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Changing the Law, Changing the Lives

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Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. The Center’s role
  3. Project partners
Introduction

Across Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean, systemic challenges—such as restrictive laws, weak health systems, a lack of resources for sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), and stigma—impair women and adolescents’ access to SRHR information and services.

To combat these challenges, the Center for Reproductive Rights has joined with 18 partners in 13 countries across Africa and Latin America to implement the Changing the Law, Changing Lives project. Funded by Global Affairs Canada, the project will apply legal advocacy strategies and leverage international standards to promote and protect SRHR in global, regional, and national contexts.

Read the project's brief

Once implemented, the project will help to:

  1. Strengthen equal promotion and protection of women and adolescents’ SRHR by global and regional human rights mechanisms.
  2. Increase leadership by women and adolescents (particularly those experiencing poverty, marginalization, and exclusion) by connecting their lived experiences to advocacy efforts in global, regional, and national contexts.
  3. Strengthen national governments’ equal promotion and protection of SRHR

The Center’s role

The Center’s role in the project

The Center is working with its partners to provide legal expertise and implement tailored legal advocacy strategies in 13 countries. These strategies will address specific systemic challenges and SRHR violations affecting women and adolescents—especially those facing poverty, marginalization, and exclusion.

By strengthening partnerships with national organizations, the project will:

  • Build legal entities’ capacity to respond to anti-SRHR and anti-gender equality movements led by conservative political and religious groups.
  • Employ a “build, enforce, and defend” approach to protect progressive SRHR norms grounded in regional standards.
  • Amplify the voices of women, adolescents, and civil society organizations in shaping national and regional policies.

Additionally, by engaging with global platforms like the United Nations, the project will uphold accountability for SRHR, translating international standards into impactful regional and national frameworks across Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

Project partners