Our Vision

The International Women’s Health Coalition (IWHC) recognizes that women’s and girls’ human rights, health and equality are essential to social, environmental, and economic justice for all.

We envision a world in which all women and girls can exercise their human rights to:

• access the information, resources, and services they need to enhance and protect their health and achieve their full potential;
• make informed decisions about their sexuality, relationships, pregnancy, child-bearing, and marriage and all other matters related to their sexual and reproductive health and rights, free of discrimination, coercion, and violence; and
• participate in and assume leadership of civil society movements to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Our Mission

IWHC advances the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and young people, particularly adolescent girls, in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. IWHC furthers this agenda by supporting and strengthening leaders and organizations working at the community, national, regional, and global levels, and by advocating for international and U.S. policies, programs, and funding.

IWHC builds bridges between local realities and international policy by connecting women and young people in the Global South to key decision-makers. In doing so, IWHC brings local voices to global debates and in turn, makes global processes and policies more understandable and actionable at the local level.

Our Impact

Since our founding, we have helped build and strengthen more than 80 organizations in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. We have provided mentorship and more than $32 million in grants to women and youth advocates across these regions.

We are deeply committed to helping young women become the new champions of the global women’s movement. We give young feminists the tools and training they need to advocate effectively with their own governments and at the United Nations. Through our Advocacy in Practice workshops, we have supported more than 250 young activists from more than 60 countries to become leading advocates.

At the international level, we bring pioneering ideas to the forefront of negotiations on women’s rights and health. We play an active role at the United Nations and in Washington, DC, to promote policies and secure funding for effective programs. Our advocates have been instrumental in securing government commitments to sexual and reproductive rights and health—from the landmark population and development conference in Cairo in 1994 to the historic adoption by a consensus of 193 Member States of the United Nations of the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals in September 2015.