Delivering Sexual Health and Reproductive Programs Event Recap - May 2025
Access to equitable sexual and reproductive health and education services is a crucial aspect of the international development agenda, impacting gender equality, health, and overall well-being for women and girls.
Our May networking series focused on sexual health and reproductive choice programs with speakers sharing more about how their work underpins women’s choices and gender equality, supports sustainable development goals and breaks cycles of poverty.
Events were held in Melbourne and Sydney, with people joining us ONLINE as well. We are grateful to the incredible speakers in each city who shared their real-life experiences working in sexual health and reproductive care right now. Here is a recap from each city. Don’t worry if you missed it, you can also watch recordings of each event below!
Melbourne
It was a special evening of discussion, connection and sharing of knowledge and experiences, as our two guest speakers joined a small but engaged group at the Oxfam offices in Melbourne.
The topic was a sensitive one of sexual health and reproductive rights, and all that is involved in considering that subject and those who are impacted by it, both as development practitioners and women across the global community.
Grishma Bista, new CEO of MSI Asia Pacific, and Ana Orozco, researcher at the Burnet Institute as part of their Young People’s Health Group, each brought a different perspective to the topic. Grishma, with a wealth of international and organisational experience, spoke of her time spent working in Timor-Leste, as well as roles with various key NGOs and agencies. Ana’s perspective, gained through a research lens, added to the conversation invaluably, especially about her work with youth and multicultural communities in Australia.
The evening also encapsulated the tendency for these events to unfold as strong networking opportunities, with those there enjoying an initial informal circle of shared chatter and introductions as people arrived, and concluding with small pockets of familiar conversations, digesting all they’d just heard and the perspectives and experience they’d been exposed to.
Jill Scanlon - Melbourne City Leader
You can watch the full Melbourne event here.
Sydney
The topic for our May events at Women in Aid and Development was ‘Delivering Sexual Health and Reproductive Choice Programs.’ Attendees at our Sydney event had the privilege of learning from three wonderful speakers: Dr Telma Costa from the University of Sydney, Nusrat Jahan from ChildFund Australia, and Rachel Sandford from Family Planning Australia.
We heard from each of these ladies about their varied career paths and how they came to focus on sexual and reproductive health, touching on topics like the impacts of USAID cuts on the global health sector, the treatment of cervical cancer in the Asia Pacific, and the importance of adapting sex education for different cultural contexts.
A key takeaway from this discussion was the interconnectedness of sexual and reproductive health with the rest of the sector - it is an underlying foundation of gender equality, and impacts all other development work being done in support of women. Insights like these - in combination with personal anecdotes, international expertise, and the show-and-tell of a DIY cervical cancer swab - made this an excellent event!
Our sincere thanks to Telma, Nusrat and Rachel for their time, and to Canva for hosting our event.
Jamie-Lee McLoughlin - Sydney City Leader
You can watch the full Sydney event here.
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A massive thank you to all of our amazing speakers, all those who attended and of course, our city leaders, who so generously shared their time to ensure that all events were a success.
We cannot wait to see you all at our upcoming events in July!