BOGOTÁ, Colombia — October 2025
With ICFP 2025 fast approaching, a new wave of young storytellers is preparing to spotlight the power of family planning and SRHR innovation. Yesterday, 15 emerging youth journalists aged 10-18 years old from across Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) joined a virtual training on solutions journalism, organized by ICFP in partnership with FP2030 and the Family Planning News Network in collaboration with Global Girl Glow, an official ICFP 2025 media partner.
Led by Natalia de León Tello, FP2030’s Communications Officer for LAC, the workshop brought together passionate communicators from Guatemala, Peru, Paraguay, Colombia, and beyond. These participants will serve as part of the ICFP Glow Reporters covering ICFP 2025 in Bogotá this November.
From Problems to Possibilities
Rather than focusing only on the challenges facing sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), participants explored how to highlight what’s working — the people, programs, and policies making a measurable difference in their communities.
“We want to move from describing problems to telling stories about responses, results, and lessons learned,” said de León Tello. “Solutions journalism helps us show hope and accountability at the same time.”
Through interactive exercises and headline-writing activities, the group practiced reframing common issues like adolescent pregnancy and gender-based violence — shifting from crisis-driven language toward constructive, community-led narratives.
For example, instead of reporting “LAC has one of the highest adolescent pregnancy rates in the world,” they discussed how to write:
“How youth networks in Guatemala are changing the story on teen pregnancy — one classroom at a time.”
Regional Voices, Shared Purpose
During the workshop, participants shared stories from their own contexts — from youth clubs supporting girls’ education in Paraguay, to Indigenous-led health programs in Colombia, to women farmers in rural Guatemala creating new pathways to economic independence.
They also reflected on how to engage audiences who increasingly consume news through short-form platforms like TikTok and Instagram. The training emphasized that powerful storytelling can happen in any format — as long as it’s grounded in evidence, community voices, and transparency.
“People don’t just want to know what’s wrong,” said one participant. “They want to know who’s fixing it — and how.”
Preparing for ICFP 2025
At ICFP 2025, these young reporters will produce daily “Solution of the Day” stories for ICFP LIVE and regional media networks, showcasing innovation, evidence, and collaboration in SRHR. Their coverage will embody six key principles of solutions journalism: focus on responses, use evidence, provide context, center community voices, share lessons, and build trust.
Together with partners like Global Girls Glow, the Family Planning News Network is nurturing a new generation of storytellers who see beyond the problem—and toward the possibilities for progress.
Through their coverage, they’ll remind us that every statistic represents people — and that every problem contains the seed of a solution.
“We’re not just covering ICFP,” said one participant. “We’re showing what the future of SRHR looks like — and we’re part of it.”
