RUTGERS WPF MAGAZINE ANNUAL REVIEW 2013
More intimacy, less violence Partnerships essential to end early marriages Dutch parents underestimate development of their children Award for Female Condom Consortium
talk Does ing abo ut
bod righ y ts change
any thing ?
TABLE OF CONTENTS 4
What happened in 2013?
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Men care more
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NEWS IN BRIEF
MORE INTIMACY, LESS VIOLENCE
PARTNERSHIPS ESSENTIAL TO END EARLY MARRIAGE Report and photo exhibition
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AWARD FOR FEMALE CONDOM CONSORTIUM Public-Private Partnership Award
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SEXUAL VIOLENCE AMONG EUROPEAN YOUTH NEEDS DECISIVE APPROACH
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DOES TALKING ABOUT BODY RIGHTS CHANGE ANYTHING?
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What impact do our programmes have?
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CARING MEN HAVE A BETTER LOVE LIFE Johannes Rutgers lecture 2013
DUTCH PARENTS UNDERESTIMATE DEVELOPMENT OF THEIR CHILDREN What research shows
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NEWS FROM THE FIELD OFFICES Progress in Indonesia and Pakistan
HOW SEXUALITY EDUCATION CHANGED MY LIFE Visualising impact with linocuts
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26 FURTHERMORE: • Dutch armed forces talk about gender and intimacy • Reaching more students at lower cost • Dutch approach in the UK • Quotes • Sexuality education and religion • Caring men have a better love life • Worldwide plea for sexual rights • Behind the scenes • Thanks to our donors • Financial review of the year •
preface
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Knowledge and passion A short while ago one of my colleagues asked me to record a message for Humphrey Nabimanya to congratulate him with his graduation. Naturally I was happy for him that he finished his Psychology studies and commended him on all his efforts and focus on this goal. Many years ago Humphrey was one of the secondary school pupils in Uganda who followed our educational programme the World Starts with Me. He had lost his sister to HIV and took it upon himself to tell others about HIV since he was 13 years old. He became one of Rutgers WPF’s peer educators, and spoke about sexual and reproductive health and rights at maybe one hundred schools in his country. Believing in the effect of comprehensive education and information he decided some years later to start his own volunteer organisation Reach A Hand Uganda (RAHU). This organisation works with Ugandan artists to inspire young people in schools all over the country. Not only has he now graduated from Makerere University, but he also has his own weekly talk show om national television, discussing young peoples’ issues. At Rutgers WPF we believe young people learn the most from their peers and from positive role models, such as Humphrey has shown himself to be. Not every young person needs to be an expert, but our comprehensive sexuality education provides them with knowledge to make informed decisions in their lives. So when they become a father or mother themselves they can pass on the knowledge to their children.
24 Colophon © Rutgers WPF, July 2014 Postbus 9022 / 3506 GA Utrecht, The Netherlands Address: Oudenoord 176-178 / 3513 EV Utrecht, The Netherlands / T +31 (0)30 231 34 31 / F +31 (0)30 231 93 87 / E office@rutgerswpf.nl / I www.rutgerswpf.org Photography: Robert Aarts; Rakotondrazafy Andry Malalan'Ny Aina; Juul Baars (Nationale Beeldbank); Noor Bloem; Jelmer de Haas; Pieter van Gent; Rose Ieneke van Kalsbeek; Leonie van de Mortel; Bram Muller; Chris Pennarts; Lilian van Rooij; Thierry Schut; Stefanie Sinclair; Martin Stolk; Africa Interactive: Michael Tsegaye & Israel Seone Illustrations: Marianne Latour; Censuur. Infographic: Volkskrant / J/M voor Ouders With a contribution from: Tekstburo Gort, Julian Hussy Design: Niels Luigjes Print: Raddraaier b.v.
We are passionate about ensuring young people, children and grown ups are comfortable with their body, sexuality and are able to make informed decisions when they are ready to experience intimacy and have children – or not. Because we think that access to quality information and services are essential for every new generation – to lead happy, healthy and productive lives. This magazine is full of inspiring personal stories how people – young and old – in the Netherlands and in wider Europe, Africa and Asia, have been able to change their lives using the comprehensive programmes of Rutgers WPF. ● Dianda Veldman P.S. Would you like to know more about our work? Watch our corporate video: www.rutgerswpf.org/video
This is the public version of the Rutgers WPF annual overview of 2013. If you would like to read the complete and official English-language annual report, please send an e-mail to office@rutgerswpf.nl.
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news in brief
Explore!
In 2013 Rutgers WPF published Explore! A toolkit for involving young people as researchers in SRHR programmes. A joint project with IPPF, the toolkit helps organisations to include young people in crucial parts of their work.
Explore! provides guidelines for successful youth participation and helps researchers and project officers to increase the effectiveness of their youth programmes. The toolkit offers a step-by-step guide to train and support young people aged between 15 and 24 years to conduct qualitative research about matters that affect them, including the progress and benefits of projects that target them. Explore! is based on an earlier piece of work, but has been improved by experiences and feedback from the participatory research project “Do They Match?” as well as IPPF’s experiences with quick peer reviews carried out by young people. This toolkit specifically focuses on sexual and reproductive health and rights, but the examples and concepts can be replaced by other topics. In addition, although this toolkit focuses on youth, its principles can be applied to participation by other target audiences and age groups. ●
Sexuality deserves lifelong attention Growing older, One’s body changes, knowledge and experience increase, relationships develop and personal circumstances change. Significant changes in a life such as pregnancy, a divorce or a chronic illness can influence one’s sex life. Until recently good comprehension of sexual development from conception to death was lacking. Main focus of studies has always been how people grow up to adulthood. On the basis of scientific literature, in 2013 Rutgers WPF described the human sexual lifecycle in the book Van alle leeftijden [Of all ages]. Results show that sexuality deserves lifelong attention. When care professionals neglect to include the subject in their treatment and counselling, sexuality will remain overlooked.
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This neglect can lead to new physical and mental health issues. We have asked professional caregivers, including GPs, midwives, and professionals who care for the elderly what they need to be able to advise clients and patients on sexuality. Based on this we developed new materials on topics such as intimacy and the elderly, contraception after giving birth and the influence of certain impairments on sexuality. ●
news in brief
award
project
report
Our Marlous van Oorschot, Young Fundraising Talent 2013
Europe-wide prevention of sexual abuse
Diplomats and activists
Rutgers WPF participated in the EU project ‘KEEP ME SAFE’, co-funded by the EC Daphne III Programme. Together with 11 other European IPPF members, we aim to empower European young people who are intellectually challenged to deal with sexual abuse. The Netherlands (Rutgers WPF) is an ‘expert country’ twinned with Cyprus, a country where sexuality is not openly discussed. After gaining support from the Ministry of Education, we now provide workshops on sexuality education and empowerment to teachers, parents and professional caregivers. In the workshops one learns to find the right words and the right tone to talk about this topic. Providing sexuality education for young people with an intellectual disability is an important first step to prevent abuse! ●
How do young people from different cultural backgrounds in the Netherlands deal with same-sex attraction? And with their social environment? Marianne Cense of Rutgers WPF asked 14 young people in same-sex relations about this. The conclusions can be found in the report ‘Over diplomaten en activisten’ [Diplomats and activists].
