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DSW Ethiopia Advocates for SRHR & Gender Policies

Blog | 06. October 2022

Two important policy advocacy workshops were held by DSW Ethiopia in Bahir Dar and Jimma towns recently. The main aim of these advocacy platforms was to sensitize stakeholders on youth sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and gender policy framework. Now in its second year, the project “Enhancing the SRHR and Livelihood Prospects of Young People” is being financially supported by Stiftungsallianz fϋr Africa gGmbH (SAfA). SAfA is committed to reaching more than 73,000 vulnerable young people in Ethiopia aged between 15 – 29 years.

The first of these two advocacy workshops held on SRHR and Gender Policy Framework took place on 29 August 2022 at the Homeland Hotel in Bahir Dar, in the Amhara region. The second workshop took place on 5 September 2022 in Jimma in the Oromia region. Bahir Dar and Jimma are two of the major towns where targeted communities have been taking part in the project since its inception in May 2021. Regional stakeholders at different levels who are involved in the project took part in the workshops. Officials from the Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) were represented as keynote speakers presenting the policy frameworks and their legal provision, including the strategies used to implement the SRHR and gender issues in Ethiopia.

With a focus on violence against women in place, the rate of the legal frameworks that promote the enforcement and monitoring over gender equality under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) indicator for Ethiopia stood at 41.7 percent (UN Women, 2021). In his opening speech, Mr. Feyera Assefa, Country Director of DSW Ethiopia reminded the stakeholders that “the SRH and gender policy instruments are always assessed by DSW based on the outcomes set in the project’s objectives intent on contributing to the achievements of the third and fifth United Nations (UN) SDGs both in terms of reducing maternal morbidity, mortality, and gender inequality by the year 2030.”

“Since we launched this project in May 2021, we have remained committed to anchoring more and more advocacy workshops such as this, which has been tailored to impact on the enhancement of the SRH and livelihood prospects of young people in our country,” says Feyera as he went on to emphasize the importance of advocating on policy position and framework that address SRHR and gender issues, while at the same time being able to identify their gaps.

“For instance, sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) which has been triggered over the recent past following the seemingly intractable conflicts in Ethiopia, which still potentially hovered over us have brought about a new challenge. This challenge can be an opportunity for us to start reexamining the gaps hinging upon the existing SRH and gender policy framework. Given this fact, the question would be how we can align the relevant legal provision to our works and address the needs for enhancing the SRHR and the livelihood prospects of youth from gender perspective,” Feyera asks.

Researches affirm that in spite of efforts to undertake numerous development programs and strong policies supported by feasible legal provisions, the degree of disparity in SRH and many other gender-related indicators in Ethiopia remain at stake and significant challenges are still lingering. “Despite the challenges lingering, there are so many opportunities worth exploring in the various national strategic documents, most importantly, the National Adolescent & Youth Sexual & Reproductive Health Strategy. These strategic materials are drawn not only from the youth-friendly policies adopted in Ethiopia but also the fact that the Federal Constitution itself provides explicit legal basis for enhancing the SRHR of young people,” stresses Mr. Abebe Tilaye, Adolescent and Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health Expert with FMoH and who presented his keynotes in Bahir Dar.

Further to this, Tilaye recounts, “our recent data indicates that disparity exists in sexual debuts across rural and urban youth observed at 16 and 18 years of ages in their respective categories. Overall, the unmet need for the family planning information and services remain at 26 percent and this figure obviously correlates to the prevalence of unintended teenage pregnancies. The way forward in meeting the needs of youth SRHR, enhancing their livelihood prospects and addressing the gender-related problems, including the sexual violence is bound to draw synergy and commitments from key development partners. In this case, high stakes rest upon DSW to play a lead role in the efforts to engage in more advocacy activities. By the same token, we will be able to increase the existing relatively low budget allocation or limited resources available for SRH programs in Ethiopia both at national and international sources”.

“When it comes to initiating and seriously undertaking a development intervention focusing on SRHR needs of adolescents and youth, DSW always exhibits consistency and we appreciate its commitments to increase the demand for the uptake of SRHR/family planning services. However, we also observe often the supply side being in shortfalls and hope this too will be addressed as DSW already set foot into conducting service provision,” asserts Dejene Deme, Adolescent and Youth SRH Expert with FMoH, who made a keynote speech at the workshop in Jimma.

