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Unintended Pregnancy and Abortion in Northern America

March 24, 2022

Model-based estimates offer an opportunity to observe and assess unintended pregnancy and abortion over time and, because they enable comparability across borders and groups, to do so for individual countries, for regions and globally. Estimates for regions and subregions, as defined by the United Nations Statistics Division groupings, can offer advocates, policymakers, researchers and others valuable insight into sexual and reproductive health and autonomy. Regional estimates can help reveal disparities and areas where continued investment is needed to ensure that individuals can access the full spectrum of quality sexual and reproductive health care.The estimates below provide an overview of the incidence of unintended pregnancy and abortion in Northern America from 1990 through 2019; the values are based on average annual estimates for five-year time periods. View these estimates in country profiles on guttmacher.org.

Opportunities and Challenges Facing Ukraine’s Democratic Transition

February 16, 2022

According to new polling by the National Democratic Institute (NDI), Ukrainians are steadfast in their commitment to their country's democratic future. 76 percent of respondents want Ukraine to become a fully functioning democracy,  with human rights protection, equal justice for all, freedom of speech and free and fair elections. Ukrainians want stability, security and peace. A strong majority of Ukrainians support a  European future: 58 percent of respondents said they want to see Ukraine become a member of the European Union; and 48 percent want to see Ukraine become a member of NATO. Russian military aggression is the biggest perceived threat: 60 percent of respondents said that it's a big threat to their way of life, followed by economic uncertainty at 57 percent. Nationally, 52 percent of respondents say that Ukraine is going in the wrong direction, significantly more than in July 2021 (46 percent). While demand for change and greater government accountability is high, Ukrainians respect the rule of law and expect their leaders to do the same: 89 percent of respondents believe that the President should always respect the rule of law when working to deliver results. The survey was designed and conducted by the National Democratic Institute in Ukraine. The fieldwork was conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology from December 1, 2021 to January 10, 2022, via face-to-face method with 6,232 completed interviews. The survey is nationally representative. Areas outside the control of the Ukrainian government were excluded. The average margin of error for the national sample is +/- 3%. The research is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Sweden, UK Aid and Global Affairs Canada

The State of Out-of-School Girls in Sierra Leone: Findings Across Six Districts

October 13, 2021

The Girls' Circles baseline survey affirmed what we know – that girls' lives in Sierra Leone, especially those who are out of school, are characterised by multiple hardships: little to no education; the ubiquity of transactional sex; teen pregnancy; and everyday violence. Whilst little of this will be new for those who know Sierra Leone, the scale of these issues (which are likely to be under reported) is shocking, as is their everyday nature – girls struggling, for example, to identify violence where it is simply part of the fabric of their daily lives.This report was born out of a recognition that all of this rich data is available and should be shared with the world, particularly given the relative rarity of girls' voices being foregrounded in the Sierra Leonean context. It presents an opportunity for a 'state of the nation' summary about the lives of girls who are often most marginalised in Sierra Leone, and the findings are grounded in what girls themselves and their mentors are telling us about their lives.The availability of this nuanced data and verbatim accounts has enabled the report to go beyond the simplified or binary narratives often presented about girls, to present the realities of their lives, in their words. We hope this provides deep insight into their experiences and what lies behind these, as well as the possibilities for positive change.

The State of Out-of-School Girls in Sierra Leone: Findings Across Six Districts - Executive Summary

October 13, 2021

The Girls' Circles baseline survey affirmed what we know – that girls' lives in Sierra Leone, especially those who are out of school, are characterised by multiple hardships: little to no education; the ubiquity of transactional sex; teen pregnancy; and everyday violence. Whilst little of this will be new for those who know Sierra Leone, the scale of these issues (which are likely to be under reported) is shocking, as is their everyday nature – girls struggling, for example, to identify violence where it is simply part of the fabric of their daily lives.This report was born out of a recognition that all of this rich data is available and should be shared with the world, particularly given the relative rarity of girls' voices being foregrounded in the Sierra Leonean context. It presents an opportunity for a 'state of the nation' summary about the lives of girls who are often most marginalised in Sierra Leone, and the findings are grounded in what girls themselves and their mentors are telling us about their lives.The availability of this nuanced data and verbatim accounts has enabled the report to go beyond the simplified or binary narratives often presented about girls, to present the realities of their lives, in their words. We hope this provides deep insight into their experiences and what lies behind these, as well as the possibilities for positive change.