Marlous van Oorschot of Rutgers WPF won the 2013 Young Fundraising Talent Award with her essay. In her entry she refutes the claim that donors do not want to commit themselves for too long. It helps, she writes, “if we give them a social ‘return on investment’: by paying them attention, sending personal messages, feedback on developments and showcasing projects.” Marlous was inspired by the seller of the street newspaper who stands at her supermarket every day. He smiles at passersby, shows interest by asking questions and carries bags to the car. He makes people feel good and many reward this with a gift. According to the jury, Marlous’s essay goes to the heart of fundraising: idealism. ●
Young people who discover that they feel sexually attracted to the same sex often experience a period of ambivalence or stress, especially if they grow up in an environment that condemns such feelings. Because of homo-negative norms in the home and the social community they can go through a longer process of development in relation to their sexual identity. In finding social acceptance, they choose different strategies: from subtle to public. Subtle strategies are aimed at avoiding upsetting the family and community. For example, first leaving the parental home and only exploring their sexual identity in another city. These strategies are aimed at enabling different loyalties to exist together. Public strategies are, on the other hand, aimed at social change, addressing society’s limiting social and moral codes, for example the Turkish boat that sailed in the Gay Pride Parade. ●
From vulnerability to empowerment In the project ‘From vulnerability to empowerment’ Rutgers WPF developed learning trajectories for comprehensive sexuality education in secondary schools for children with a learning disability (special education). Young people with a mild intellectual or physical disability are sexually vulnerable. In special education there is a great demand for adapted sexuality education for this group. We are developing an online learning environment, not only with representatives from special education and the educational advisory organisation CED [Centre for Educational Services], but also with parents and care organisations. Through this, pupils acquire knowledge and skills at the different stages of their sexual development. Special attention is given to children with visual, hearing and physical impairments, autism and ADHD. We also developed learning trajectories for children with severe learning disabilities and identified the challenges of environments outside school including daycare and the workplace. ●
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mencare+
More intimacy, less violence
Men care more
“My husband has really changed. He is a better father and even a better man,” says a young South African woman about the effect of the fathers’ group. Her partner now sees his role as husband and father in a different way. The fathers’ groups are part of the MenCare+ programme. During 2013 Rutgers WPF gave a great deal of attention to the role of men. Rutgers WPF started the three-year initiative MenCare+ in 2013. This aims to involve men in gender equality in a positive way that will improve the welfare and happiness of women and children, as well as the men themselves. All our national and international work is focused on the well being of women and children, but MenCare+ recognises the role men can play in that. In the programme young men often tell about their own violent or absent fathers. They discuss together how they can contribute differently as parents and partners.
Violence The programme also offers men who use violence in their families alternatives to expressing frustration and abusing power. “My wife and I both grew up in families where violence was common. Now if we disagree or if the children are naughty, we have to control ourselves and remember that reacting with violence is not normal. It doesn’t solve anything,” a South African man from a township in Cape Town related.
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Role models In Brazil, Indonesia, Rwanda and South Africa, positive role models share what they think about fatherhood and caring. In Indonesia the Islamic teacher Muhammad Nur Salim said, “Where I grew up, the
‘I think it is normal to take care of my children and to carry out household tasks’ men were very rough. In my birthplace I saw things that are against my values and beliefs.” He supports his wife in her roles as school principal and a key figure in their local community. “I think it is normal to take care of my children and to carry out household tasks.”
The challenge In many countries men are under great pressure to prove their masculinity. Every care activity undermines their status as men.
mencare+
This makes it difficult for them to be an involved father or partner. Sharing love and intimacy with loved ones appears to be difficult, and domestic and sexual violence occurs regularly. As a result of this, millions of children grow up without a positive male image or father figure. Research shows that sons of involved fathers take on more care responsibilities later on. And their daughters are more likely to choose a partner who shares these responsibilities.
Promundo Rutgers WPF works with partner organisation Promundo to change the image of men. Men have to become part of the solution and no longer be the problem. MenCare+ also works together with health services. The latter are encouraged to open their doors to young men who want to be involved with their pregnant partners. In these health facilities it now occurs more often that fathers are present during the birth. â—?
Parental leave in the Netherlands In the Netherlands, Rutgers WPF supports the improvement of parental leave. Parental leave is an important factor in enabling fathers to take a role in caring from the birth of their child. In the Netherlands a young father is only legally entitled to two days parental leave. In this way the Netherlands is lagging behind European and international levels. In 2013 Rutgers WPF advocated with other organisations, political sympathisers and businesses for two weeks parental leave. Finally the minister of Social Affairs announced that new fathers would receive five days leave. However, they have to pay for three of these days themselves. To be continued!
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EDUCATION
Dutch armed forces talk about gender and intimacy “Your partner is pregnant. What do you do?” In 2013, Dutch soldiers of the 1 Civil and Military Interaction Command discussed this and other issues during a military exercise in Ghana and Benin. The Rutgers WPF carousel game ‘Love is all around’ appears to have been a success: not only for the Dutch soldiers, but also for their colleagues in Benin and Ghana. During peacetime military exercises the Dutch armed forces also provide instruction and education. Gender was the theme during ’African Winds’, an international military exercise on the West African coast. Reserve officer and psychologist Captain Pieter van Gent approached Rutgers WPF in order to learn how to make gender roles approachable in Benin and Ghana. The carousel game ‘Love is all around’ proved to be very useful. The game consists of a series of cards with questions on various themes concerning
Reaching more students at lower cost Rutgers WPF provides sexuality education in different cultural settings, and wants to reach more young people at lower cost. Young people growing up are naturally curious about sex, relationships and the changes their bodies are going through. But sometimes it is hard to find an adult to put your questions to. Schools provide an important setting to reach large numbers of young people with information before or while they become sexually active.
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relationships, gender and sexuality. Its aim is to make people aware of different norms and values (personal and culturally determined). The game can also function as an introduction for guided group discussion. During African Winds the Dutch troops were enthusiastic and open when they played the game among themselves. When they played ‘Love is all around’ with other troops and medical personnel from the two African countries, a lively discussion was often the result. “My partner pregnant? That’s not my problem, surely? I’ll look for another partner,” one of the troops from Benin reacted. The women present loudly protested: “No way. Take responsibility!” ●
In Kenya and Uganda we are reaching more students for less money by integrating our programme The World Starts With Me into the formal curriculum. This programme is a computer-based curriculum that can be followed by 12 to 19 year olds. It goes beyond sexuality and relationships, and includes lessons on gender equality and having goals for the future. Our guiding principle is for the materials to be clear and honest. In 2013 the World Starts with Me was introduced into Ethiopia, Ghana and Malawi. We also received a grant to work in Burundi as of 2014. The adaptation of the programme for these new countries provided an opportunity to do a thorough review of the curriculum as it entered its second decade. After testing, the new education programme is ready to roll out in more countries. ●
EDUCATION
British primary school pupils will soon have lessons from the teaching package ‘Spring Fever’, a translation of the Rutgers WPF teaching package Relationships & Sexuality. The aim is that a ‘Week of Spring Fever’ will also be adopted there.
Dutch Approach in the United Kingdom Concerned about the high levels of teenage pregnancy in the UK, Warwickshire County Council has been carrying out the ‘Respect Yourself’ youth campaign for years. As well as this, they believe it important to start sex education at an early age. The local authority therefore looked for good models in other countries. Elsbeth Reitzema, who helped develop the Rutgers WPF teaching package Relationships and Sexuality, is proud: “Warwickshire County Council is very enthusiastic about the way Rutgers WPF makes sexuality and relationships approachable for children. They call ours ‘The Dutch Approach’ which is characterised by positivity about sexuality and starting discussions at an early age.”
