Adolescents and young people have many of the same needs as other women of reproductive age, but ensuring they have access to contraception poses a unique set of challenges. Some of these challenges ask us to question our perceptions of who adolescents are as a group, whilst others call for social change at a more fundamental level. This does not daunt us. At Marie Stopes International, we believe that meeting these challenges is critical to ensure that every woman and girl can fulfil her right to choose whether and when to have children.

Access to sex education and contraceptive choice gives adolescents the greatest chance of completing their education, forging their careers, and pursuing their dreams. When a woman is empowered to take control of her fertility and her life, her contribution to her community is maximized. If we are able to empower thousands, or hundreds of thousands of women this way, it can put a whole country on the fast-track to hitting the Sustainable Development Goals.

In 2015, 27% of the clients served at Marie Stopes International were young people (15–24 year olds), which is broadly where this figure needs to be if services are to be equitable. However, there is a gap in our service provision amongst adolescents aged 15–19. In 2015, only 6% of our clients were in this age range, although a number of our programs are already driving this figure higher. In Mali, around a quarter of all clients last year were adolescents. In Sierra Leone, it was nearly a third. Marie Stopes International’s new five-year strategy, Scaling-Up Excellence, will focus on learning what works and replicating such successes across our partnership, in fulfilment of our Family Planning 2020 (FP2020) commitments.

In many of the countries where we work, conservative attitudes towards premarital sex can make it difficult for young women to even talk about contraception, much less access it.

If people want to talk about these sorts of issues there are now many online forums as well as sites like https://www.mylittlepleasure.co.uk/ which post the occasional article about these sorts of subjects. This is important because, right now, 620 million people in the developing world are between 15 and 19 years old. Globally, this age group represents one-fifth of all people of reproductive age. Not only are adolescents under-represented among users of modern contraception, they are more likely to take drastic measures when faced with an unplanned pregnancy. Globally, of every 10 women hospitalized as the result of unsafe abortion, seven are under the age of 20. Pregnancy is the second leading cause of death for 15–19 year olds worldwide.

Last year, Marie Stopes International doubled its FP2020 pledge, committing to reach 12 million additional users of contraception by 2020. Our commitment is that by 2020, we will have provided a modern method of contraception to 25 million young people, including 6 million adolescents aged 15-19.

So how are we going to get there?

Often, when as a community we think about young people, we make a number of assumptions about who they are. We might think first of urban youth, those in full-time education, young people socializing with their friends or glued to their smartphones. Such assumptions are not always correct. Across our programs, three quarters of those under 25 are rural youth, whose life experiences are often jarringly different from those living in urban settings.

As a group, rural youth are less likely to continue education past a primary level, and are more likely to marry young. A 16-year-old in the Ethiopian highlands is more likely to be working her family’s fields and preparing for marriage than visiting a youth center or downloading an app. In Afghanistan, six out of 10 women are married by the age of 16. In Niger, half of women have given birth before their 18^th birthday.

We understand that – no matter how available contraceptive services are or how affordable we make them – young people are unlikely to use them if they feel they will be stigmatized or punished for doing so. In many of the countries where we work, conservative attitudes towards premarital sex can make it difficult for young women to even talk about contraception, much less access it. Even in our own programs, we have encountered providers who are unwilling to provide contraception to young women if they are unmarried.we will need to replicate what we know works: taking our services to where young people are, and understanding their needs.

We will need to replicate what we know works: taking our services to where young people are, and understanding their needs.

It is vital that contraceptive services are provided in a way that young women – including young unmarried women – feel safe, supported and empowered. At Marie Stopes International, we are committed to training and supporting all our team members to serve the young people they encounter with respect and without judgment, and to challenge any prejudices about who should be accessing contraception – including their own.

For services to be successful, they must also be sustainable, and we have made a commitment to our clients – whatever age they are – that our services will be there for the long term. If we can get these things right, we will not only encourage more young women and girls to access contraceptive services earlier, we will also ensure that their experience of services is a positive one. Young people who have a positive experience of services are likely to return again and again. They may even tell their friends.

For Marie Stopes International to provide contraception to 25 million young people by 2020, including 6 million adolescents, we will need to replicate what we know works: taking our services to where young people are, and understanding their needs. Success will ensure that our services are truly equitable for the young people who need them most.

For many FP2020 partner countries, ensuring sufficient funding to fulfil their FP2020 commitments represents a formidable challenge. However, we believe that all FP2020 partner countries should at least commit to providing affordable contraception for all 15–19 year olds. This is one of the smartest investments they can make, as it will benefit not only their individual citizens but their future path to development.

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July 11 marked the midpoint of Family Planning 2020 (FP2020), the global partnership that supports the rights of women and girls to decide, freely and for themselves, whether, when, and how many children they want to have. This blog is part of a series that looks at a key intervention to accelerate progress on our goal to enable an additional 120 million women and girls to use modern family planning methods: ensuring young people have the right to plan their families and their futures. We know that the ability to reach more young people with contraception in ways that speak to their own needs and desires is essential to achieving our goal by 2020, which is a critical milestone on the road to 2030 and providing universal access to family planning under the Sustainable Development Goals. For more information, visit www.familyplanning2020.org/midpoint.

Image: Kumba, a young pregnant mother, stands in the doorway of her home in the West Point area of Monrovia, Liberia. (Stuart Ramson/Insider Images for the United Nations Foundation).