The two advocacy workshops’ deliberations have streamlined strong action points, which include the demands created for SRHR services should meet the supplies in need through coordinated efforts. Government stakeholders along with other partners can work in a spirit of shared mission to create a sustainable environment for the supplies of SRHR/FP services. More so, the limitation observed in terms of effective implementation of the SRHR and gender policies at the local government units need to be addressed.

Photographs: private

DSW

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DSW Ethiopia Debuts Youth-Friendly SRH Service Provision

Blog | 12. September 2022

On 31 August 2022, DSW Ethiopia opened its second of six youth-friendly clinics (YFC), with the aim of providing services in the area of sexual and reproductive health (SRH). The youth development training center in Bishoftu (Debrezeit) incorporates an in-house SRH service provision. This youth-friendly clinic, which is now operating at full capacity, functions in an integrated manner with the youth empowerment center aligned to it.

“Empowering youth is a long tradition of virtue in DSW’s strategic approach one which was initiated to address the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) of young people in Ethiopia. The establishment and strengthening of youth empowerment centers were born out of the needs for developing the capacity of adolescent and young people using age-appropriate SRHR interventions. The youth empowerment strategy has, all along been aligned to every SRHR-based project undertaken by DSW and each was tailored in encouraging young people to assume responsibility and self-determination over their own life,” says Feyera Assefa, Country Director of DSW Ethiopia during a half-day inauguration ceremony, which took place at DSW’s youth development training center where the new structure was built. The training center is also close to an established government youth center.

Sintayew T. Demissie, Adolescent and Youth Officer with the Federal Ministry of Health, noting that the FMoH continued its commitment and expanded the youth-friendly service provision corners by integrating them with youth centers. “We also appreciate DSW’s engagement and action that complemented our national strategy in which the youth-friendly services are prioritized. This structure built by DSW for the YFC is an exemplary model worth replicating”, Mr. Demissie acknowledged in an opening speech at the inaugural event.     

In her keynote address, Lelisse Melkamu, Adolescent and Youth SRH Officer at the Oromia regional state’s health bureau, enthused about the fact that on one side of this youth-friendly clinic is a government-run youth center within walking distance and DSW’s youth development center on the other side, making it all the more convenient  for young people to access the services. “This is an innovative virtue once again exhibited by DSW to reach out to the youth, bringing a youth-friendly service where the youth choose to be around spend their time.”, she declared.

“It was barely a year ago when we sought a project themed “Integrating Youth-Friendly Services into Youth Empowerment Center (IYFS-YEC)” and for the first time we embarked on providing SRH services rather than just engaging in disseminating the information, creating the demands for and enhancing an enabling environment for service provision through outreach and advocacy efforts, these have included the referral links,” asserted Mr. Assefa.

“Now we have become an organisation that works on providing SRH service. We have already developed the checklists for conducting measurable quality assurances and the engagements in terms of technical supports of the youth-friendly clinic, one which is inaugurated today and the five others also fall within the responsibility of DSW,” emphasised Segni Tefera, a Health Officer who oversees the youth-friendly clinics and is one of DSW’s growing team members with a background in health.  

On the day of the opening, many stakeholders were invited to the launch of the clinic. Many young people, who were already at the youth center nearby, were also curious about the clinic and came to have a look at it. “It was all meant to go this way,” Mr. Assefa uttered as he encouraged the presence of the young people at the launch. “It is a friendlier one for you,” Mr. Assefa emphasised to the youth, “the youth center is not far away and the youth development training center is right over here, and in between you have got the youth-friendly clinic, which will ensure that your SRHR service provision needs are conveniently met.”

A youth-friendly clinic, one that is integrated into a youth empowerment center such as this, remains a core thematic intervention for DSW. Efforts to empower youth with SRHR will be attainable when young people actively seek out access to sexual education, health services and methods of family planning.

The concept of embedding the youth-friendly clinics with the youth empowerment centers (YEC) was driven by the fact that the in-and-out-of-school youth are interconnected by the YEC and through referral provision with which the health centers remain strongly linked with. Yet, the project support groups, which include stakeholders from influential members of the community who are part of these networks, have to create an enabling environment for SRH service provision by closely working with the YEC. The flying (mobile) nurses, a new modality initiated by DSW, remain integrated in the network of the youth-friendly clinics to deliver the SRH services where health center-based providers are not conveniently reachable by the youth.

