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Sexual and Reproductive Health in the Practice of the Dutch Catholic Development Agency Cordaid
Author(s) -
Grotenhuis René
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
the heythrop journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.127
H-Index - 10
eISSN - 1468-2265
pISSN - 0018-1196
DOI - 10.1111/heyj.12211
Subject(s) - reproductive health , agency (philosophy) , officer , citation , sociology , gender studies , library science , political science , law , social science , population , demography , computer science
Cordaid is the Dutch Catholic Organization for Relief and Development Aid. It came into being in 1999, through the merger of three Dutch Catholic development agencies: Memisa, Mensen in Nood (‘People in Need’), and Bilance (involving the Dutch Lenten Campaign Foundation and Cebemo). This article will analyse Cordaid’s approach to the issues of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) that arise in the context of its development work. It will examine the influences on the evolution of Cordaid’s SRH policy, in view of the international development discourse and practice, and in view of the developments in Dutch society and the Dutch Catholic community. The first part of this paper will describe Cordaid’s policy on sexual and reproductive health and the values driving this policy. The second part will situate Cordaid’s policy and approach to sexual and reproductive health within the wider context of the Dutch Catholic community. The debates that took place in the Dutch Catholic community concerning reproductive health in the 1960s shaped the way the Catholic faithful and Catholic organizations in Holland positioned themselves in regard to this issue. In the third part, Cordaid’s approach to SRH will be examined in relation to the United Nations International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo in 1994. For Cordaid, the position taken at the occasion of that conference is still the cornerstone of its sexual and reproductive health policy. The fourth part of the paper will examine the role of the Netherlands in the international development community with regard to sexual and reproductive health, in order to situate the position of Cordaid within the wider Dutch perspective. In the fifth part we will take a closer look at the reality of Cordaid’s development work and the way it regards sexual and reproductive health as an integral part of the development agenda. The sixth part examines the reality of Catholic health institutions in African countries, how they deal with sexual and reproductive health issues, and how those Catholic health institutions that partner with Cordaid implement the informed decision making policy Cordaid promotes. The seventh part addresses the challenge to Cordaid of combining the professionalism of a development organization with its Catholic identity. The conclusion will offer a perspective on the future of the policy and position of Cordaid.