An Organisation Update From Our Co-Directors
You may have noticed that our outputs have reduced. This is because we are in the process of transitioning our organisation from a community interest company (CIC) to a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO).
Decolonising Contraception CIC was created in 2018 by Black & people of colour (BPOC) working within Sexual & Reproductive Health (SRH) as a radical and urgent response to inequalities experienced by our communities.
We wanted to create an organisation and collective that directly addressed the colonial origins of healthcare practices and its influence in creating barriers to accessing services for communities impacted by racism in Britain and beyond.
Since we started, we have built an interdisciplinary collective working in sexual and reproductive health, including sex educators, doctors, campaigners, journalists and researchers. Together, we have organised across public engagement, research, policy, advocacy and collective care. We have also built global coalitions both within and outside the SRH field which has led to us learning and expanding the scope of our practice.
In consultation with our Advisory Board, Executive Directors, staff and collective members, we decided to embark on becoming a charity towards the end of 2021. Becoming a charity will aid our growth as an organisation and to forge ahead as the much-needed Reproductive Justice organisation that the UK needs during a time of increasing economic inequality.
As part of this transition, we have decided to change the name of our organisation to one that accurately captures and reflects the work that we do. Decolonising Contraception was a deliberate choice to highlight the colonial origins of sexual and reproductive healthcare and empower the people we represent.
However, as we have evolved as an organisation, the name Decolonising Contraception no longer accurately reflects our work, and we suspect that, at times, it has been a barrier to engaging more members of our community in our work. Therefore, when we transition to a charity, we will be using the name Reproductive Justice Initiative, which is a more accurate name that reflects the anti-racism work we have done and will continue to do as well as our wish to better meet the needs of those facing other forms of social injustice.
Decolonising Contraception and The Sex Agenda will remain as projects under our new umbrella organisation.
As the transition is underway, our outputs have and will be significantly reduced. However, all our content will still be available to access on our social media and website. We look forward to sharing more with you soon and updating you on our next steps as the Reproductive Justice Initiative. We also wish to thank all those who have supported our work and continue to do so, and welcome feedback during our period of transition.
In solidarity,
Dr Annabel Sowemimo & Edem Ntumy, Co-Directors of Reproductive Justice Initiative CIO