Almost 33 percent of Ethiopia’s population consists of young people between the ages of 10 and 24. This figure constitutes the largest generation in the nation’s history. By virtue of this demographic bulge, no other competing development priority other than ensuring the health of these age groups makes the demographic dividend a real possibility in the future of the nation. In light of this fact, the youth-friendly service provision is a viable strategy to address the SRHR of young people.

DSW

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DSW Ethiopia Triumphs in Advocacy

Blog | 30. May 2022

DSW Ethiopia is triumphing in an environment that was not very open to NGO engagement until recent years, by hosting and engaging in a series of advocacy activities. Two high profile advocacy workshops took place on 12 and 13 May 2022 during which a regional advocacy workshop brought together thirty-seven government stakeholders and media organisations at Adama German Hotel in Adama (Nazareth).

The busy schedule of the two-day workshop included various activities with topics such as the integration of youth sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and gender issues from regional and national policies and strategic perspectives. Government stakeholders and other partners representing civil society organisations interacted in the panel discussion after power point presentations offered the contexts in which the entire discourses were shaped. The project entitled “Healthy Youth at Work”, with advocacy being one of its core strategies, was presented as a success story.  This project supports youth from seven flower farms and eighteen other factories.

“The ability to report a success story doesn’t come by quick and in an isolated effort,” underscores Lelise Melaku, Youth & Adolescent Reproductive Health Officer with Oromia Bureau of Health (BoH) during her presentation, adding “it requires good planning and strong partnership with the key stakeholders. More so, by identifying the needs and tailoring the right strategy to address them.” Lelise further emphasized that “we observed the cascading effects on unintended pregnancy that leads to unsafe abortion would have negatively impacted the preexisting problematic situation in which youth at the workplace were vulnerable before this project was launched.”

“Our modality for intervention embraced an assessment of the needs based on the empirical evidence drawn from a pilot project on a phase by phase approach. We integrate compatible issues for comprehensive outcomes. That is why this workshop is set to advocate the importance of intervention on the sexual & reproductive health & rights (SRHR) of youth at the workplace through integrating youth SRHR and gender issues into regional and national policy and strategies,” affirms Feyera Assefa, Country Director of DSW Ethiopia.

“Since its inception, this project has been on course with success and settles into its second phase already impacting on sustainable outcomes as the government stakeholders have scaled up the practices. This is an encouraging achievement on the part of DSW to keep maintaining its strategic partnership through such integrated intervention that reinforces development issues into regional and national policy and strategies,” says Tesfaye Hailu, Deputy Head of Planning & Economic Development Commission (PEDC) of the Oromia Regional State.

Encouraged by the degree of commitments coming from those with stakes attending the workshop, Feyera recognizes how DSW’s advocacy efforts came a long way in mobilizing a strong sense of ownership of the project and the strategic partnership with government stakeholders that kept growing, including with the PEDC and BoH, as well as other sector offices in Oromia region. “We remain committed and continue to reach out to the youth as target groups of the project by developing their capacities and creating an enabling environment for them to advocate on SRHR issues at local, national and international levels,” reassures Feyera.

As DSW triumphs through advocating its integrated modality for project intervention, it expanded the strategic partnership with multi-sectoral institutions to ensure sustainable outcomes. “Healthy Youth at Work” is a three-year project phased in as an extension of the successful pilot intervention undertaken before it. The project has been financially and technically supported by the David & Lucile Packard Foundation from the onset of the earlier pilot phase that lasted three years right through to the second phase, which is still running. Since then, DSW has taken lessons from this workplace intervention and expanded its experience to industrial parks, where a large number of youths are employed, with support from the government.

DSW

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Commemorating DSW’S 30th Anniversary – in Ethiopia!

Blog | 11. March 2021

While observing Covid restriction measures, more than sixty stakeholders came together to help launch a newly extended project in Ethiopia. During the launch, a brief pause was arranged to honor DSW’s 30th anniversary. This event spells the first (of many!) anniversary actions for Ethiopia, which will be further repeated throughout the year across all of DSW’s offices.

With banners, specially made logos, and a twenty minute presentation, the DSW’s Ethiopian team made sure that everyone in attendance knew about our special anniversary. At the conclusion of the workshop, thirty participants volunteered to step up to the podium, and in an orderly manner, all pointed at once to the direction where the 30th anniversary logo was playing on a big screen.