What is remarkable is that the teaching package has been entirely adopted in a relatively conservative country like England. Elsbeth had not expected this. “Also subjects such as ‘Where do babies come from’ and same-sex relations have been adopted in this way. We hardly had to make any adjustments.”
For Elsbeth it is still uncertain if the teachers will succeed in teaching about relationships and sexuality. She has trained a number of professionals, who in their turn will train teachers to give lessons on relationships and sexual health education. “The success of the teaching package in the UK is dependent on a network of people who can work with it professionally.”
“They call our way, ‘The Dutch Approach’ which is characterised by a positive approach to sexuality and starting discussions at an early age.” Warwickshire County Council may be ‘open minded’ but the question is whether all the teachers and parents are. “In this regard, introducing the teaching package is still a challenge”, Elsbeth thinks. The primary school pupils find the lessons enjoyable, according to a pilot of the teaching package, but still sometimes feel a little uncomfortable, especially in the higher classes.
Rutgers WPF often receives foreign delegations who want to know how we in the Netherlands teach sex education. Elsbeth: “Now that we have translated the teaching package into English, we can show exactly what it entails. It would be wonderful if other countries were to use the teaching package Relationships & Sexuality in their teaching and at the same time organise their own ‘Week of Spring Fever’!” ●
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report
Partnerships essential to end Early Marriage:
State of the World Population 2013 Every 4 seconds a girl under 18 gives birth. Every 15 seconds the young mother is under 15 years old. Nine out of ten of these young mothers are married. And 95% of these girls live in developing countries. “Early and forced marriage is the root cause of adolescent pregnancies,” said Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen (Deputy Executive Director of UNFPA). She said this during the presentation of UNFPA’s annual State of the World’s Population report to Rob Swartbol, director general International Cooperation of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On 30 October 2013, Rutgers WPF organised the Dutch launch of the report in the Humanity House in the Hague.
report from “Motherhood in childhood: facing the challenge of adolescent pregnancy”. To young girls becoming pregnant is an health risk. Every year some 70,000 girls die during pregnancy and labour.
Early marriage “In most places in the world, a young girl getting pregnant isn’t the result of carelessness, but of forced sex,” said Albrectsen. Early and forced marriages are high on the international development agenda. The government of the Netherlands has made addressing forced child marriages a priority in their sexual and reproductive health policy. In his acceptation of the report Rob Swartbol stated that when young women miss out on education, this can cost countries up to 30% of their GDP: “For many governments, this provides a completely different motivation to end early marriage.”
Prevention
‘Annually almost 7.5 million girls under 18 years deliver a child’ Statistics Annually almost 7.5 million girls under 18 years deliver a child. Two million of them are even under 15 years old. Nine out of ten of these young mothers are married. And most of them live in developing countries. These are the shocking statistics published in the UN
During the launch of the report the directors of Dutch NGOs Plan Nederland, Defence for Children, and Rutgers WPF showed how their different approaches to early marriage complement each other. Working in partnership with national governments and local organisations in communities, their focus on rights, education and sexual and reproductive health is showing results from Malawi to Pakistan. AnneBirgitte Albrectsen stated: “The future of the world is a ten-year-old girl. When you keep her in school, and prevent early marriage and pregnancy, the world will be a different place in ten years.” ● Motherhood in Childhood: www.rutgerswpf.org/SWOP2013
Photo exhibition ‘Too Young to Wed’
In order to draw attention to early forced marriage, Rutgers WPF organised the photography exhibition ‘Too Young to Wed’ with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the building of the Dutch House of Representatives. Lilianne Ploumen, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation and Anouchka van Miltenburg, Chair of the House of Representatives, opened the exhibition. The moving work of photographer Stephanie Sinclair shows how the tradition of early forced marriage is rooted in poverty, traditional customs and male-female relationships in countries such as Afghanistan, Ethiopia, India, Jemen and Nepal. During the news broadcast for children “Children’s News” [Het Jeugdjournaal] attention was given to this exhibition. ●
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exhibition
Maya (8) and Kishore (13) posing for their wedding photo in their new home in Rajasthan, India. Photo: Stephanie Sinclair ANNUAL REVIEW 2013
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QUOTES “Working with Rutgers WPF helps us to look at the bigger picture. They strengthen us to work on the issue of engaging men nationally, and have confirmed our thinking how mental and physical health issues are influenced by how society thinks about men and masculinities.”
Jackie Viemilawati
Coordinator research and capacity building division, Coordinator research and capacity building division, Pulih Foundation, Jakarta, Indonesia
“Working with Rutgers WPF on the MenCare+ project has been a tremendous opportunity for us. Collaborating across the four countries and taking the advocacy to global levels is exhilarating. The seriousness, professionalism, creativity and focus Rutgers WPF brings to its work is truly inspirational for Promundo and we look forward to where the partnership takes us.”
Gary Barker
International Director Promundo
“MOSAIC has had the pleasure of have a long-standing relationship with Rutgers WPF. This relationship has been one that has grown from an idea to real lifechanging interventions for women, men and male and female youth, something that MOSAIC would not have been able to do without the support and guidance from Rutgers WPF.”
Kerryn Rehse
Operations Manager at MOSAIC Training, Service & Healing Centre for Women, South Africa
“The female condom is a relevant contribution to the fullest possible choice in contraceptives, as it is the only woman-initiated contraceptive that provides protection against both pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. For the female condom to gain a good share of the market, price reduction, good instructions on how to use it and better availability is needed. This is what UAFC is about and we think you are doing a good job at that. Even more, others also find that you are doing a good job, as UAFC received the Public Private Partnership Award this year!”
Lambert Grijns ambassador for SRHR and HIV/AIDS of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs
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Advocacy
Award for Female Condoms consortium In November 2013 the Universal Access to Female Condoms Joint Programme won the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Award. This award celebrates the successful partnership between the Dutch government and private organisations around the female condom.
Universal Access to Female Condoms is a consortium of three NGOs – Rutgers WPF, Oxfam Novib and i+Solutions – and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Together with local partners in Nigeria, Cameroon and Mozambique, UAFC advocates to increase access to female condoms. UAFC receives the award because of its public-private partnership to find solutions to a development issue that is too complex to be solved by only one party. The female condom protects women against pregnancy, HIV and STIs, and gives women control over the choice to have safe sex. UAFC has been able to convince many international players that affordable female condoms are an important additional contraception choice. In 2013 UAFC had a large reach including the BBC, radio interviews in six countries, a news item in India, and Dutch, Ethiopian and Indian newspapers. UAFC has chosen a strategy of using media to maintain a prominent and continuing discussion of the female condom. ●
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europe
Sexual violence among European youth needs a decisive approach “Sexual violence among young people is too often trivialised as clumsiness,” according to Ine Vanwesenbeeck, Manager, International Research, at Rutgers WPF. “Too much is taboo in relation to the idea that young people are sexually active, and certainly in relation to them being victims and perpetrators of sexual violence.” 14
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europe
For the International Day against Violence against Women on 25 November 2013, Rutgers WPF published the report Combatting youth sexual aggression and victimization in the European Union: stakeholder perspectives and recommendations. The report argues for the recognition of young people’s right to a life without sexual violence.
