Describes four innovative Latin American sexual and reproductive health programs, analyzing the changes within organizations as they shift from hierarchical programs of population and disease control to democratic models of health and well-being, citizenship, gender equity, and human rights.
Preface Introduction The "Double Discourse" on Sexual and Reproductive Rights: The Chasm between Public Policy and Private Actions NGO Advocacy Networks in Latin America: Lessons from Experience in Promoting Women's and Reproductive Rights "Let's Be Citizens, Not Patients!": Promoting Partnerships between Women's Groups and Health Services in Peru Conversations and Controversies: A Sexuality Education Program in Chile Crosscutting Issues Bibliography
Bonnie Shepard is a researcher, planner, and program evaluator. Currently she is Senior Planning and Evaluation Specialist for Social Sectors Development Strategies, Inc. in Boston, MA.
For close to 30 years, Shepard worked for the Ford Foundation and
other funding agencies supervising Latin American projects
concerned with women's rights, population control, and reproductive
health. Recently she took time off to evaluate the success of the
various programs and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) with
which she has had contact. The result is a series of case studies
of projects, groups, and coalitions, primarily in Chile, Colombia,
and Peru. In the strongest chapter, Shepard gives a nuanced yet
admirably clear exposition of the Latin American/Roman Catholic
tradition of double discourse. Abortion is branded as unspeakable
as well as illegal, so feminist NGOs are constrained from agitating
for legalization, especially since their funding comes increasingly
from their governments. Yet except for periodic crackdowns,
clandestine abortion clinics function more or less with impunity,
at least in affluent neighborhoods. The result is safe access to
abortion for privileged women, but dangerous conditions for the
poor. This is not a book for those not already conversant in the
terminology of NGOs and feminist health rights activism and
familiar with the alphabet soup of UN declarations and
international funding agencies. For specialists, however, the book
is engrossing and thought-provoking. Recommended. Faculty and
professionals.
*Choice*
This book provides excellent insight into the issues of sexual and
reproductive health in Latin America. . . . The author is to be
commended for conducting such a thorough analysis of the mechanisms
at play when individuals, organizations, and government agencies
implement and evaluate health-promotion programming.
*American Journal of Evaluation*
After 25 years of program work and assessment in Latin America,
Shepard brings together four studies of challenges to reproductive
and sexual health advocacy in the region. While each study is
certainly rich enough to stand alone, taken together, they cover
the complex interplay of the actors and institutions promoting and
resisting women's health and rights across Latin America.
*Conscience*
Latin America's experience provides unique raw material for
understanding the pursuit of sexual and reproductive health
worldwide. . . . contributes to the discussion with a sober,
meticulous and fully grounded analysis.
*ReVista Harvard Review of Latin America*
. . . [this book] will attract attention to the region's dire
situation. Her informative monograph is a welcome addition to the
literature on sexual and reproductive health and rights in Latin
America. She describes a number of critical initiatives in three
South American countries in an intelligent, well researched, and
eloquent manner, and analyzes the salient factors that explain
their successes and failures. Shepard uses each case study to go
beyond the anecdote in order to reflect on historical, cultural,
and policy influences—emphasizing the roles of conservatism and
religion—within the agenda of the sexual and reproductive health
and rights movement. From this broad analysis, she draws
conclusions and lessons that are relevant and applicable not only
locally but also in the rest of the region and beyond. . . . The
book combines an academic approach and methods with a description
of the case studies in an easy-to read style. Each chapter presents
an abundance of information and ideas, and each could be expanded
to book length. For her descriptions and analyses, Shepard uses an
impressively wide range of sources . . . . [This book] addresses
critical issues in a region where unique means have been developed
and implemented (with different outcomes) to address the challenges
of sexual and reproductive health and rights in a conservative
environment and in the context of large economic and social gaps.
This book should be obligatory reading for anyone who wishes to
understand reproductive health and rights in Latin America and the
role of organizations seeking to move the Cairo agenda
forward."
*Studies in Family Planning*
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