How and when DSW came into being was quoted as the key anecdote of the presentation:

“The year 1991 was an epoch-making breaking development in the history of DSW when two philanthropic-minded entrepreneurs did let go of part of their fortune to the founding of DSW. The birth of an SRHR focused development organization in a quiet Hannover, Germany, has made a far-reaching achievement of feat as it becomes lauder and grew larger within the reach of its 30th birth year. The birthplace of DSW, Hannover remains home to its headquarters. With four strong country offices established in Eastern African region and two proactive liaison offices maintained in Berlin (Germany) and Brussels (Belgium), DSW has come a long way to commemorate its 30th anniversary as the year 2021 kicks-in.”

DSW

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DSW Calls for Mainstreaming AYSRH Issues in Ethiopia

Blog | 03. November 2020

DSW presented its experiences at an advocacy workshop that it organised in collaboration with the Planning and Economic Development Commission of the Oromiya Regional State. The two-day workshop took place in Adama, 80 miles southeast of Addis Ababa, and called for mainstreaming of adolescents and youth sexual and reproductive health (AYSRH) into regional policy planning.

The experiences shared were drawn from the good practices observed in the course of implementing the project “Serving the Underserved: Improving the SRH of Vulnerable Youth”, which operates at two flower farms. “Serving the Underserved” is one of DSW’s latest pilot interventions that particularly focuses on working youth. The first three years of its first phase came to an end in September 2020. Following its conclusion, good practices were documented based on an earlier assessment.

The presentation of this assessment led to proactive discussion during the advocacy workshop with key stakeholders who represent the Oromiya Regional State. One of the main discussion points was mainstreaming and integrating AYSRH based on DSW’s tried-and-tested youth-in-the-workplace approach.

“In the past, in-school youth were our main focus for intervention because educational institutions were places we easily found a large number of adolescents and youths. But as the demographic dynamics transformed, those that were once concentrated in schools moved into working places, and DSW refocused some of its interventions on the flower farms and industrial parks where there are tens of thousands of youths employed. This is a result of widespread efforts tied to the government’s ambitious policy to create employment opportunities for youth in Ethiopia,” said Feyera Assefa, DSW’s Country Director in Ethiopia.

According to sources published by the Industrial Parks Development Corporation (IPDC), Ethiopia has already spent around $1.3 billion in the development of a dozen industrial parks, ten of which are operational at full capacity, thus far. With the total number of youths employed in the various industrial parks reaching more than 300,000, each industrial park is home to nearly 30,000 youth employees who spend several hours each day together.

These girls are employees of the Abyssinia Flower Farm and part of the target group of youth to benefit from DSW’s project. They are displaying one of the most widely circulated youth-friendly newsletters designed and published by DSW for increasing SRH knowledge. The newsletter, which is particularly tailored to working youth, contains questions and scientific answers on STIs, pregnancy and family planning methods, among other related topics.

“When such a volume of youth population is found in close proximity and keeps interacting while being either at the industrial parks or the flower farms working eight hours each day, their unique vulnerability to SRH problems requires an equally unique approach to improve their SRH needs,” Feyera said. “One of DSW’s strategies to address this is to upgrade the youth-friendly SRH service outlets up to the level of clinics. These clinics are located at the flower farms and outside. Their upgrading needs are assessed and met by DSW in partnership with the Ministry of Health.” He added, “Learning from our good practices, the SRH youth-friendly service facilitations have made the service delivery more comprehensive and efficient.”

The good practice document further reveals that over 2,500 youths accessed comprehensive youth-friendly SRH services at the upgraded clinics. “The Serving the Underserved project has targeted youth in the workplace and this approach has been effective in improving AYSRH needs. The question is how can other partners integrate, replicate and scale up DSW’s workplace approaches,” said Abebe Demisu, Program and Projects Department Manager at DSW Ethiopia.

“Like the AYSRH issues, the workplace approach initiated and implemented by DSW over the past three years has taught us a key lesson for integrating and mainstreaming it into the policy plan, ensuring future replication of the good practices,” said Teshome Adugna, PhD, commissioner of Planning and Economic Development Commission of the Oromiya Regional State.

Dr. Adugna further enthuses that “the SRH needs and problems among the adolescent and youth population should be comprehensively addressed using tried-and-tested approaches and by coordinating and collaborating; by combining efforts, resources, skills and knowledge as well as strengthening the capacity of institutions, we can mainstream the AYSRH issues on the one hand and integrate a workplace approach on the other. Putting quality AYSRH information and services in place to be accessed by the right beneficiaries at the right time will directly impact overall economic development endeavors.”

