Paper Doll Campaign

Paper Doll Campaign

The Paper Doll Campaign aims to combine advocacy efforts at local and global level with awareness-raising. Zawadi and her doll friends, Sookjay, Juan and Aurora, travel to countries all over the world to raise awareness of the importance of female condoms. People write their message on the dolls. These dolls are then collected into a long chain, representing the demand for female condoms. The strings of dolls , with their individual messages, show the powerful demand that exists for female condoms. People who write their message on a doll know that their message will be presented to both local and international leaders. In 2011, 6000 completed dolls were collected by 40 organizations in 22 countries. These dolls were showcased at several important occasions. This year, the collected dolls will stay in their own country where organizations can use them for local advocacy activities. UAFC and Zawadi will also travel to the International AIDS Conference in Washington in July, where the dolls collected in 2011 will be showcased to 25.000 delegates from all over the world. We will also collected several thousand more dolls during the conference. Our goals is to collect over 30.000 dolls and reach hundreds of local or global policy makers.

Why are female condoms important?

The female condom is the only available female initiated method that provides protection against STIs, including HIV, and against mistimed or unwanted pregnancies. But they are scarce, expensive and hard to obtain in many countries. Fewer than 1% of all condoms distributed worldwide are female condoms. The majority of people living with HIV in the world are woman and millions more women are at risk of HIV infection. 215 million women around the world do not have access to contraceptives and one third of all pregnancies are unintended.
That is why the Universal Access to Female Condoms (UAFC) Joint Programme is working towards availability, affordability and accessibility of female condoms. Although the female condom has been on the market for nearly twenty years, many women and men who are in urgent need of prevention methods either cannot get them or still unaware of their existence. Specific attention is needed for the female condom, because it is heavily underfunded, under-utilised, and much less widely recognized than the male condom.

What are the advantages for you?:

• You will contribute to a great cause, namely to make female condoms accessible, affordable and available for all.
• You will receive the dolls and associated supplies free of change.
• UAFC staff is available to support you in your local advocacy efforts and can offer advice. We will also spread word of your activities through our social media.
• You will regularly receive updates on the activities of other organizations, which can serve as an inspiration. We will also provide you with information on current developments regarding female condoms.
• When advocating for female condoms with your local leaders, you can refer to the large worldwide demand as shown in the numbers of dolls that are collected.
• There is a small sum available (maximum of 100 euro’s) for less affluent organizations to organize an advocacy activity.

What do we expect from you?

We expect you to organize one or more advocacy activities to persuade your local leaders to make female condoms accessible, affordable and available to everyone in your country. You are free to organize whatever kind of activity best suits your local context and we are here to assist you. Since experience has taught us that multiple organizations working together are most successful, we encourage you to involve other organizations in your country in this campaign.

How do I join?

That is very simple. Just let me know you are interested and I will send you more information on ordering dolls and organizing activities. There are no specific conditions for joining this campaign, other than agreeing on the importance of female condoms. You can contact me by email: r.draaisma@rutgerswpf.nl , by skype: rosa.draaisma or phone: +31 (0) 30 232 98 53.
More information on the Paper Doll Campaign can be found on our website or Facebook.