In the latest Annual Report, DSW looks back at the organisation’s international programme and advocacy work in 2008.

DSW is Reaching out into the Future

In its programmes in East Africa and Asia, DSW helps young people escape poverty by equipping them with knowledge on how to protect their health. Last year, hundreds of thousands youth have learned from peer educators how to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS and unintended pregnancies. Together with our local partners, we are working towards scaling up our sexual and reproductive health education programmes even further, adapting activities to suit the specific needs of young people.

Some examples of our new activities in 2008: in Tanzania, DSW worked together with its local partners in the new EC-funded “Fit for Future” project to combine sexual education outreach with skills training for the first time. This project is specifically aimed towards helping girls working in the informal sector. With lessons on business administration and dedicated support for young job seekers, we help girls earn their own income and contribute to the betterment of their communities. In Uganda where almost four in ten Ugandan women have experienced sexual violence, we have expanded our gender portfolio. To enable young women to enforce the use of contraception and to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS and unwanted pregnancies, gender issues and equality have been established as an integral part of DSW’s programmes.

Advocating for Change

DSW aims to create long-term improvements in policies and funding for sexual and reproductive health and rights in Germany, at the European Union and international level, as well as in African and Asian countries. To this end, we work together with non-governmental organisations (NGOs), parliamentarians and experts in disparate policy environments around the globe. In Germany for example, DSW together with other NGOs has achieved that the German Government announced a twelve per cent 2009 budgetary increase for the Federal Ministry for Economic Co-operation and Development (BMZ), bringing it to a total of 5.77 billion Euro.

Accounting for Aid

DSW’s national and international projects and programmes are funded with money we receive from grant-making foundations, public funding and individual donations. In the past year, private and corporate donations increased again by a total of 6 per cent to around 1.29 million Euro. This is a great success! And rest assured, your donations are put to good use. Our funding flows into projects which are carefully planned and implemented at local level. DSW staff members and external supervisory authorities conduct extensive checks on the use of resources. What’s more, we work almost exclusively with local partners in the project regions. They know the needs of people and the situation in the country better than anyone else.

Download our Annual Report 2008\09 as PDF file (2.5 MB)