Population and Reproductive Health
Human Rights

Population and Reproductive Rights
Two themes form the core of the area's grantmaking:

• Reducing maternal mortality and morbidity; and
• Advancing young people's sexual and reproductive health and rights.

The Foundation's work on maternal mortality will increase the chances that women will have safer pregnancies and deliveries, a worthy goal in itself, but also an indicator of the availability of services that are needed for women to make informed reproductive choices. The focus on young people is expected to increase the likelihood that they will make wise choices about their sexual activities. Given the effects of population momentum and the large cohort of young people, any delay in childbearing will have a major effect on population growth rates.

Maternal Mortality and Morbidity
Maternal mortality is an area in which little progress has been observed in the last decade; it is also the area in which the most dramatic differences exist between richer and poorer countries. Most maternal deaths are preventable, given sufficient resources.

Strategies
The Foundation supports efforts of civil society organizations that are effective in analyzing how public funds are allocated and in providing a sound basis for budget allocations for health. While a solution in this area lies partly in the hands of the health system, it is also dependent on the educational and legal systems. Women need access to good care, but they also need an enabling legal environment to avoid unsafe abortion, one of the major causes of maternal death and morbidity. Women's health needs must be recognized in the first instance by their partners and their immediate families.  Comprehensive sexuality education programs that foster gender equality can cultivate this recognition. The Foundation supports civil society organizations that work for changes needed in health, education, and legal policies and help to create the political will needed for their implementation. Special attention is given to activities that focus on increased budgets for maternal health, decreased deaths from abortion, and improved access to quality emergency obstetric care.

Young People's Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
The sexual and reproductive decisions made by today's youth will have great impact on their personal lives and on society. Indeed, the largest contribution to the size of the world population in the future comes from population momentum, and an important way to diminish its effects is to increase the interval between generations - that is, by postponing the birth of the first child. From a reproductive health standpoint, adolescents are especially vulnerable. They have extremely high rates of maternal mortality, are targets of sexual assault, and have STD and HIV infection rates that are higher than among adults.

Strategies
The Foundation supports initiatives that increase the availability of gender-sensitive sexuality education and confidential youth-friendly health services. For example, the Foundation will support model sexuality programs for in and out of school youth, improve young people's access to reproductive health services, and promote an enabling environmental for young people to seek those services.

Funding
Grants are awarded only to organizations that define clear objectives for their work and measures of progress toward those objectives. Typically, the Foundation provides multi-year support.  Proposals must fit clearly within the geographic and thematic priorities of the Population and Reproductive Health area to be considered.

Organizations interested in applying for support should submit a letter of inquiry to the Foundation. The format for these letters can be found in How to Apply.

Questions about this grantmaking area can be e-mailed to population at the MacArthur Foundation.

Human Rights
Human rights are championed by a growing web of civic organizations around the world, a network made possible in large part by advances in information and communication technology and a trend toward greater democracy in many countries.  Following a decade of civil wars in which human rights abuses were ignored or sanctioned by state leaders, there is also a growing consensus that the world needs a justice system to protect the rights of all citizens, not just those with benevolent governments. These trends present opportunities to strengthen and expand the human rights movement, to embed the body of norms and standards laid out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights within national legal systems, to establish the International Criminal Court, and to reconsider the international community's responsibility for protection of civilians at risk of grave human rights violations.

To consolidate the human rights movement in Mexico, grants are made to national and local organizations and networks to monitor and document human rights abuses and, when appropriate, to seek redress for violations through national and international courts.   Focus states include Jalisco and Guerrero Special attention is given to the issue of police reform, including efforts to develop baseline data on policing and human rights and to promote police accountability. Projects that seek to strengthen Mexico's ombudsman system are also a priority.

Funding
An organization wishing to approach the Foundation for support to advance human rights in Mexico may submit a letter of inquiry (LOI) informing the Foundation of the proposed project. The format for these letters can be found in the section How to Apply. Deadlines for the submission of LOIs related to this grantmaking are listed below.  Following a multi-stage review process, selected applicants will be invited to submit full proposals for grants to be considered by the Foundation's Board of Directors.

Questions about this grantmaking area can be e-mailed to Mexico at the MacArthur Foundation.