A History of CHANGE

Our founding came in response to the landmark International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, Egypt, 25 years ago. The United States joined more than 170 countries in a commitment to tackle global poverty, economic development, and population growth by putting human rights and the empowerment of women and girls at the center of development policies.

CHANGE was founded to support the international women’s movement by protecting the health and rights of people who receive services and assistance through U.S.-funded programs. We set out to hold the U.S. government accountable to its commitment to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) as implemented through U.S. foreign policy and programming.

The name changed, but the focus remained. In the past decade, CHANGE has begun to build and mobilize a significant base of U.S. supporters, developing partnerships with diverse U.S. constituencies such as students, reproductive justice advocates, faith-based organizations, HIV/AIDS groups, and women’s organizations. 

Twenty-five years after our founding, CHANGE continues to work tirelessly to support and protect SRHR for all, guided by our strategic impact model.

We are located in Washington, D.C. — not unusual for an NGO that wants to have the ear of and affect U.S. policymakers and executors. Our location gives many of the people we serve around the world access to these same lawmakers. Through our signature advocacy tool, known as Reverse Co-dels, advocates, experts, and service providers from the Global South come to D.C. to educate Congress with evidence about the importance of SRHR to achieve gender equality and other development goals. They also expose how some U.S. policies adversely affects women and girls and others who face stigma and discrimination in their home countries.