In a new Devex post, associate editor Kelli Rogers talks about the new term everyone is talking about: "future" planning. Rogers discusses the need for contraception while also thinking about other long-term goals. She also talked to IntraHealth International's Director of Communications, Laura Hoemeke, who recalls a particular encounter with a young girl in Ethipopia, who in her own words "was not planning a family, but was planning to go to university."

Excerpt: 

In Kenya, the “Future Fab” teen lifestyle brand is taking off. Around the world, young people are rallying around the term “future planning.” And in West Africa, youth ambassadors are mobilizing their peers to encourage their governments to invest in contraceptive security.

They’re diverse projects in different contexts addressing unique communities’ needs, but they’re all focused on making contraceptive use more accessible for youth. And in each, the term “family planning” has been purposefully set aside.

Today, the two words that have so long acted as the umbrella term for women’s ability to choose the spacing and timing of their births are no longer serving young people who aren’t managing their reproductive health in the context of marriage. Adolescents view their need for access to contraception not just as a way to decide when to become pregnant, but as a path for them to plan their education, their relationships, their finances and their futures as a whole.

Read the full article "Out with 'family' planning, in with 'future' planning" here.