Remobilising civil society for sexual rights: The establishment of SHARISA

This Profile focuses on a consultation process that began in 2010 and has resulted in the establishment of a new organisation, the Sexual Health and Rights Initiative - South Africa (SHARISA) in 2011. The aim of the consultation was to explore why civil society mobilisation around sexual and reprodu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Agenda (Durban) 2012-01, Vol.26 (2), p.15-23
Main Authors: Mokoetle, Khathatso, Klugman, Barbara
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abortion
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
Advocacy
AIDS
Civil Society
Community associations
Decisions
Health policy
HIV
Identity
Nongovernmental organizations
Opposite Sex Relations
Pregnancy
PROFILE
Profiles
Reproductive health
Reproductive rights
Rights
Services
Sex
Sex Education
Sexual Behavior
Sexual Health and Rights Initiative - South Africa
Sexual orientation
Sexual Preferences
Sexual rights
Sexuality
South Africa
Women's health
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Summary:This Profile focuses on a consultation process that began in 2010 and has resulted in the establishment of a new organisation, the Sexual Health and Rights Initiative - South Africa (SHARISA) in 2011. The aim of the consultation was to explore why civil society mobilisation around sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) has declined in the last decade. A total of 53 organisations were interviewed nationally and two consultative meetings were held to review the findings of the interviews and options to take forward recommendations of those interviewed. What surfaced was many different groups, each working on different aspects of SRHR (violence, abortion, sexuality education, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender relations), but no mechanisms to bring them together around shared goals to hold government accountable, and to build a new generation of activists, in a context of declining quality of services, and little effort to shift public opinion in favour of SRHR, except in relation to HIV. The consultations resulted in a decision to establish a new organisation, SHARISA to promote sexual health and rights in South Africa. This Profile describes the process of consultation and the issues which emerged regarding current weaknesses of the SRHR movement that motivated the decisions to launch SHARISA.
ISSN:1013-0950
2158-978X
DOI:10.1080/10130950.2012.700217