Description

The Union for African Population Studies (UAPS) is pleased to announce the reconstitution of its Family Planning / Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (FP/SRHR) Scientific Panel.

The FP/SRHR Scientific Panel serves as a platform to advance region-specific scientific knowledge on FP/SRHR issues, support the technical training of the next generation of FP/SRHR researchers and scholars in the region, promote the dissemination of African-led FP/SRHR research, and foster collaborative research and policy partnerships led by African scholars within the region and globally.

Panel Objective

The panel aims to achieve impact through four key pathways:

• Convening and Thought Leadership: Provide a dynamic platform for intellectual exchange on emerging FP/SRHR research, evidence, and perspectives in Africa by bringing together regional experts in demography, reproductive health, and rights to shape thought leadership on FP/SRHR discourse and evidence.
• Capacity Strengthening: Advance the scientific and professional growth of early-career scholars and practitioners through sustained mentorships, targeted technical and methodological training, and expanded opportunities for publication, visibility and engagement in regional/global conferences.
• Dissemination: Elevate the visibility and influence of African FP/SRHR research by showcasing findings of African scholars through UAPS, publications, conferences, and policy dialogues, with an emphasis on driving evidence-based policymaking in the region.
• Collaborative Research and Policy Engagement: Champion and strengthen collaborative FP/SRHR research and policy initiatives led by African scholars and institutions, strengthening research and data partnerships regionally and internationally to inform stronger policy and practice.

Thematic Areas of Focus 2025 – 2026

The panel will focus on, but is not limited to, the following thematic areas:

• Innovative Analysis and Response Strategies to FP/SRHR Funding Cuts. Promote and advance innovative and disruptive analyses that engage stakeholders on strategies to mitigate the impacts of FP/SRHR funding loss, ensuring that African voices and evidence guide country responses to sustain progress toward the 2030 SDGs.
• Amplifying African Voices in Global SRHR Debates on Demographic Change: Ensure African researchers and perspectives shape global discussions on how concerns about declining fertility influence FP/SRHR policies in Africa. Highlight how global demographic shifts intersect with FP/SRHR at a moment of reprioritization, including the risks of shifting attention toward low-fertility contexts and the importance of recognizing Africa’s demographic diversity.
• Equity-focused measurement and research. Support advancement of new approaches to assess equity in FP/SRHR access and outcomes in the aftermath of funding cuts and policy shifts, ensuring rigorous evidence generation on the impact of the loss of funding on FP/SRHR equity. Convene and contribute to discourse on the role of research for reproductive justice, empowerment, defining SRHR autonomy, and protecting SRHR rights in Africa
• Informing the future direction of FP/SRHR data in Africa. Inform the discourse on new approaches to FP/SRHR data collection in the region, in the wake of funding disruptions to key population-based surveys (DHS) for countries throughout the region, to sustain data needed for real-time evidence-driven policy and programs.

What To Expect

In the coming months, the FP/SRHR Panel will initiate a series of strategic activities, including:

• Hosting a side meeting at the International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP) in November, 2025 – 5^th November 2025 (Room ÑO in the Agora)

– Learn more about the side event here:  https://shorturl.at/Ixpbs

– Sign up for the side event here. https://shorturl.at/hZhxP

• Launch a webinar series on key FP/SRHR in the current funding landscape
• Focused capacity training for publications for early career researchers
• Contribute to research dissemination and policy dialogues
• Leading collaborative research initiatives on emerging FP/SRHR issues