Who We Are
Nancy Durrell McKenna founded SafeHands in 2003 under the name SafeHands for Mothers, a registered charity based in England. Its mission was to harness the power of photography and film to transform our understanding of women’s maternal and newborn health in developing countries.
Fast forward nearly two decades. SafeHands has expanded its mandate to ensure all women and girls have the information and knowledge needed to make informed decisions about their sexual and reproductive health rights. This includes access to contraception; safe motherhood and safe abortion; treatment for STIs and HIV; prevention of gender-based violence, including an end to female genital mutilation; an end to child marriage; and stigma-free menstruation.
At the core of SafeHands’ work is the belief that when women share their personal stories, they have the power to spark change.
What We Do
SafeHands works in partnership with communities to develop educational material for young girls and women to empower them to make free and informed decisions regarding their bodies and lives. Tacking issues like contraception, bodily autonomy and social power, SafeHands ensures women and girls have the power to access information on their sexual and reproductive health to help them make full, free and informed decisions without fear or discrimination.
SafeHands is currently implementing three projects reaching over 20 million people with information on sexual and reproductive health rights. These efforts are centred in Uganda, Ethiopia and the United Kingdom and include documentary films, photography, literature and in-person consultations.
For more information on these projects, visit safehands.org.
“The invaluable contribution of SafeHands saved the lives of multiple mothers and pregnant women in Ethiopia. The Making Pregnancy Safer project enabled mothers and young rural women, married and unmarried, to access family planning options and live a healthy life.”