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It's two years since the #MeToo movement started. From Monday, 25 November, organisations all over the world, under the name 'Orange the world', will campaign for 16 days for the prevention of violence against women. Rutgers will also colour orange and will advocate for more focus on the prevention of sexual harassment and violence, in the Netherlands and abroad.

On International Day of Happiness, Rutgers is pleased to share a new animated video, created through the Prevention+ programme, which promotes gender-equal societies without violence, as well as happier and healthier relationships.

New research in Rwanda reveals engaging men as they become fathers helps to transform male attitudes towards women, reduce gender-based violence (GBV) and increase time spent on unpaid care work. These promising results come two years after the MenCare+ programme, the precursor of Rutgers’ current Prevention+ programme that engages men and boys to end GBV.

Most Dutch people are happy with their sex lives according to a large-scale study carried out by Rutgers. That more men than women enjoy sex is one of the main results shown in the study Sexual Health in The Netherlands 2017 which was published January 15th 2018. In particular, men over 70 and women below 25 experience sexual problems. The results also confirm that sexual coercion occurs frequently. A substantial number of homosexual and bisexual men have ever been verbally abused due to their sexual orientation. Furthermore, almost everyone agrees that sexual education should be obligatory in school.

The chances of knowing someone who had experienced sexual violence are high if you live in a small country such as Honduras. Few laws protect our girls and women, and current events show increased levels of impunity that are likely to undermine our rights.

Between 8-11 September 2016, Rachel Ploem will be representing Rutgers at the 13th AWID International Forum in Brazil, titled "Feminist Futures: Building Collective Power for Rights and Justice." In her blog, Rachel speaks of her excitement to engage in this global initiative of intersectional learning and exchange: an important step in realising an all-gender inclusive women's rights agenda.

The Dutch Postcode Lottery announced on 26 January 2016 that we could again count on an annual grant of € 900,000 for 2016. The Dutch Postcode Lottery is able to award a record figure of € 328 million to over 100 charities thanks to its 2.7 million participants. We are very grateful.

The innovative programme MenCare+ will receive a follow-up grant for Prevention+. Liliane Ploumen, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, is making funds available from FLOW II (Funding Leadership and Opportunities for Women). Prevention+ focusses on involving (young) men in order to reduce violence against women, and to improve the economic participation and self-sufficiency of women.

Today UNFPA and Rutgers launched the State of the World Population report 2015 in the Netherlands. The report 'Shelter From the Storm: A transformative agenda for women and girls in a crisis-prone world' was presented by Arthur Erken, Director of UNFPA’s Division of Communications and Strategic Partnerships, to Jelte van Wieren, Director of the Stabilization and Humanitarian Aid Department at the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In 2013, Rutgers conducted a study to investigate the sexual health of lesbian women, gay men, bisexual men and women and trans people in the Netherlands. Nearly 5,000 people participated in this first nation-wide study amongst these groups.

Today the Heads of State and other Ministers of the EU and African countries will present a final declaration on the European refugee crisis. This declaration is the result of the Valletta Summit on Migration (11/12 November) in Malta with the political ambition to offer a concrete solution to the refugee crisis. The final declaration contains the Plan of Action as well as financial resources from the EU Emergency Trust fund. In Rutgers view sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) cannot be absent in the elaboration of the Plan of Action. SRHR must be part of the EU Emergency Trust fund.

The Cypriot Ministry of Education intends to develop policy on the issue of the sexual resilience of young people with a learning disability. Various parties in Cyprus are currently engaged in debate on the matter. This is one of the results of Keep Me Safe, a European exchange project in which Rutgers has been participating for the past two years. Its objective was to empower young Europeans with a learning disability to protect themselves against sexual abuse and violence. In addition, however, it was designed to assist their environment, including parents, institutions and schools, in offering these vulnerable young people support in this area.

Work with men but continue to work for the improvement of the position of women and girls. This was the main theme of the Dutch presentation on the book “Feminism and Men” by the English feminist and gender specialist Nikki van der Gaag. During a meeting co-organized by Rutgers in the Ida hall in The Hague, a mixed group of professionals discussed gender relations and sexual violence.

In November 2014, a team of representatives of the Malawi SRHR Alliance visited Zimbabwe to learn how the Zimbabwean civil society aims to reduce sexual and gender based violence. The visit is part of the programme Unite for Body Rights! Implemented in 9 countries in Africa and Asia, Unite for Body Rights partners regularly organise visits between national alliances.

In March 2012 Rutgers presented the research report ‘Gender Based Violence in Pakistan’. This is a ground-breaking study: never before have Pakistani women been approached directly and asked to be interviewed individually.