Solutions The report is the result of the three-year European project Youth Sexual Aggression and Victimization concerning sexual coercive behaviour among young people, an initiative of Rutgers WPF. Researchers, policy makers, professionals and youth organisations made concrete recommendations for the improvement of policy and legislation, prevention, care and welfare of victims and dealing with young offenders and youth at risk.
“Teachers and youth workers often feel insufficiently equipped and self-confident to speak to young people about intimate relations”
Discussion Prejudice, stigma and shame – not only in conservative European countries – stand in the way of a structural approach to sexual violence among youth. “Teachers and youth workers often feel insufficiently equipped and self-confident to speak to young people about sex,” according to Vanwesenbeeck. “Special training helps them to create an open environment where young people can discuss sex and sexuality.”
“ young people and sexuality should be a permanent part of health policies of the European Union”
Young people aged between 12 and 25 years are at a formative stage of their sexuality. They are exposed to many stimuli and contradictory messages via social media, video clips and their peers. This makes them especially vulnerable to sexual violence. At this stage young people need to explore a lot but can easily overstep boundaries. Young people therefore require extra attention, but often they do not receive any at all, and when they do it is usually insufficient.
Broader focus EU youth policy in recent years has begun to focus more and more on HIV prevention and treatment. Because of this, the general sexual health of young people has been neglected. Rutgers WPF and Y-SAV argues that young people and sexuality should be a permanent subject in EU health policy. ●
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interview
Sexuality education and religion “The first time I provided comprehensive sexuality education to a faith based organisation, I was surprised we started with a prayer,” says Sanderijn van der Doef. “In the prayer people asked God to assist me. This touched me, as it meant the participants were thinking about me. Prayer provides an instant relationship.” Van der Doef has several decades experience of training young people and teachers in talking about sexuality. Together with colleagues at Rutgers WPF she shapes comprehensive sexuality education programmes in Africa and beyond. However she finds there is always an underlying tension when providing comprehensive sexuality education in a religious context.
feelings, intimacy and identity “People fear we are promoting sex. But sexuality is a much broader concept. Sex is not just about having intercourse. Sexuality is about a complex of feelings, intimacy, emotions, identity, how you deal with others and how you relate to life in general,” Van der Doef explains. “When training people for whom religion is a guiding principle in their lives, we carefully build up the discussion around sexuality. Piece by piece I am more open and explicit, sometimes taking up to five days,” she says. The workshops first discuss general topics, such as health care for pregnant women. Next they talk about the number of young people with living with HIV, about unplanned teenage pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections and the number of rapes. “We talk about forced marriages and 13-year-old girls that become pregnant, and slowly it becomes clear there is an issue.” The workshops Rutgers WPF provides may be for employees of health care organisations or educational institutions that are faith based. “In a group like this you often encounter fear to talk about sensitive issues like intercourse, especially when it is a group of young people. We provide information, because most problems start when young people lack information.”
Informed decisions “Some religious people insist that abstinence is the way. They say: Don’t do it, sex is wrong and you will die because of it, so don’t start. Such a negative image can be damaging for one’s sexual and reproductive health. We try to adjust that image and show sexuality can be something positive. Everyone is touched by it, so we want people to enjoy it. Sex is not just to make babies.” “You can preach abstinence but only preaching abstinence does not work. We want young people to be able to make an informed, conscious, independent decision on when and whether to have sex or not. Before someone else takes that decision for them.” ● This article is an adaptation from ‘In de praktijk’ by Tony van der Meulen, published in ViceVersa, 47, No. 5 (December 2013), pp. 22-29.
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RESEARCH
Does talking about body rights change anything? Education and information are crucial for a healthy sexual development. But are we able to prove what impact our programmes have on people’s lives? Yes we ARE! In 2013 we measured the impact of our international programme Unite for Body Rights! in five countries: Indonesia, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda. We wanted to know whether it is true that through our work young people know more about their body and relationships, are confronted with less sexual and gender based violence and enjoy better sexual and reproductive health. Their increased capacity was measured by assessing their knowledge, attitudes and skills. The result? In all five countries we see more young people making safe, informed decisions.
Measuring the impact was participatory, a joint process between southern and northern partners. People liked this. In Tanzania, for example, partners shared their experiences and commented frankly on each other’s results during the outcome measurement process. This way partners were able to support and assist each other. The next round of outcome measurements will take place at the end of the programme in 2015. The lessons learned in monitoring and evaluating will also be important in the new youth-focused programme Access, Services, Knowledge (ASK), which kicked off in 2013. ●
80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
Kenya
Malawi
Tanzania
Uganda
% of respondents with good capacity to make safe and informed decisions
Indonesia
2011
2013
The programme Unite for Body Rights! provides young people direct access to knowledge and services, without the need for intermediairies. Unite for Body Rights ! is a programme of the SRHR alliance, which is lead by Rutgers WPF, together with Amref Flying Doctors, CHOICE for Youth and Sexuality, dance4life and Simavi. The alliance partners with 52 organisations in nine countries.
Results What have been the results of the alliance since 2011? Here are just few highlights out of a 100 page report: • We trained over 37,000 service providers; • Over two million acts of service have been provided - ranging from condom distribution, and HIV testing and counselling, to providing care to mother and child and educating young people about sexual health; • Our message about sexual and reproductive health and rights reached over 27 million people through new media; • There have been over 250 contact moments with policy makers; • Written and verbal contributions to 66 international meetings on SRHR.
srhralliance.org
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DISCUSSION
Openness improves health of men and women Four women leaders from different sectors discuss their work with Dianda Veldman, managing director Rutgers WPF. How do they approach sexual health in their daily practice? Why this discussion? Dianda Veldman: “In 2013 we examined our policy. We want to be a knowledge centre that is at the heart of society. This means that we expressly target teachers, doctors and care professionals. They are confronted in their work with all kinds of matters related to sexuality and have to find the answers. Rutgers WPF can help them in this by providing knowledge, training and materials. In order to explore the practice of professionals in education and care, we have asked representatives from different sectors to take part in this discussion. What do they do and what do they want to achieve for sexual health? It was a good discussion with four passionate women! ”
What are you worried about? What word to use Melanie Linssen-Meijer: “It surprises me that parents and paediatricians find it difficult to mention the female genitalia. It seems like a taboo. If you don’t have a word for it, how can you talk about it? Scientific research in the Netherlands shows that we often use descriptive words to avoid actually naming genitals.”
Snapchat Dieneke Blikslager: “We have to teach children to be more media wise. They see so many images. Do parents really know the world their child is growing up in? On snapchat and Instagram vaginas and bottoms can be viewed. Children can look at inappropriate programmes. Our advice to parents is to watch programmes with your child. If your child becomes quieter, there is always something to be addressed! Our social media advice to children is: if you don’t normally dare to say it, don’t say it when chatting online.”
youth care Fawzia Nasrullah: “Sexuality and sexual health are important points of focus in youth care. You have to focus continually on these themes; the focus is not a matter of course. What do you do
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if you see things that are not right? we asked staff. We are also very careful that our employees have not committed sexual abuse.”
Rutgers clinics [Rutgershuizen] Hetty Linden: “I miss the Rutgers clinics. They were easily assessable to everyone. If you had any problem you could go there. I think that there is still a need for this kind of service, a primary healthcare provider that is specialised in sexual issues doesn’t exist any more.”
