Rutgers WPF

Rutgers WPF, Pakistan is an affiliate of the Netherlands-based global non-profit Rutgers WPF which is a renowned centre of expertise on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). Rutgers WPF, Pakistan provides young people in Pakistan with necessary knowledge and life skills for preventing social and health problems.

In December, 2013, the organisation launched a blog called youask.pk which addresses social taboos among young people. The website platform gives an opportunity to the audience to interact and engage with professionals in seeking accurate and confidential advice. This helps in combating issues and creates a ripple effect. The various sections of the blog include: Questions, Myths, Resources, Health & Advice, and Dictionary. The website receives approximately 30,000 visits per year and contains 300 unique resources in the form of articles on different areas of SRHR. It also offers a 300 plus word SRHR dictionary.

Apart from the blog, Rutgers WPF also produces videos regularly which help to archive information and educational content. As Youtube is blocked in Pakistan, the organisation uses Vimeo to publish its videos. The organisation has also launched several social media campaigns to engage the youth on sensitive issues such as child marriages, domestic violence, HIV/AIDS etc.

More recently, the organisation has launched a mobile phone service called ASK (Access, Services and Knowledge) to provide young people sexual and reproductive health services. In parallel it has launched an SMS service aimed at providing young people accurate and confidential information regarding SRHR.

The initiative is called “TEXT” and users can get registered with the service and ask any questions they have in complete confidence.

At present, the TEXT SMS service has 19,038 talkers on board from across 100+ cities in Pakistan with the numbers increasing on a daily basis. Conversations are carried out in several different regional languages.