A Voice For the Voiceless
The Advocacy Project helps marginalized communities to tell their story, claim their rights and produce social change. We recruit graduate students to volunteer as Peace Fellows with partners.
- Africa
- Asia
- Afghan Women's Network
- The Blind Education and Rehabilitation Development Organization
- eHomemakers
- Home for Human Rights
- Jagaran Media Center
- Oruj Learning Center
- Association for Empowerment of People with Disabilities
- Backward Society Education (BASE)
- Chintan Environmental Action and Research Group
- Women's Reproductive Rights Program (WRRP)
- Europe
- Latin America and the Caribbean
- Middle East
- North America
- Outreach Partners
- Criteria for Partners
The Impact of Service
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Women's Reproductive Rights Program (WRRP)
WRRP
Women's Reproductive Rights Program
Issue: Uterine Prolapse
Region: Asia
Location: Kathmandu, Nepal
Background
The mission of the WRRP (formerly the Uterine Prolapse Alliance, or UPA) is to work in a collaborative 
manner to reduce the prevalence of uterine prolapse amongst Nepalese women of all age groups and diversities, primarily by increasing coordination between various government and non-government stakeholders and by promoting a national consensus strategy on the prevention and treatment of the condition.
Uterine prolapse is a reproductive health condition burdening hundreds of thousands of women in Nepal (see the joint report by UNFPA and TU Teaching hospital, Kathmandu, for more on this and other reproductive morbidities in Nepal). A recent report by the UNFPA found that 600,000 women in Nepal suffered from prolapse, and that 200,000 of those needed immediate surgery.
A study by Bodner-Adler et al. in 2007 examined the risk factors contributing to the high prevalence of uterine prolapse in Nepal. Many of those factors--such as the continued heavy work that women perform while pregnant and soon after delivery and lack of access to trained birth attendants--can be linked to conditions of rural life in Nepal.
In August 2006, in response to the growing evidence of the problem of uterine prolapse and other reproductive health conditions in Nepal, the Second National Conference on Safe Motherhood brought diverse stakeholders together from across Nepal to address the situation. At the urging of the Women's Development and Unity Centre (RUWDUC), Centre for Eco-Agriculture Development (CAED), and COSAN (among other organizations), separate sessions were scheduled at the conference to discuss uterine prolapse. From these special sessions emerged the impetus for the Uterine Prolapse Alliance (UPA): a coalition of committed organizations, individuals and experts dedicated to improving the prevention and treatment of uterine prolapse in Nepal.
Telling the Story
Photographs:
Take a look at Peace Fellow Kate Bollinger's Flickr photos
Take a look at Peace Fellow Chelsea Ament's Flickr photos
Videos:
Watch AP's playlist on WRRP
Peace Fellow Blogs:
2012: Heather Webb (New York University)
2011: Chelsea Ament (McMaster Univeristy)
2010: Kate Bollinger (Monterey Institute)
2008: Libby Abbott (Brown University)
2007: Nicole Farkouh (UC Berkeley)
Quilting and Other Projects:
With the assistance of 2011 Peace Fellow Kate Bollinger, the women of the WRRP created three Advocacy Quilts from panels that were hand-painted by prolapse survivors in the community using traditional Nepali Mithila art. The "Mahilako Swastha" (Women's Health) quilts have been displayed internationally, including at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City in honor of International Women's Day 2012.
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| The Mahilako Swastha Quilts depict images of everyday life of women in Kathmandu, Nepal. |
Reports:
- The CAED, a leading member of the alliance, has produced a Uterine Prolapse Study Report based on a survey carried out in two districts to map the prevalence and characteristics of uterine prolapse in the region.
- Advocacy Project News Bulletin: Uterus Damage Condemns Women to Sickness and Stigma in Rural Nepal, August 2, 2007
WRRP's Work
Campaigns:
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| Artist painting a panel for one of the Mahilako Swastha quilts |
- Since its founding in 2007, WRRP has continued to hold bi-annual coalition meetings to promote a unified plan forward for the prevention and treatment of uterine prolapse; additional trainings and workshops have been organized to advance the skills and increase the coordination of all members.
- Delegates from WRRP have approached relevant authorities on the regional and national level to lobby for the cause of Nepali women affected by uterine prolapse, and a successful media campaign has helped saturate TV, radio and print media with information about the condition.
- WRRP has sponsored various educational activities to promote awareness about the condition, including trainings for community activists in the areas of Reproductive Health and Rights, Psycho-Social Counseling, etc. Because WRRP frames uterine prolapse as a product of the social environment and an issue of reproductive rights (not just a biomedical concern), they have also organized workshops for concerned NGOs on Gender and Sensitivity and the relationship between gender issues and uterine prolapse.
- Through couple-facilitated counseling sessions and other public education campaigns, motivators have encouraged over one hundred women to go forward and seek hysterectomies for the treatment of uterine prolapse; a similar number of women with second degree prolapse have been provided with ring pessaries to prevent progression of the condition. The couple-based facilitating method has proven to be effective in making uterine prolapse an issue that both men and women can discuss openly.
- Campaigners have motivated an additional 250 women to report to health centers for reproductive health check-ups, suggesting that the work of the alliance has contributed to a healthier social environment in which women can take charge of their own reproductive health. Activists have also noted the effect of educational efforts on men’s awareness and men’s attitudes, and have reported incidences of some husbands taking their wives to health posts for check-ups and diagnosis.
- Evidence of social change is apparent in the behavior of the UPA local motivators themselves, who are reporting greater ease in discussing sensitive issues of reproductive health and gender with both men and women, and who have built the confidence to approach politicians and figures of importance regarding the campaign
- WRRP has also successfully lobbied regional health centers to allocate budgets to specifically address uterine prolapse, and the national government has committed to hosting 25 surgery camps throughout the country for the treatment of the condition.
Donate to WRRP
Support WRRP in Nepal:
You must insert a dollar amount to donate.
Contact WRRP
Women's Reproductive Rights Program
PO Box 4555
Tripureshwor, Kathmandu
Nepal
Ph. No: +977-1-4238230
E-Mail : info@wrrpnepal.org
Website: www.wrrpnepal.org