Infant welfare centre Melanie Linssen-Meijer: “During the whole training of GPs, the sexuality of children is not mentioned once and I hear that this is the case for paediatricians, teacher training and child care training. It affects me deeply that one is trained to work with children, but doesn’t know about the normal sexual development of children up to four years. This is not right, surely? I want the sexual development of children to be discussed at every consultation. At infant welfare centres, questions about the sexual behaviour of children should be added to the standard questionnaires.”
DISCUSSION
Taking part in the discussion: education
Dieneke Blikslager Deputy Director at St Jan’s School, Amsterdam West, 360 pupils health care
Melanie Linssen-Meijer Practising GP in the Netherlands, member of the GP Advisory Group on Sexual Health and chair of the foundation Child and Sexuality government
Hetty Linden Managing Director of Volksgezondheid Utrecht (Public Health Utrecht, Municipal Health Authority, 230 fulltime staff
Youth care
Fawzia Nasrullah Member of the Youké Board (Youth Care), 600 staff
How do you work towards sexual health? Spring fever Dieneke Blikslager: “We use the Rutgers WPF curriculum in school. This gives guidance, and then you know what to do in which group. We join in the ‘Week of Spring Fever’ every year. In this week children are allowed to ask everything about sexuality. We try to react as naturally as possible. Nothing is too crazy to ask. We have a school with 37 nationalities. You teach children to think for themselves. And you try to make them resilient so that they realise themselves what’s right and what isn’t.”
Working in the field Hetty Linden: “As Municipal Health Authority we do a lot to combat STIs. We work across the length and breadth of the city. The people that work for us are cool, working in the field. In Utrecht we employ someone who looks for sources of infection and tells us where the risks lie. In prostitution, in people trafficking.”
everything relevant to their health issue. However, with this subject you have to open the discussion yourself. There are certain health issues that are specifically related to the sex you have. Discussing this is difficult for doctors: how do you start? Doctors have their own norms and values. In the retraining we practise how to make the subject of sex approachable.”
Coaching on the job Fawzia Nasrullah: “I think training is important. Youth care workers should have knowledge of sexual health, safety and resilience. I make sure that there is good training and retraining on sexuality in our organisation. I believe in coaching on the job. You can look up information, but you profit more from by being confronted with issues, by using role play. Rutgers WPF has much knowledge available so I gladly keep in contact with them. In this way we gain the knowledge we require. And Rutgers WPF is aware of the current practice.” ●
Asking the right question Melanie Linssen-Meijer: “We retrain about a thousand GPs every year on the subject of sexuality. It is often about awareness. As a doctor you are inclined to think your patients will be open about
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lecture
Johannes Rutgers lecture 2013
Caring men have a better love life On International Day for Sexual Health, 4 September 2013, Rutgers WPF organised the third Johannes Rutgers Lecture. More than 170 guests came to the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam to be inspired by the theme “What About Men”. How are men doing?
Fantastic night Managing Director, Dianda Veldman, gave an example of a courageous assignment with surprising results. “We recently asked participants during training in Rwanda to do something at home that they wouldn’t normally do. The next day a man told how thankful his wife was, because his had prepared the bath water for her. This is normally a woman’s job. And a woman with red cheeks told how she had taken
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the initiative to make love for a change. Her husband was surprised and they experienced a fantastic night.”
Gary Barker Gary Barker, international director of Promundo and partner of Rutgers WPF in the MenCare+ programme, was Speaker of the Day. According to Barker, the Dutch language doesn’t actually have a good translation for the English term “care giving”. The term not only means ‘caring for’, but also implies empathy and responsibility, solidarity and having an emotional bond with someone, i.e. ‘caring’. Barker demonstrated that caring by men is not only good for others – women, children and society – but also for the men themselves. They generally live longer, have better sex, more money and more happiness. In short, what are men waiting for? ●
Advocacy
Worldwide plea for sexual rights Rights in relation to sexuality and family planning are clearly human rights. To attain these rights, women and young people especially should be able to make their own choices. This point was laid down in the final declaration of the International Conference on Population and Development held in July 2013 in Noordwijk, in which Rutgers WPF was closely involved. “It is time to recognise that sexuality is a human right,” Dianda Veldman, Rutgers WPF Managing Director, wrote shortly before the conference in an open letter. “We urgently call on the Netherlands: strengthen the cause not only with like-minded countries such as Norway, Sweden, but also South Africa, Brazil and Argentina in order to make sound agreements in relation to sexual rights.”
The conclusion, according to the Netherlands, is that greater incentives are needed to assert gender and sexual and reproductive rights within the development agenda. This is particularly important because of conservative countries and powers that are opposed to the right to be able to choose one’s partner, to decide to have a family or to gain information about sexuality. Rutgers WPF thinks it extremely important that the new action plan for international cooperation does not pander to this conservatism.
This pressing letter had an effect: an international group of government delegations, experts and civil society organisations actively discussed the possibilities of bringing the title of the conference - ‘All different, all human, all equal’ - into practice. At the start of 2013 preparations were made during the round table meeting in The Hague. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs arranged this with the organisations involved, including Rutgers WPF.
During 2014 the action programme of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) will be evaluated. And in 2015 the agreements on Millennium Development Goals finish. Worldwide a new agenda for international cooperation is being formulated. This year, at the request of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, the high level panel report will be published on the development goals beyond 2015.
After 2015?
“Taking a step forward in formulating a broad approach to development and the prevention of poverty” is the answer, according to Veldman. “Rutgers WPF supports the conclusion that new goals and target figures for development have to be based on universal human rights. And sexual and reproductive health and rights are part of this.” In the recommendation for the development goals the responsibility and choice lies with the countries themselves. Veldman has her doubts about this: “A development agenda based on human rights cannot be offered ‘à la carte’, where countries pick and choose which rights to grant and which to ignore. In this way, the proposals will remain empty promises.” In view of the future plans Rutgers WPF provided training in Istanbul and Nairobi in the autumn. “We will teach activists how to put sexual and reproductive rights higher on the agenda in their countries. They will have to live up to expectations because the 57th Commission for Population and Development is planned for April 2014. This will form the start of the new action plan of the International Conference on Population and Development. ●
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NETHERLANDS
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NETHERLANDS
Dutch parents underestimate development of their children THERE IS A GREAT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WHAT WE THINK OUR TEENAGERS GET UP TO AND WHAT THEY ACTUALLY DO GET UP TO, CONCLUDED DUTCH MAGAZINE J/M VOOR OUDERS AND RUTGERS WPF. "A MISSED OPPORTUNITY," ACCORDING TO STELLA REYDON OF J/M VOOR OUDERS, “BECAUSE IT IS EASIER TO SPEAK TO A YOUNG CHILD ON THIS SUBJECT THAN TO AN ADOLESCENT.” The August 2013 issue of J/M voor Ouders magazine included a special on sex education. Rutgers WPF has made an important contribution to this issue. Research showing that parents underestimate the sexual behaviour of their child has been widely reported in the press. As well as in the media, BNR radio and RTL News, the subject was discussed in Children’s News [Jeugd Journaal] and even became a subject of satire.
