Ibis drives change through bold, rigorous research and principled partnerships that advance sexual and reproductive autonomy, choices, and health worldwide. We believe sexual and reproductive health (SRH) information and services should be accessible, affordable, and available in a range of different places and formats, where and when people need them. We support practices that improve health and policies that protect and promote rights to information, services, and products that meet people’s needs and preferences. We are working toward a world where all people have the autonomy to enjoy a pleasurable, safe, and healthy sexual and reproductive life.

In order to advance Ibis's mission, we prioritize justice and equity and integrate them throughout our work and our organizational policies, practices, and culture.

We pay explicit attention to how individuals experience their sexual and reproductive lives. A variety of complex and interrelated factors—such as age, race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status, class, educational attainment, nationality, immigration status, and disability—shape how we are able to access care. Our intersecting identities affect both what we need and what we can access. For far too many people around the world, intersecting systems of inequality limit access to the information, services, and care that allow them to exercise their sexual and reproductive rights.

In addition, the communities in which we live; the laws that govern our countries, states, or municipalities; and the quality and availability of health services affect our ability to access reproductive health care and information. By acknowledging that SRH is affected by individual, community, and legal contexts, we can better understand barriers and identify strategies to make real change in people’s health and lives. Each project at Ibis focuses on improvements in SRH policies and programs, and centers the people most likely to gain from such improvements. We actively incorporate and analyze these interrelated factors in order to promote justice and equity in all aspects of our work.

People are experts in their own lives, and by listening to their priorities and experiences we put their autonomy, rights, and decision making at the forefront of our work. By doing so, Ibis engages in research practices that reject systems of oppression, such as white supremacy, gender inequality, colonialism, patriarchy, and classism, to make justice and equity a reality for more people and communities. A key part of this work is acknowledging that some people and communities suffer from the lack of sexual and reproductive freedom more than others. Our work must address those disparities and center those most impacted, including women, young people, LGBTQ+ individuals, people of color, and people who struggle to make ends meet.

Challenging these systems of oppression in our work would be impossible without also addressing them within our organization. In embedding justice and equity throughout our organizational policies, internal practices, and workplace culture, we are building an environment where the contributions of each unique individual at Ibis are honored and celebrated. Research that moves us closer to a just and equitable world is not possible without staff, Board members, and partners who bring lived experience of the communities our work aims to benefit.

At Ibis, to embed principles of justice and equity into our policies, practices, and culture mean we are intentional about:

• Creating an internal culture that respects and celebrates the intersecting identities of our staff
• Ensuring that people of color, who have historically been marginalized in SRH and in research organizations, are represented and engaged as staff, Board members, and research partners
• Recognizing the importance of being able to bring our whole selves to work and creating space for staff to share their lived experiences
• Working to build an inclusive culture of transparent decision making and collaborative leadership in order to engage employees with diverse identities at all levels of the organization in priority setting and the delivery of high-quality work
• Prioritizing projects that have the potential to benefit those who face barriers in addressing their SRH needs
• Partnering with advocates, health care providers, community groups, and others at the local, state, national, and international level who can identify research needs and opportunities in their own communities
• Acknowledging that what we research, how we conduct our research, and the impact of our research has the potential to shape discourse, policies, care, and ultimately, power
• Establishing partnerships grounded in shared values of respect, mutual accountability, and collective power
• Supporting real engagement and leadership of partners in our research collaborations

The freedom to enjoy a pleasurable, safe, and healthy sexual and reproductive life is fundamental to reproductive justice and human rights, and fulfilling a broader right to health. Through our commitment to embedding justice and equity in our work and our organization, we can produce powerful evidence, shift power to those most affected, and leverage lasting change.

Justice: the ability for every person to exercise their human right to a pleasurable, safe, and healthy sexual and reproductive life in order to reach our full potential and build the lives we want for ourselves, our loved ones, and our communities.

Equity: consciously creating and supporting structures and systems that allow each of us—and especially people most affected by systematic oppression—to make our rights reality.

In short, justice is what we seek and equity is how we achieve it.

Learn more about our values.