PAI Ships Resources to the Sudanese Population Network

PAI’s international advocacy efforts can take many shapes, including supporting a fledging network in the heart of Sudan with resources from our library.

The Sudanese Population Network (SPN) was the first population and reproductive health network established in Sudan. SPN is a voluntary Non-Governmental Non-Profit network established in 2004 by grants from the Population Council, UNFPA, and the University of Washington. Their goal was to bring together organizations, associations, and researchers who are working in the population, development and reproductive health field to facilitate coordination and collaboration in Sudan.

This network is important in light of escalating concerns surrounding population and reproductive health issues at all levels as well as calls from population forums and conferences (particularly the ICPD and MDGs) in Sudan. Recently, there has been a growth in prevention efforts in the health and justice sectors resulting from advocacy, service delivery, policy and legislative changes. These efforts span government, private sector, civil society and academia. The network facilitates monthly joint discussions and semi-annual national forums to strengthen efforts to reform reproductive health policies and promote information exchange and interactions between organizations, practitioners, advocates and academia.

In order to promote information exchange and facilitate the dissemination of information on population, family planning, and reproductive health issues,  SPN established a resource center in 2007. This resource center serves SPN members, researchers, advocates and students in the Sudan. The resource center started out with donations from the University of Washington and UNFPA. The network is continuing its efforts to build this resource center and launch a website. In May 2008, PAI donated 200 books, reports, magazines, and Fact Sheets to the center. A month later, in June 2008, Esraa Bani, a member of our International Advocacy team, visited SPN and was glad to see that PAI’s resources were put to use. We are looking forward to supporting SPN in its efforts to enhance their advocacy capacity and reform reproductive health policies in Sudan.