PAYING FOR A WORLD CLASS AFFILIATION: Reputation Laundering in the University Sector of Open Societies

May 25, 2021

Modern kleptocracy thrives on the ability of kleptocrats and their associates to use their ill-gotten gains in open settings. This often takes the form of investing in high-end real estate or other luxury goods, which serves to both obscure the corrupt origin of the money and to protect it for future use. But there is also a subtler dynamic at play. The use of kleptocratic-linked funding or other forms of engagement in open societies to blur the illicit nature and source of the donation serves to launder kleptocrats' reputations, as well as their cash. This careful cultivation of positive publicity and influence empowers autocrats and their cronies. It also entrenches kleptocrats—and the regimes with which they are associated—in positions of power.Universities and think tanks in open settings are prime targets for reputation laundering. The rapid internationalization of the higher education sector, as well as the swelling demand worldwide for Western education makes academic institutions particularly vulnerable to this form of transnational kleptocratic activity. Indeed, over recent years, there has been a major surge of foreign funding to U.S. and U.K.universities. The composition of fundraising has also changed. Major gifts comprise a growing share of donations, and a relatively small number of wealthy individuals contribute nearly 80 percent of gift-giving to universities.These challenges also affect other open countries where foreign gifts traditionally have not been a major source of funding but are now actively being offered and sought. Countries like the Czech Republic and Germany have witnessed high-profile scandals involving funding from PRC-connected sources, both in exerting influence through opaque payments to faculty or through the application of Chinese law to donor agreements with the university. Such examples highlight the transnational nature of this challenge.This report examines how foreign donors may engage with universities in open settings to launder their reputations. It draws on primary research as well as publicly available secondary data. In a survey of officers in charge of donations at U.K. and U.S. universities, the authors selected the higher education establishments most likely to attract significant funding from potentially illicit sources: the 24 Russell Group universities in the United Kingdom, and the Top 20 large U.S. universities as ranked by the 2020 edition of US News and World Report. The survey asked the respondents to share their institution's gift acceptance policies and the ways in which these policies have changed in recent years. The survey was designed to identify the role of university offices involved in the gift approval process and explain whether gifts are treated differently depending on specific criteria. In the United Kingdom, 17 out of the 24 institutions contacted responded to the survey. In the United States, however, administrators were reluctant to reply or did not respond; that said, many of the surveyed institutions when asked were under compliance investigation concerning the reporting of foreign funds. Although our findings are preliminary, they potentially capture similar funding trends and challenges confronting institutions of higher education in other open societies such as those of Australia, New Zealand, and Europe.

Water, Sanitation & Hygiene innovation Catalogue: A Collection of Innovations for the Humanitarian Sector

January 22, 2019

We are proud to present this catalogue as a collection of some of the most promising new solutions in WASH, offering the WASH practitioner community a unique opportunity to access over 30 innovations that could help to solve their most pressing problems.Over the last few years, we have heavily invested in funding and supporting innovation and research in the WASH sector, highlighting gaps in evidence, exploring the problems, identifying opportunities where innovation can play a vital role, and funding the right people to find potential solutions.Our WASH Innovation Catalogue is the first of its kind. It offers a unique overview of some of the most promising new solutions in WASH, and is designed to help practitioners decide which innovations could help them solve their most pressing problems. Taking an innovation from idea to scale can take years, and the innovations featured in this catalogue are all at different stages on that journey, but what this offers the WASH sector now is a look at the exciting work happening around the world to address common challenges.

