypt, April 25 -- Al Azhar University in Cairo, the oldest Moslem religious institution in the world, has taken a very important step by expanding its support to the national family planning program through an innovative new program designed to assist rural women in Egypt. According to Dr. Mona Khalifa, Egypt's Country Director for the POLICY Project -- a project administered by Futures Group and partners CEDPA and Research Triangle Institute with funding by USAID/Cairo, "the misinterpretation of religion has always been a barrier in seeking family planning services among women, but students at Al Azhar now have a curriculum that deals with religion and women's issues."

The project goal is to build the capacity of female students from Al Azhar University to advocate for family planning and reproductive health in their local communities upon their graduation. The Ministry of Health and Population is encouraging the activity and has promised ten awards for the best student advocates. This program is expected to greatly increase understanding and use of family planning and reproductive health services among the rural poor, and improve the health of the women, infants and young children in Egypt.

The reform effort began in December 2000 when two policy advocates or 'champions' from the Faculty of Humanities at Al-Azhar University attended round table discussions at POLICY offices. The discussions covered topics from reproductive health for youth, gender issues, and women's reproductive rights. Individuals received relevant information that strengthened their ability to analyze current policy and develop reform strategies within the university.

The earliest result of efforts was a session on reproductive health at Al-Azhar University called "Women's Issues: An Islamic Perspective." The president of the university headed the conference, which was attended by reproductive health specialist and hundreds of female university students. A primary recommendation called for the integration of family planning/ reproductive health topics into the Faculty of Human Studies curriculum. The supreme council of Al-Azhar has since convened and agreed to move forward with the proposed reform.

The University approved the teaching of population education this year that will include a wide-ranging curriculum including reproductive health, legal reproductive rights, and related topics. Dr. Samya El-Gendy, Head of the Childhood Section within the Faculty of Humanities, will be organizing workshops for Al-Azhar's female students to train on family planning advocacy and reproductive health. Sixteen women and men faculty received training from POLICY and will train over 400 female students this year.

More details available on our Web site: www.tfgi.com. Facts about Futures Group below.

----- Futures Group, established in 1971, with organizational and programmatic offices in the United States, Europe, and throughout the developing world, is a global leader in public health and social concerns helping address some of the world's most pressing and difficult problems. Futures Group is known for its expertise in policy, communications, social marketing programs, and program and project management in numerous subjects ranging from population planning, adolescent reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, other communicable diseases, safe motherhood, child survival, economics, education, community/NGO organization, gender analysis, migration, forestry and fuel wood management, and brown and green environmental issues. Futures Group successfully works in developing countries to build and strengthen local capacity to use advocacy, policy modeling and projections to address critical development issues. Futures Group has applied this expertise in over 40 countries to help local scientists and politicians bring research and information on controversial topics to the forefront to spur intervention by key decision makers.