‘The difference between what we think that our teenagers do and what they actually do is great' J/M Ouders interviewed 600 fathers and mothers about the sexual activities of their children. The results were compared to those of ‘Seks onder je 25ste [Sex under 25], research carried out by Rutgers WPF and STI AIDS Netherlands in 2012 where young people themselves were interviewed. The difference between what we think that our teenagers do and what they actually do is great. For example parents of 12/13 year olds are mainly mistaken about French kissing (13% compared to the 32% who actually engage in this behaviour), being in love (67% versus 87%) and reading pornographic magazines (8% versus 22%). Of the 16 year olds, 53% of the parents believe that their son or daughter has ever French kissed, while Rutgers WPF reported that 83% of the 16 year olds have ever done this. It also transpired that 85% of parents have never or hardly ever discussed sexuality with children under 10 years. ●
What do parents think their 16 year olds have experience with, and what do the 16 year olds say themselves? Children
In love
Dating
French kissing
Touch and caress
Watching porn online
Parents
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FIELD OFFICES
News from the field offices In most cases, Rutgers WPF monitors projects in developing countries from its head office in Utrecht. However, in Pakistan and Indonesia the programmes are so extensive that field offices have been set up as this works more efficiently.
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FIELD OFFICES
Indonesia: combatting taboos In a country where the distribution of free condoms incites immediate protest, but four out of ten brides are under-age, a Rutgers WPF field office is a necessity. This office, situated in Jakarta, is run by local staff. Cooperation is the key to small breakthroughs in the largest Muslim country in the world. Under the name of ‘Aliansi Satu Visi’ (One Vision Alliance), Rutgers WPF, together with a number of partner organisations, is trying to combat taboos relating to sexual rights and to encourage the government to implement policy that safeguards Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR).
Only married couples Rutgers WPF has to work against the restrictive measures that can arise from religious and culturally-based beliefs. For instance, a law from 2009 prescribes that only married couples have the right to help and advice relating to birth control. Rutgers WPF continues
to urge the government that unmarried people in Indonesia should have the same access to services. The One Vision Alliance is also active at local and provincial levels, for example, in informing young people about relationships and sexuality and offering help to victims of sexual violence. Countermoves, such as protests against educational campaigns, are sometimes discouraging. At the end of December 2013, the Jakarta Globe newspaper reported on protests against a government campaign to promote condoms for workers in the sex industry. For fear of further commotion, the Department of Health rejected the campaign, although the numbers involved are significant:
according to the Ministry, eight million men regularly have paid sex with commercial sex workers, while only three million use condoms.
Swinging Dance4Life There are successes, however, such as the publication of a manual for sexual diversity in the workplace. World Sexual Health Day was celebrated at the beginning of September. Dance4life ensures a swinging party every year for World Aids Day. In two provinces in Sumatra, Alliance members succeeded in providing secondary school pupils with lessons on relationships and sexuality. And at the end of 2013 the first much-visited youth conference took place regarding sexual rights. The plan is to run this event every year. For more information on the field office in Indonesia please visit the website: www.rutgerswpfindo.org
Pakistan: success in conservative regions A small achievement: The Pakistan province of Sindh adopted a resolution at the end of 2013 to prevent child marriage. With the support of advocates, politicians, religious and other civil society organisations, Rutgers WPF partly drafted the legislation. The field office first carried out research into child marriage in three provinces. Judging from the many news items in the Pakistan papers it appears that our research received much attention. ‘Early marriage and poor education cause of violence against women’, read the headline in the Pakistan Observer at the end of March 2013. The newspaper drew attention in detail to the results of interviews with almost 5,000 women in large cities and rural areas. The research showed that more than 60% of girls marry at younger than 19 years old, 34% younger than 16, and 64% have never been to school. Especially in rural areas girls are often married off, sometimes even as compensation for the ‘sins’ of their parents, the newspaper
Vietnam
wrote. By raising the legal age of marriage from 16 to 18 years the authorities are better able to act against child marriage.
Father’s Day The field office also stirred up discussion with the campaign ‘Greening Pakistan Promoting Responsible Fatherhood’. On 16 June, International Father’s Day, we will start this campaign with local partners. We are encouraging families to do something together and to have the children give their father a present. In Pakistan men are still the traditional breadwinners who leave children’s care and
upbringing to their wives. The campaign stresses that showing affection is good for the atmosphere in the home and the personal development of children. The chance of violence against women and children will also decrease. The campaign has been successful, especially in the cities where it will continue, culminating with Father’s Day 2014.
Law against domestic violence The field office organised round-table conferences about domestic violence in the cities of Karachi, Lahore, Quetta and Peshawar. This led to the province of Sindh setting up a committee at the beginning of 2013 to prepare a law against domestic violence, and also to the province of Balochistan adopting such a law in 2014. This is all the more remarkable because the two regions are considered to be very conservative. www.rutgerswpfpak.org
We closed our field office in Hanoi in March 2013 due to the fact that Vietnam is no longer classed as a developing country making fundraising more difficult. We are proud of what has been achieved. Curious to know more about the achievements? Click on: www.rutgerswpf.org/vietnam_en
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In focus
Rutgers WPF wants to understand the impact The World Starts with Me has on its students. The art week was an excellent opportunity for this, enabling young people both to develop key skills and to express themselves. Using qualitative, interactive methods like focus groups, interviews and art, participants learnt to think critically, visualise and share their thoughts using drawing, lino and paper cuts. These activities were mixed with fun energizers to support the gaining of trust and confidence.
How comprehensive sexuality education changed my life
Visualing impact with linocuts 26
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In focus
“I learned a lot from The World Starts With Me but most importantly I learned about puberty and body changes,” says Hayat, a 15-year-old girl from Jimma in Ethiopia. “I now understand my body better and feel more relaxed and confident.” Hayat is one of twenty young people in West Ethiopia we asked to explain what the programme The World Starts With Me means to them. How has comprehensive sexuality education changed their lives? In 2013 Rutgers WPF implemented this sex education programme in Ethiopia with Educaids and local partner organisation DEC. Supported by two art teachers, the students (eight girls and twelve boys from 15 to 17 years old) visualised their experiences using linocuts. Each picture shows how sex education helped them to become confident and articulate young men and women. The changes these young people describe do not only address the traditional sexual risk-related topics like the prevention of pregnancy,
sexually transmitted infections and sexual abuse. They also include other life skills such as gaining confidence and trust, gender equality, empowerment through sexual rights and being able to dream about one’s future. The students had immense fun capturing their own personal beliefs and feelings. Their pictures clearly show how The World Starts With Me helped them gain self-esteem and form healthy and loving relationships. In some cases it even contributed to better performance at school. What these young Ethiopians have to say demonstrates the importance of access to comprehensive sexuality education for gender equality, empowerment and sexual and reproductive health and rights for all. “When I learned about gender and equality, I figured I could change something myself,” explains Haile, a 15-year-old boy. “I went home, talked about it with my family and offered to share chores with my sister. Now, we even study together.” ● Read more: http://issuu.com/rutgers
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office
Behind the scenes Personnel Rutgers WPF grew immensely In 2013, working in the Netherlands with a team of 94 people (74.5 full-time equivalent): 81 female and thirteen male staff. 25 full-time staff work at the field office in Islamabad, Pakistan. In Indonesia 17 full-time staff work for the field office.
Vacancies Having been granted funds for two large programmes, Rutgers WPF started 2013 with no fewer than 23 vacancies. All these vacancies were filled in the spring. In total, 30 new employees started at Rutgers WPF in 2013. In total, 18 people left the organisation in 2013: one because of unsatisfactory performance, one due to retirement and the others because of contracts not being renewed when certain projects were completed. This is inherent
in the nature of the work being performed in a project run by a knowledge centre.