Data showed that the growing commitment by government and private sectors to bring employment opportunities to youth in places such as the flower farms and industrial parks brought along the unforeseen challenges of vulnerability that impact young people’s health. By building on the institutional capacity of the youth-friendly health facilities to ensure that their SRH services are accessible for working youth, the challenges can be overcome. “This requires coordinated efforts between and among partners,” Abebe said, noting additionally, “This is particularly true when the dynamic of youth mobility is given close attention.”

The referral and counselling services for preventing unintended pregnancies, STIs and gender-based violence are key to making a difference in the well-being of many youth working at the flower farms. A trained health care provider can be reached at any time during work hours. DSW provides need-based training programmes for health care providers based in the farm’s clinic.

Anecdotes from participants of the workshop to put the SRH issues into context:

Anecdote 1

In developed nations, in the same way as here, couples get along and interact between themselves. Relationships between couples may be built on the basis of cohabitation or wedlock. They still maintain their conjugal intimacy at home. However, you don’t see children being born at breakneck speed as is often the case here.

Anecdote 2

Female employees in the flower farms, who make up the majority of the workforce, once believed that the chemical spray used for the flowers in the farm would cause infertility. The story became a widespread and persistent rumor, and the female youth working in the flower farms became vulnerable to deception by male coworkers and men outside of their workplace. The suggestion was that, unless they were able to prove otherwise, infertility might have already been caused by chemical exposure. Hence, in an attempt to prove their own fertility, many had unprotected sex. When this resulted in a pregnancy, which was the case quite often, they sought out unsafe abortion services. Thanks to DSW’s interventions, which increased awareness and established youth-friendly SRH services nearby, the female youths’ vulnerability to these and other SRH issues were addressed and improved.

Keep up to date with all of our activities and projects here on our blog.

DSW

More health for youth

Youth for Health (Y4H) is a three-year initiative that will work to expand access to life-changing adolescent sexual and reproductive healthcare and rights (ASRHR), with a focus on reaching the poorest and most marginalised adolescent girls, including those with disabilities, in rural and hard-to-reach areas of Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and Zambia. By unlocking demand and access and contributing towards changes in favour of supportive policies and funding environments, Youth for Health will increase and sustain access to ASRHR for girls and young women.

DSW in a consortium led by MSI Reproductive Choices, along with six other national partners,  Centre for the Study of Adolescence (CSA) Kenya, Health Alert Sierra Leone (HASiL), Youth Advocates Ghana (YAG), Sikika, Restless Development Zambia and Youth Network for Sustainable Development (YNSD) Ethiopia are implementing the Y4H project. Each partner brings a wealth of experience working with, and for, adolescents, including in youth-friendly services; youth-led accountability and participation in governance; youth leadership, especially of young women; youth mobilisation; and community engagement; as well as long-standing media and communication experience.

DSW’s role in the project is to improve the political environment and mobilise resources in the countries at local, national and regional levels, while working on the ground in two subdistricts in Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania. Other project partners are focused on increasing demand for high-quality SRHR information and ensuring a strong public health sector is able to deliver ASRHR services. In these six subdistricts, DSW-trained youth champions are working to ensure that their demands for improved national ASRHR services are heard. The production and analysis of annual budget studies and community scorecards will be important tools the youth champions will use in their advocacy to call for increased funding for ASRHR in their communities.

Miriam Riechers

Key activities

Annual analysis of public budgets in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia in terms of planning and spending on ASRHR and family planning.

Collection of data on the availability of youth-friendly ASRHR services and modern contraceptives in the communities.

Providing expertise on ASRHR through participation in working groups and consultations at the local, regional and national levels.

Training of 30 youth champions per country on family planning, ASRHR and gender-based violence.

Online and in-person interaction with local community members on ASRHR and gender-based violence issues through campaigns each year.

Engage with the African Union (AU) and East African Community (EAC) by participating at civil society organisation consultation meetings and disseminating ASRHR advocacy priorities

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Plannable support for young people

More health in the workplace

Many young people in Ethiopia start working at an early age. The youngest women on the large flower farms in Oromia (Ethiopia) are 15 years old – an age at which access to information around sexual and reproductive health and rights is very important. To ensure that the young people have the opportunity to exchange information on these topics in addition to their factory work, DSW has created an information service directly on the flower farms.

