This year, the Organization for Dialogue on Safe Abortion celebrated two years since its launch in 2021. This initiative was born of the desire of technical and financial partners working on sexual and reproductive health rights in the Francophone African region. The ODAS Center provides technical assistance to partners in the region and aims to accompany the safe abortion movement in Francophone Africa by providing all the necessary support to facilitate collaboration, sharing and learning, sustainable partnerships and access to resources.
Over the past two years, the ODAS Center has focused on creating and strengthening a strong, united movement for safe abortion in 22 French-speaking African countries. For the ODAS Center, this has meant:
- To organize the ODAS movement and federate the various players working on the safe abortion ecosystem in French-speaking Africa.
- Coordinate the strategies of partners committed to access to safe abortion in the region
- Support the partners of the safe abortion movement in French-speaking Africa from a technical, organizational and operational point of view.
- Facilitate dialogue between the various partners at national and regional levels
- Strengthen young people’s participation in the movement.
The road to a world where all women and girls in French-speaking Africa can exercise their rights and fully enjoy bodily autonomy remains strewn with pitfalls.
In its two years of existence, the ODAS Center has encountered a number of challenges. Firstly, restrictive legislation has emerged as a major obstacle, hindering women’s and girls’ access to essential sexual and reproductive health care.
In French-speaking Africa, 17 countries have ratified the Maputo Protocol. While this figure is encouraging, challenges remain in terms of publicizing states’ commitments, ratifying texts and implementing decrees to enable all women and girls in the region to benefit fully from the content of these texts.
Moreover, stigma, discrimination and social burdens continue to pose significant challenges, creating social barriers that reinforce myths and misinformation about safe abortion and bodily autonomy. This stigma hinders women’s and girls’ access to reproductive health services, including safe abortion, exacerbating gender inequalities. The lack of education on sexuality presented a further challenge, underlining the need for greater efforts to raise awareness and empower our communities.
Finally, the cultural and religious interpretations used by anti-rights movements create obstacles for the ODAS movement in promoting the fundamental reproductive health rights of women and girls, specifically on the issue of safe abortion.
02 years of coordinating the safe abortion movement in French-speaking Africa: 5 key lessons learned
Over the past two years, the ODAS Center has learned essential lessons in its mission to coordinate the safe abortion movement, underscoring the conviction that this mission, while complex, is far from impossible:
- Achieving a strong movement depends on shared understanding and collective commitment. It is imperative that all stakeholders share a common vision of the safe abortion agenda and regional priorities. Individual commitment to actively contributing to this agenda and aligning every action with regional priorities is also crucial to the movement’s success.
- The need to invest time in creating and consolidating a movement. Significant results require long-term commitment and perseverance to overcome the challenges inherent in this mission.
- Flexibility in terms of strategic orientations and human resources management proved to be a key component. The creation and consolidation of a movement requires a diversity of skills and agile resource management to maximize operational efficiency. Flexibility in the allocation of financial resources has enabled significant progress to be made over the past two years, demonstrating that the partnership between the ODAS Centre and its financial partners is a fundamental pillar of progress.
- Cross-sector coordination through communities of practice. This cross-sector collaboration has strengthened synergy within the ODAS movement, demonstrating that cross-sector coordination is an essential element in maximizing the impact and reach of our mission. These regular exchanges and cross-sector collaboration have contributed to strengthening synergy within the ODAS movement.
Our projections for the coming years
The ODAS Center remains determined to pursue its mission of coordinating a strong, dynamic regional movement committed to safe abortion in French-speaking Africa. The Centre will consolidate existing frameworks for exchange, sharing and solidarity between members, placing greater emphasis on mutual support and protection of movement members in the face of anti-rights dynamics. Together, our objectives are to
- Support the movement’s partners to expand access to safe abortion care in French-speaking Africa by improving all components of the sustainable abortion ecosystem Facilitate interaction and sharing
- To support the movement’s partners in their efforts to create the necessary conditions for access to all services related to safe abortion in French-speaking Africa (well-being, psychological support, post-abortion care, etc.).
- Contribute to strengthening action methodologies based on the experience of other regions
- To pursue our mission of providing technical assistance to the ODAS movement by facilitating interaction, sharing of best practice and joint action between members.
Our thanks
The ODAS Centre would like to express its gratitude to the members of the ODAS movement for their commitment, boldness, support and tireless dedication over the past two years. These members have been the pillars of the movement, actively contributing to the achievement of the ambitious goals we have set ourselves. Their shared understanding of the common agenda for safe abortion has been a driving force, creating a unity of action that transcends geographical and cultural boundaries.
We are also deeply grateful to our dedicated and flexible financial partners who support our mission. We salute their commitment to understanding our challenges, coupled with their flexible leadership. These elements have been an essential catalyst for the significant progress made by the ODAS Center. Their confidence in our vision has been a constant encouragement to persevere in our quest to guarantee the sexual health rights of women and girls.
We express our deep gratitude to all those who have contributed to making the ODAS movement a dynamic and inclusive force. It is through this collective collaboration that we are confident we can meet future challenges and continue to work together for universal access to quality safe abortion care. Thank you for your commitment and determination.