Workload Workload is an important point to be addressed, according to the Employee Satisfaction Survey (MTO) held at the end of 2012. In 2013, a Plan of Approach was drawn up as a result of the MTO with workload as its primary focus. In the autumn, four teams started a team-focussed programme in order to gain insight (individually and thematically) into the causes of perceived high workload, and as a team to draw up an action plan to lower this.
Performance In 2013, Rutgers WPF started a new staff performance appraisal programme. The former appraisal programme was abandoned. Now two appraisal interviews are held per year,
in which the previous period is reviewed and concrete agreements are made for the coming period. This system is better suited to Rutgers WPF as an organisation with highly-educated professionals; it encourages dialogue regarding performance and the giving of feedback.
Training In 2013 a total budget of 156,000 Euros was made available for education and training of the staff of Rutgers WPF. Almost all of the staff at Rutgers WPF followed Project Planning training. In 2013, a third group attended the Career in Motion workshop and there was also training on implementation of interventions. Management continued with the Management Development training aimed at teambuilding, communication and giving feedback. â—?
supervisory board 2013 Bert Koenders, Chair Special Representative and Head of the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali
Tom A. de Man Non-executive director, Heineken International, Special Representative for Africa projects Member since 2013:
Mohamed Baba, Vice-Chair
Nicolette Loonen-van Es
Managing director Mex-it, organisation for integration and diversity
Accountant, Concultant and General Manager VERA Community
Erik Thijs Wedershoven
Stepped down in 2013:
Junior Advisor Operations Strategy Group, KPMG
Retired KPMG partner
Sybren Kalkman
Koos van der Velden
Marjoleine Lewis
Professor of Public Health Radboud University Nijmegen
Director of MEE Rijnmond
Sara Seims
Director of Women for Women's Rights in Turkey
Senior Advisor, Packard Foundation
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Pinar Ilkkaran
Thanks to our donors
We would like to especially thank all our donors and partners. Through their generous contributions we can work on improving sexual and reproductive health in the Netherlands and worldwide. Donors: • David and Lucile Packard Foundation • Educaids • European Commission • Fund for Scientific Research of Sexuality • William and Flora Hewlett Foundation • International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) • Ministry of Education, Culture and Science • Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport • Ministry of Foreign Affairs • Nai Zindagi Trust • Dutch Postcode Lottery
• The Council for Child Protection •R esearch and Advocacy Fund •D utch National Institute for Public Health and Environmental Protection (RIVM) • Foundation Innovation Alliance (SIA) • Children’s Stamps Foundation, Netherlands • Nefkens Development Aid Foundation • Westberg Foundation • DoCare Foundation • United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) • The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonW)
partners: • J.P. van den Bent Stichting • Koninklijke Visio • Dutch Association of Sexologists (NVVS) • 's Heeren Loo • Sophia Rehabilitation Centre • Reinaarde Foundation • Warwickshire County Council And many thanks to all our other donors.
Rutgers WPF is the Dutch member organisation of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF). Our accreditation was renewed in 2013.
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Financial review of the year Results Like 2012, the year 2013 was a good one financially for Rutgers WPF. Our surplus at the end of the year was € 141,024. This is close to the figure for 2012 (€ 139,836) and somewhat higher than the budgeted amount (€ 110,973).
Income
Our income rose by no less than € 8 million, from € 17.2 million in 2012 to € 25.2 million in 2013. Ignoring funds transferred to other members of the three alliances we lead, net income for 2013 was € 14.6 million. That is 13% higher than in 2012, but € 1.3 million less than budgeted.
Explanatory notes Rutgers WPF is lead agent in the SRHR Alliance, the Youth Empowerment Alliance and the Mencare+ Alliance, all three of which are subsidised by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs from its Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) Fund under the MFS II cofinancing system. As lead agent, under ministry rules Rutgers WPF must include all the subsidies received by these alliances in its own accounts. Amounts subsequently transferred to other members (AMREF Flying Doctors, Simavi, dance4life, Choice, IPPF Central Office, Stop Aids Now! and ProMundo) are then reported in our statement of income and expenditure. This procedure has no effect upon Rutgers WPF’s net result. The statement of income and expenditure shows four sources of revenue. • Direct fundraising. Income that Rutgers WPF itself generates from donors and charitable funds (such as the Hewlett Foundation) in the Netherlands and elsewhere. This category also includes earnings from consultancy work, training and product sales. • Joint fundraising. Income generated jointly with Oxfam Novib and i+solutions for the Universal Access to Female Condoms programme. • Third-party funding. Money donated to Rutgers WPF by other fundraising organisations, such as the Dutch Postcode Lottery. • Government subsidies. All income from government departments, agencies and related bodies, such as the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMw). Most of these are Dutch, but in 2013 we also received grants and subsidies from the European Union, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the World Bank.
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RUTGERS WPF magazine
The year-on-year increase of 13% in total income is attributable primarily to government subsidies, which rose by 17%. Revenues from direct and joint fundraising both fell, by 3% and 1% respectively. Most of the additional subsidies were channelled into the ASK and MenCare+ programmes, both initiated in 2013. Comparing our actual income in 2013 with the original budget, we find a shortfall of € 1.3 million. Revenue from direct fundraising was € 400,000 below target and government subsidies € 1.2 million less than expected. That was because the new programmes funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs began later than originally planned, so that not all of the amounts allocated for 2013 could actually be used during the year. The main reason for the fall in earnings from direct fundraising was that the field office in Pakistan generated less income than budgeted.
Spent directly on core activities
Of our total expenditure of € 25 million, some € 23.5 million (94% of income) was spent directly on Rutgers WPF’s three core activities: the Dutch national programme, the international programme and the advocacy and communications programme. In 2012 that figure was 90%.
Dutch national programme Most of our programme activities in the Netherlands are carried out by our own staff. Those funded by our institutional subsidy are reported in detail to the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS). Expenditure on the national programme amounted to € 3.7 million in 2013, equal to 25% of total income (excluding subsidies transferred to alliance partners). That is a lower proportion than in 2012 (32%). International programme The majority of these activities are carried out by local partner organisations in Africa and Asia and by our two field offices, in Indonesia and Pakistan. Project expenditure also includes costs incurred for support, technical assistance and monitoring and evaluation by Rutgers WPF staff in the Netherlands. The costs of the two field offices in Asia form part of the respective country portfolios. As well as Rutgers WPF itself, their sources of funding include the European Commission, the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Global Fund, the Research and Advocacy Fund and income raised locally.
Total spending on international activities in 2013 was € 18.5 million. Of this, € 11 million was in the form of subsidies transferred directly to SRHR Fund alliance partners. Rutgers WPF itself spent € 8 million on the international programme, 55% of its total income. This was higher than in 2012 (46%).
Advocacy and communications programme Most of these activities are carried out by our own staff. Expenditure in 2013 amounted to € 1.3 million. That was € 160,000 more than in 2012, and € 155,000 more than budgeted.
Direct fundraising costs
Rutgers WPF spent € 107,000 on fundraising activities in 2012, an increase of 10% compared with 2012 and € 40,000 more than budgeted. The bulk of these costs are staffing-related.
Management and administration costs These costs represented 4% of total costs in 2013, compared with 6.6% in 2012. Excluding subsidy funding transferred directly to alliance partners, the 2013 figure was 7%. This is below our own standard of 9%, a limit we set based upon a variety of factors. The Central Bureau for Fundraising (CBF) has not defined a standard for such costs.