Contraception, sexually transmitted diseases, but also gender-based and sexualised violence are among the topics that concern young people. On the flower farms, DSW organises discussion groups where especially young women exchange their views. DSW also offers training for young people who want to become politically active.

For the referral of the flower workers, but also other young people, age-appropriate counseling centres are also set up in the nearby local health centres.

Miriam Riechers

Schlüsselaktivitäten

Youth dialogues

Organisation and implementation of youth dialogues in the flower farms

Training

Conducting training sessions on gender roles and life skills

Workshops

Conducting workshops on national and regional legal frameworks to ensure sexual and reproductive health and rights in the workplace

PR

Creation and distribution of newsletters, posters and brochures and use of social media in the factories

Consultation

Establishment of youth-friendly counselling centres in local health facilities

Training

Training of youth activists

Panel discussions

Hold biannual panel discussions on gender roles and gender-based violence.

Legal frameworks

Establish legal frameworks to ensure sexual and reproductive health and rights in the workplace

Donate regularly, help sustainably.

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1000 €

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Efficient, as administrative costs are low

Plannable support for young people

Age-appropriate family planning and “mobile nurses”

In Ethiopia, one in three young people between the ages of 15 and 19 has an unmet need for contraceptives. This is often because family planning counselling is not tailored to young people. Young people who ask about contraception are often shamed. Many adolescents, especially in rural areas, do not know who they can turn to confidentially with their questions. This project helps to solve these issues.

So-called “youth-friendly clinics” are set up in a total of five DSW youth empowerment centres. The focus of these youth friendly clinics is counselling and access to contraceptives. Trained nurses also administer long-term contraception such as hormone implants and injections directly here on request. Even though many contraceptives are primarily suitable for women, the services are equally aimed at young men as testing for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases is also possible at the clinics. Discretion and a lot of privacy give the young people security and take away their shame and fear. The clinics are supplemented by mobile nurses who travel to rural areas. Therefore even young people who live far away from the clinics are able to receive the services.

Miriam Riechers

Key activities

Equipment of clinic rooms

Youth-friendly equipment of clinic rooms in youth empowerment centres

Training of specialised personnel

Training of nurses (mobile and non-mobile) and peer educators in youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health services.

Training for contraceptives

Training of nurses (mobile and non-mobile) in modern family planning methods such as the contraceptive pill, three-month injections, IUDs and emergency contraception.

Health offers

Adolescent health services and mobile sexual and reproductive health services for young women in the communities close to the clinics.

Donate regularly, help sustainably.

25 €
1000 €

Secure donations with SSL encryption

Efficient, as administrative costs are low

Plannable support for young people

Testamentary donations

If you wish to leave a portion of your assets to DSW, you can do so in your will or inheritance contract. If you have a life insurance policy or a savings or share contract, you can also name DSW as the beneficiary.

Thinking of tomorrow today

Legal succession and wills

Tax-free allowance and inheritance tax

Depending on the assets to be inherited and the family relationship, the state grants different tax allowances on the assets. The more distant the family relationship, the higher the tax rate and the lower the tax-free amount. Only non-profit organisations and foundations such as DSW are exempt from inheritance tax.

Get advice

Because of the many ways in which your will can be drafted, we recommend that you seek legal advice.

You ask yourself

Where do I want to leave traces and pass on my values beyond my lifetime? Who do I want to leave my legacy to?

Our Promise

By remembering DSW in your will, you give young people in East Africa the chance to lead healthy and self-determined lives. We will handle your estate professionally, respectfully and in accordance with your wishes – that is our promise to you.

  • Every contribution makes a dig difference. Even a small donation can make a big difference and empower young people. Find out more about how we work on our website.
  • Your decision is central. We understand that circumstances can change. We can adapt your will to reflect your current personal preferences.
  • You have various options. If you want your support to have a direct impact after your death, you can include DSW in your will. Or you can make a long-term and sustainable impact with an endowmen fund.
  • Play an active role in shaping the future. The choices you make will affect the world long after you are gone. You are giving other people a fair and just chance in life.
  • We are here for you. We are by your side in this important matter.

“It is very important to me to live as sustainably as possible and to support DSW’s preventative project approach.”