Balancing Financial Viability and User Affordability: An Assessment of Six WASH Service Delivery Models

August 1, 2017

This Topic Brief presents assessments of the financial performance of six WSUP-supported WASH service delivery models in Bangladesh, Madagascar, Mozambique and Zambia. Each model has been developed in partnership with locally mandated service providers to facilitate sustainable, at-scale improvements to low-income urban populations.

Projecting Progress: Are Cities on Track to Achieve the SDGs by 2030?

October 1, 2016

This report explores for the first time the scale of the challenge for 20 cities across the world to reach selected targets set out in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). More than half of the targets included will require a profound acceleration of efforts if they are to be achieved by the majority of selected cities. Targets that are not on course to be met by the majority of cities studied include ending child malnutrition, achieving full and productive female employment, access to adequate housing and access to drinking water and sanitation.The report makes a series of recommendations to increase progress towards the SDGs, including:Central governments and donors should work to strengthen local governments' capacities.Government and city administrations should invest more in ways to monitor progress on the SDGs.Statistical offices' and cities' information systems should improve the data available.

The Impact of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene on Key Health and Social Outcomes: Review of Evidence

June 1, 2016

This evidence paper looks at 10 areas identified collaboratively with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on which WASH can plausibly have a strong impact: diarrhea, nutrition, complementary food hygiene, female psychosocial stress, violence, maternal and newborn health, menstrual hygiene management, school attendance, oral vaccine performance, and neglected tropical diseases. Together, these areas cover the most significant sector outcomes associated with the distinct life course phases that UNICEF seeks to help to address through its WASH activities.

Faecal Sludge Management

January 28, 2016

Despite the efforts of organisations such as WEDC, MSF and Oxfam to produce guidelines and books on standards for excreta management in an emergency, there is a lack of standardisation of safety protocols and equipment to strengthen the de-sludging, transporting and disposal of faecal sludge. Furthermore, the management of excreta during an emergency in an urban context has very limited options. This is because there is a lack of available space to implement suitable infrastructures for the users. Digging more pits and increasing the number of raised latrines on the ground may therefore become very difficult depending on the situation. This report puts forward a few challenge areas for further exploration and development.

Building Towards a Future in Which Urban Sanitation Leaves No One Behind

December 1, 2015

Plans to improve access to sanitation in towns and cities of the global South are hampered by multiple challenges. One is a lack of reliable information. In particular, global and national-level data often diverge from data on particular settlements, collected by inhabitants of those settlements themselves. Local data highlight the inadequacy of living conditions -- and in so doing evidence the difficulties in securing improvements. Another challenge lies in the setting of standards around acceptable sanitation. At a global level, for instance, shared sanitation is not considered part of "improved" sanitation. Yet the reality for many low-income urban populations is that communal sanitation can be hygienic, cost-effective and locally acceptable.The difficulties in reaching a consensus around data and standards point to the importance of diverse approaches to increasing and improving sanitation, including considering both on-site and off-site solutions. They also highlight how crucial it is for the planning and implementation of all such solutions to be inclusive of those often missing from global debates, such as the low-income urban groups that cannot afford substantial sanitation spending. Financial and political commitments, drawing on the circumstances and approaches articulated by low-income groups themselves, will be key to securing a future in which everyone has access to the sanitation they need.

REACH Country Diagnostic Report, Bangladesh

December 1, 2015

Water security is a defining feature of the opportunities and limits for growth and development in Bangladesh. Complex hydrology, chronic water-related risks, high exposure to water-related hazards and rapid environmental change mean that Bangladesh is already addressing challenges that will affect other South Asian countries in the decades ahead. This report highlights the key water security risks to Bangladesh's growth and poverty reduction efforts and illustrates evidence of significant but uncertain water security risks. It examines the progress made by Bangladesh in reducing poverty and improving growth and potential locations to establish REACH Water Security Observatories for 'universal drinking water security' and to reduce 'water security risks for the coastal poor'.