Liquidity
Our liquid assets amounted to € 9.3 million at the end of 2013, easily sufficient to meet our short-term obligations. The main reason for this increased liquidity was the receipt of € 2.1 million from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ SRHR Fund. Rutgers WPF does not engage in investment activity. Any surplus liquid assets are deposited in accounts at major Dutch banks (ABN AMRO and ING).
Reserves
Of the surplus of € 141,024 at the end of the year, € 54,334 has been added to the continuity reserve. This is intended to safeguard our organisational continuity and to cover any risks arising. In the long term we aim to have sufficient available assets to cover eight months of fixed outgoings, in order to enable the organisation to continue to exist in a slimmed-down form for twelve months in the event of a substantial drop in income. The creation of a reserve of this kind is recommended in the guidelines issued by national charities association
VFI and a requirement under CBF Quality Mark regulations, which suggest an upper limit of one-and-a-half times annual costs. With the lease on our offices at Oudenoord due to expire in 2015, we have already set aside € 120,000 to cover expected relocation costs, including the outfitting of new premises. We have reduced the VWS contingency fund by € 33,310. In May 2012 Rutgers WPF took over the subsidy previously paid to the Schorer Foundation by the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM). In that year we added the unspent portion of this subsidy to the contingency fund. In November 2013, however, we were notified by the RIVM that that was not permitted for 2012. This has been corrected in calculating our results for 2013. From time to time, amounts are withdrawn from and added to this reserve in order to streamline the organisation. At the end of 2013, its balance was € 125,918.
2014 and beyond Rutgers WPF has been quite successful in raising funds in recent years, particularly for international activities. As a result, they are assured sufficient funding until at least the end of 2015. The same cannot be said for our Dutch work, however. Generating additional income over and above our institutional subsidy from the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport remains a challenge. Our long-term financial situation, especially beyond 2015, is less certain. Funding for the kind of work we do is heavily dependent upon government policy, in the Netherlands and elsewhere. Current successes provide no guarantee for the future. This is why we do all we can to ensure that we are an organisation able to respond flexibly to fluctuations in income and adapt quickly to changing circumstances. Also, our work is all about people. So we continue to invest in our employees.
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Rutgers WPF Balance as of 31 December 2013 (amounts in euros) 31/12/2013
31/12/2012
ASSETS Intangible fixed assets Tangible fixed assets
39,347
65,751
73,437
110,576 112,784
Receivables, prepayments and other current assets Cash and cash equivalents
3,408,293
2,571,566
9,271,053
9,011,847
Total LIABILITIES
176,327
12,679,346
11,583,413
12,792,130
11,759,740
31/12/2013
31/12/2012
Reserves and funds Reserves • Continuity reserve • Appropriated reserve Dutch Postcode Lottery, expenditure for objectives • Appropriated reserve, expenditure for relocation costs • Equalisation reserve VWS • Reserve exchange rate differences
1,573,669
1,519,335
500,000
500,000
180,000
60,000
75,002
108,312
-41,320
-13,175 2,287,351
2,174,472
Provisions Provision reorganisation Provision jubilee employees Provision projects
125,918
146,180
41,147
36,622
-
35,994 167,065
218,796
Current and accrued liabilities
10,337,715
9,366,472
Total
12,792,130
11,759,740
These figures are based on the complete 2013 annual statement of accounts for which approval has been given by Dubois & Co officially recognized accountants. The complete annual account and the auditors’ certificate are available on request.
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Statement of income and expenditure for 2013 (amounts in euros) Actual 2013
Budget 2013
Actual 2012
INCOME Direct (own) fundraising income Income from joint campaigns Income from third-party campaigns Government subsidies Result from interest and exchange rates
1,069,029
1,470,653
1,495,922
510,029
476,700
470,849
2,013,971
1,866,085
21,425,547
12,047,339
2,178,413 12,978,698
141,724
-
122,863
Total income
25,160,298
15,860,776
17,246,744
Total income MFS II alliance partners excluded
14,589,756
15,860,776
12,864,810
Actual 2013
Budget 2013
Actual 2012
EXPENDITURE Directly allocated to objectives National International Advocacy/communication
3,693,534
3,844,844
4,138,721
18,524,549
9,301,160
10,274,438
1,308,660
1,153,878
1,149,593
Total expenditure
23,526,743
14,299,881
15,562,752
Total expenditure MFS II alliance partners excluded
12,956,201
14,299,881
11,180,818
Fundraising income Direct fundraising costs Costs third-party campaigns Costs subsidies
106,539
69,673
96,498
66,925
65,859
87,959
272,285
287,411
236,529
445,748
422,943
420,986
1,046,783
1,026,979
1,123,170
Total expenditure
25,019,274
15,749,803
17,106,908
Total expenditure MFS II alliance partners excluded
14,448,732
15,749,803
12,724,974
141,024
110,973
139,836
54,334
110,973
74,447
Management and administration Costs management and administration
Result Profit or loss appropriation • Continuity reserve • Appropriated reserve, expenditure for relocation costs • Equalisation reserve VWS Result 2013
120,000
30,000
-33,310
35,389
141,024
110,973
139,836
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Explanatory notes to allocation of expenditure Specification and cost allocation to appropriation: (amounts in euros) Appropriation
Expenditure
Objective
Raising funds
National
International
Advocacy/ communication
1,390,480
13,348,441
297,490
44,642
3,115,314
37,500
2,038,173
1,838,677
684,845
79,594
107,339
74,279
27,941
3,215
Office and general expenses
87,067
124,350
252,005
22,713
Depreciation and interest
25,834
23,489
8,879
1,017
3,693,534
18,524,549
1,308,660
106,539
Programme spending Subsidies and contributions Staff costs Accomodation costs
Total
Payment (executive) board (amounts in euros) Employment Nature (temporary, fixed contract, ended) Hours (full time working week) Part time percentage Period
fixed 36 100% month
Salary (in euros) Annual income: Gross payment
102,742
Holiday allowance
8,156
Year-end bonus
6,935
Variable annual income
—
Total annual income Social insurance costs Taxable (travel)allowances Pension contribution Other allowances on term Employment termination benefits
117,833 8,113
4,331 13,310 25,754
Total
143,587
Total RECEIVED SALARY 2013
117,833
Total RECEIVED SALARY 2012
116,644
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Direct fundraising
Management and
Total 2013
budget 2013
Total 2012
15,036,411
4,950,963
8,637,359
3,197,456
3,710,642
2,304,544
administration Third party campaign
Subsidies
59,803
243,311
935,397
5,879,800
6,164,448
5,023,394
2,416
9,829
37,788
262,808
241,100
338,071
3,941
16,036
61,648
567,761
607,650
627,057
764
3,108
11,950
75,040
75,000
176,483
66,925
272,285
1,046,783
25,019,274
15,749,803
17,106,908
Remuneration Supervisory Board: (amounts in euros)
The supervisory board receives a remuneration of â‚Ź 150 per meeting. There are three meetings per year. For members who don't live in the Netherlands, the travel costs are reimbursed. The total remuneration in 2013 was â‚Ź 7,009
The members in 2013 were: B. Koenders - Chair M. Baba - Vice-Chair E.T. Wedershoven J. van der Velden M.C. Lewis (until September 2013) N.C.G. Loonen-Van Es (as of April 2013) P. IIkkaracan (until September 2013) S. Kalkman (until September 2013) S. Seims T.A. de Man
ANNUAL REVIEW 2013
35
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