“I have been involved with DSW since 2002. My travels to East Africa in the 1970s and 90s left a deep impression on me. Over the years, I have observed that the African continent is facing great challenges due to its growing population – with consequences for local living conditions, but also for the economy and the environment. It is therefore very important to me to live as sustainably as possible and to support DSW’s preventative project approach. That is why I have decided to support DSW with my legacy. I find it reassuring to know that I can help shape the future after my death and give young people a perspective.”

Christian Schrom, DSW co-founder and long-time sponsor

Empowering young people in East Africa with your legacy

In most East African countries, not only is access to contraceptives and health services limited, there is also a lack of educational programmes for young people. Young people in particular are at increased risk of unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Informed and healthy young people can shape their own futures and hold great potential for the future of their countries.

Since 1995, DSW has therefore established a network of youth clubs for sexuality education and health prevention in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. In the clubs, peer educators trained by us inform their peers about how they can protect themselves from unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. We combine our education programme with training and further education measures. These empower young people to improve their lives independently and in the long term.

The youth clubs also organise their own awareness campaigns in their communities and send trained members to advocate for young people at the political level. In this way, we engage parents, teachers and community members in sustainable social change and ensure that policymakers in East Africa prioritise and fund the health sector.

Motivations for charitable bequests

Source: Initiative “Mein Erbe tut Gutes. Das Prinzip Apfelbaum”, GfK-Umfrage “Gemeinnütziges Vererben in Deutschland”, 2019

Frequently asked questions

For a comprehensive overview of the topics of wills and inheritance law, we recommend the brochure “Erben und Vererben” (only available in German) from the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection, which you can download here.

You yourself can choose the focus of your support during your lifetime. If you do not, your legacy will be used to fund projects that improve the lives of young people in East Africa. Your gift will go towards education programmes, health services and awareness raising to create lasting change.

Yes, you can adjust your testamentary donation to Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevölkerung (DSW) in your will if your circumstances or preferences change.

You have a number of options for organising your support. You can make a one-off donation in your will or make a long-term impact by establishing an endowment fund under the umbrella of DSW or by making by making an endowment to DSW in your will..

As we are unable to provide legal advice, please contact your lawyer or notary directly to amend your will. We will, of course, assist you throughout the process.

It is always a good idea to make a will. This is the only way to determine who should receive your assets. If there is no will, your relatives or the state will inherit. A will should be drafted in such a way that its provisions are valid regardless of the size of your estate.

If you would like to include severalorganisatons in your will and you have no relatives, it may be helpful to name only one or a few organisations as direct beneficiaries. You can leave a legacy, for example a certain amount of money, to the other organisations. This makes it easier to reach agreement among the few beneficiaries.

You can add to, amend or revoke your will at any time without giving a reason. If you have concluded an inheritance contract, you can no longer unilaterally change the inheritance promise, unless the contract reserves the right to revoke. You can only revoke or amend a joint will together as long as both spouses or partners are alive. After the death of one partner, the surviving partner is bound by the joint will, unless you have stipulated in your will that the surviving partner can make new testamentary dispositions. Please consult your lawyer or notary for advice.

Does this appeal to you? Arrange a personal consultation.

Would you like to support DSW with part of your estate or through a foundation? Please contact us, we look forward to hearing from you and developing opportunities together.

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Your contact person

Sina Rabe

Head of Fundraising Unit

Telephone: +49 511 94373-15
Email: sina.rabe[at]dsw.org

Our donations account

Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevölkerung (DSW)
IBAN: DE56 2504 0066 0383 8380 00
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Or donate online here 

Empowering the community

In order to improve the situation of young people in the long term, we involve their entire social environment in our educational work. The youth club members organise their own education campaigns in their local area, in which they convince parents, teachers, local politicians and religious leaders that education and contraception are basic prerequisites for a healthy and independent life.

The young people create their own music, dances and even plays and perform them in public. The youth club members become important role models, so-called youth champions, who are now highly respected in their communities. As well as raising awareness, the clubs also get involved in their communities, for example by organising litter picking and tree planting campaigns, or cleaning up local water points and health stations.

How we engage the community and youth

Theatre

Drama shows are one of the most important educational tools for youth club members. It allows them to show their community what problems can arise in everyday life – and how to solve them!

Music

Some youth clubs have bands. They write their own songs, in which they also incorporate educational topics. They usually perform spontaneously in public places, like here at an Ethiopian bus stop. A large audience is quickly found.

Information events

Information events are held in a variety of public places to reach as many people of all ages as possible. We also distribute information material.

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