From ICFP to Women Deliver, the Stronger Together Coalition is strengthening strategic communications, countering anti-rights narratives, and advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights through cross-sector partnerships.
By Kellie Welborn & Mauli Mehta
Bringing together leading global sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) convenings and movements, including ICFP, FP2030, Women Deliver, the Stronger Together Coalition ensures that declarations, commitments, innovative research and best practices, and calls to action do not remain isolated outputs, but part of an evolving, collective movement.
At a time when anti-rights movements, misinformation, and shrinking global health resources threaten progress, the Stronger Together Coalition is helping connect leaders across conferences and sectors to build a more coordinated response. Rather than treating each convening as a standalone event, the Coalition is creating a continuous platform for collaboration, shared learning, and collective action.
In a recent blog post, we shared more about the Coalition’s goals and objectives. Below, we share about the engagements and gatherings of the last year and how the Coalition has worked towards those goals. Click on the plus sign (+) next to each convening name to expand for more information.
From left to right: WAS event, FIGO conference event, ICFP Media Lab, Women Deliver event
World Sexual Health Assembly | Porto, Portugal | October 2025
FIGO World Congress | Cape Town, South Africa | October 2025
International Maternal Newborn Health Conference (IMNHC) | Nairobi, Kenya | March 2026
International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP) | Bogotá, Colombia | November 2025
In a dedicated Spotlight Session, Stronger Together Coalition partners brought together leading organizations in SRHR, maternal health, and gender equity to reflect on the current moment for their movements and explore pathways for collective action. Through an interactive process, the group worked to refine a shared declaration and sharpen collective accountability. The themes that surfaced–defending SRHR against anti-rights agendas, sustaining equitable financing, centering youth leadership, and coordinating advocacy across sectors—have continued to shape the Coalition’s direction.
UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70) | New York, United States | March 2026
At the 70th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), the Coalition hosted a strategy meeting alongside the Action Coalition on Bodily Autonomy and SRHR and UN Women. More than 300 leaders and commitment-makers are now engaged in the Action Coalition, with cross-coalition collaboration already underway.
The William H. Gates Sr. Institute for Population and Reproductive Health (WHGI), hosting organization of Coalition member ICFP, also co-sponsored a CSW70 side event focused on examining how declining investments in HIV and gender equality are eroding access to justice, particularly for adolescent girls and young women.
Women Deliver 2026 | Melbourne, Australia | April 2026
In Melbourne, the Coalition continued that conversation by convening a side event, “Stronger Together: Countering Anti-rights Narratives and Disinformation Through Multisectoral Partnership.” Participants examined how coordinated anti-rights movements are reshaping public discourse around SRHR and why advocates must respond with greater coordination across sectors. One point resonated throughout the discussion: while anti-rights actors have increased spending in Africa by 50% over the past seven years, organizations working across SRHR, climate, education, and democracy often continue to operate independently. Meeting today’s challenges will require stronger partnerships, shared narratives, and collective action.
That same commitment to strengthening the information ecosystem extended to media engagement. Building on the launch of the SRHR Media Lab at ICFP 2025, WHGI convened journalists and communicators for a pre-conference story pitch session led by Dina Chaerani, host of Sex O’clock News. Chaerani also led the fireside chat, “Reclaiming the Narrative: Media, SRHR, and Feminist Storytelling,” while reporting on SRHR developments throughout the conference. Together, these activities reinforced the Coalition’s objective of equipping journalists to tell evidence-based, solutions-focused stories that can help shape public understanding of SRHR.
International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) | Lisbon, Portugal | June 2026
At ICM, WHGI hosted another SRHR Media Lab pre-conference story-pitch session with experts from across the community to help advance conversations on strengthening the global midwifery workforce–essential to achieving better maternal and newborn health outcomes worldwide.
ICFP Media Lead Matt Matassa joined Merette Khalil of the Push Campaign at ICM and Paola Daher of Women Deliver to lead an interactive workshop on building effective coalitions and using strategic communications to influence policies, systems, and public perceptions.
International Social & Behavior Change Communications (SBCC) Summit | Panama City, Panama | June 2026
At this gathering of global health experts, advocates, researchers, and policymakers focused on advancing community-driven change and equity, misinformation and disinformation emerged as priority topics. The Stronger Together Coalition hosted a collaborative discussion titled: “Designing Trust: SBC, Knowledge Sharing, and Collective Action Against SRHR Misinformation & Disinformation.” Despite the early hour, every roundtable was full as participants shared real-world examples of misinformation and disinformation, explored why false narratives are so difficult to counter, and identified practical opportunities for collective action.
