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The mission of the Women’s League of Cite Soleil is to build the capacity of everyone in the population of Cite Soleil – women, boys, men – to take charge of their health.
Despite other activities, such as education or conflict management, health is our priority.
Our program focuses on family planning awareness among adult women.
We work with the youth to explain the best way to plan their lives to reduce juvenile delinquency, early pregnancy, and overpopulation.
First, we are from the community and we put positive action into the community of Cite Soleil. We are positive leaders.
When we undertake an activity, we bring together people from each area and show the benefits of the activity.
We have meetings with the troublemakers of the area, commonly known as "chimeres."
We show them the benefits of participating in the community programs, but also explain the drawbacks of not participating.
In this way, family planning becomes a lot more acceptable to them.This approach has allowed the program to go well so far
Yes, they actually come to us a lot and it is these cases that we encounter most often
Our program officers are advocates. They explain to families the importance of the Family Planning Program from door to door at the community level. They build awareness of the program.
They motivate them to participate. When people are not home, we leave information about how they can contact the Women's League. People can also come to our office and we advise them on their family planning choices.
The League provides advice on the method chosen. Sometimes we accompany patients to a clinic to support them when they choose their desired method.
Sometimes the people we have provided information to, offer to assist us in other family planning outreach activities. This is a really positive outcome.
At the community level there were other organizations and health centers providing other services, but no one was informing the community about the importance of using family planning.
However in the context of family planning, there were no services offered in this area because there were many taboos about using family planning.
The men did not see the need and did not accept it.
After we organized focus groups, public activities, and training sessions in schools, the women and men became interested in the program and learning more about the services we were advocating.
Now the people of Cite Soleil are willing to choose a family planning method.
Men are now involved in the focus groups.
They not only accompany the women, but they also encourage their wives to use a family planning method to ensure they have control of their lives in terms of the number of children they want
The men are actively participating in the community awareness programs.
A man told me “You can’t imagine the importance of what you are doing by providing the family planning services. It is liberating for us. We feel free, my wife and I, to decide for our life.”
They are actively and positively participating in our outreach programs.
For us, the Leadership, Development Program has been incredibly important. The LDP has shown us how to identify the sources of the problems, how to bring together stakeholders, and those who can help as part of a program at the community level
It has shown us how to inform people and how to motivate people.
The LDP has enabled us to achieve the results we obtained and it is a tool that accompanies us and guides us in everything we do.
Without the LDP, we would not be able to do what we have done…