MenEngage Alliance Marks World Contraception Day 2025 by amplifying shared responsibility and action

On World Contraception Day (WCD), MenEngage Alliance is reaffirming our commitment to advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) for all by highlighting the critical need for male accountability, engagement, and partnership in contraception use.

This year, we are pleased to highlight two vital campaigns that demonstrate the power of collective action in securing reproductive rights:

1. Highlighting African-Led Advocacy through the #ActForSRHR campaign

MenEngage Africa’s #ActForSRHR campaign is highlighting that ​“SRHR is for every BODY”, mobilizing leaders, health workers, parents, young people, and especially men and boys across the African continent.

The campaign calls for men and boys in particular to move beyond being passive beneficiaries of family planning and sexual health, to be active partners in their own and their partners’ SRHR needs. 

We highlight the campaign’s calls to challenge discriminatory laws, confront stigma around SRHR, and ensure that accessible, non-judgmental services — including comprehensive access to contraception — are available to all people, regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation, or economic status.

2. Unlocking potential through FP2030​’s #MadePossible campaign

We are also supporting FP2030​’s #MadePossible campaign, which is boldly shifting the narrative around SRHR to highlight the countless positive, real life stories that have been Made Possible thanks to family planning.

Access to voluntary, modern contraception is highlighted as a catalyst that saves lives, creates financial stability for people, and unlocks potential by enabling people, especially women and youth, to pursue education and careers.

The campaign states that: ​“Family planning is too often seen as a cost. An expense that benefits an individual. But it’s so much more. When we invest in family planning, we unlock ripple effects that power entire communities, societies and economies”

The campaign calls for people everywhere to share their stories of what has been Made Possible for them and their families thanks to family planning. We join FP2030 in inviting members and partners to share their stories and spread the campaign in their networks and communities:

Learn more and share your #MadePossible story.

Why men’s engagement in contraception still falls short

In 1994, a major global agreement – the ICPD Programme of Action – recognised that men were often missing from sexual and reproductive health programs. Across the globe, the responsibility for contraception is still overwhelmingly and unfairly placed on women’s shoulders. With the increasing attacks on funding, resources and political support for sexual and reproductive health and rights, this is a critical time for men and boys to step up as accountable agents of change.

As a global network for engaging men and boys through transforming patriarchal norms, MenEngage Alliance promotes:

• Shifting the Burden: Contraception is often seen as solely the woman’s responsibility, placing an unfair physical and mental burden on women and their bodies.
• Shared Responsibility: Men’s personal use and active responsibility for contraception remain very low.
• Accountable action: Getting men to step up as agents of change to fully support sexual and reproductive health and rights for all, as well as promoting shared, equitable responsibility for SRHR, including their own sexual health.

Joni van de Sand, Global Co-Director of MenEngage Alliance said: ​“Men’s engagement in use and equitable decision-making around contraception and protection continues to be low compared to women. This low participation rate, combined with a lack of support for partners who use contraception, creates a huge roadblock to improving the health and well-being of entire families, with knock-on effects for gender equality within communities and on a societal level.

“Preventing unintended pregnancies benefits everyone. For men to become truly proactive and engaged in family planning, we need more than just awareness. We need supportive policies and laws that encourage and enable men to take responsibility. Crucially, we must also invest resources in more research to expand the range of contraceptive options available, including for men.”

Find out more about the work of MenEngage Alliance and our members around sexual and reproductive health and rights here. For the latest SRHR-related news, events and stories from MenEngage Alliance, click here.

Cover image by the Made Possible Campaign, FP2030