DSW (Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevoelkerung) is an international development and advocacy organisation. DSW empowers young people and communities in low- and middle-income countries by addressing the issues of population dynamics and by improving health as a way to achieve sustainable development. With a headquarters in Hanover, Germany, DSW maintains four country offices in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, as well as a liaison office in Berlin, Germany and Brussels, Belgium.

The aim is to prevent poverty before it occurs. The focus is on achieving universal access to sexual and reproductive health services and information, which is fundamental to improving health and effectively fighting poverty.

The motto is: Empowering people for a healthy future! 

APPROACH
In the programmes in Africa and Asia, they help young people to fight their way out of poverty. Unwanted pregnancies and HIV/AIDS compound poverty and mean death for many young people. For this reason, they promote reproductive health and family planning projects and health initiatives in developing countries.

DSW campaigns on behalf of those who hold the future of their country in their hands: the young people of today and the parents of tomorrow. Since 1995, they have built a network of some six hundred youth clubs for sexual and reproductive health education and AIDS prevention in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Through the Youth-to-Youth initiative, peer educators at these clubs teach other young people how to prevent unwanted pregnancies and HIV infection. Experience shows that sex education is most effective when adolescents are taught by their peers.

To achieve a lasting improvement in young people’s health, DSW seeks to encourage political decisionmakers in the project countries to place greater importance on health care, particularly in the area of reproductive health, and to make more financial resources available. Together with local partners, the country offices work in tandem with parliamentarians, government representatives and local authorities to raise awareness of the close relationship between population development, poverty, health and protection of the environment in developing countries.

DSW is politically and religiously independent. It relies on private donations and financial support from other organisations, foundations and agencies to carry out its project work.