Policy and Advocacy Officer Fatima Haase reflects on an exciting day in the run up to the International Family Planning conference in Bali.

"We should not forget or underestimate the role of moral values, ethical principles and religious beliefs on how people decide what actions they take or what they can commit to."

These were the words of Lambert Grjins, the Dutch Ambassador for sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). I was lucky to hear Mr Grjins speak at the International Conference on Family Planning 2016 (ICFP) in Bali this week.

As a young girl in rural Dominican Republic, Olga learned to weave from her mother. As she grew up and became a mother herself, Olga continued to make hampers, baskets and other items for her family, without considering that these skills might take her further. 

2016 is set to be another incredible year for Progressio. We've once again got ambitious plans and we continue to celebrate 75 years of putting human rights at the centre of development.

As we look to the new year, we wanted to take moment to reflect and remind you of some of the things we've achieved in 2015.

Farai Mukuta is a Progressio development worker based in Harare, Zimbabwe. He works with two local partners: the Disability, HIV and AIDS Trust (DHAT) and Deaf Zimbabwe Trust (DZT), to support people with disabilities who are also living with HIV or AIDs. To mark World AIDS Day 2015, we asked him to reflect on his work fighting to break the "double stigma" of living with both a HIV diagnosis and a disability in Zimbabwe. 

Last year Pope Francis issued the strongest indication of his passions and opinions to date. Laudato Si’ is a fervent call on humanity to change its direction – to restore our relationship with both the planet and fellow humanity before untold damage is done.

Back in August we launched a petition that allowed people to show their solidarity with Pope Francis.

On Saturday 12 September hundreds of young people arrived at the Department for International Development (DFID) ready to be inspired. They were there for the Youth Summit, a unique event organised by DFID and ICS to celebrate everything the ICS programme has achieved so far, and to dive in to what the soon to be announced Sustainable Development Goals mean for young people, and what they can do to be a part of implementing them.