India's Girl Guides and Boy Scouts Program Among Grantees Focusing on Youth
                           In Developing Countries

    LOS ALTOS, Calif., March 23 /PRNewswire/ -- The David and Lucile Packard
Foundation announced today more than $13 million in new grants to develop
innovative ways to bring voluntary family planning services to young people in
the developing world.
    More than one billion teenagers will enter their reproductive years in
2000.  The majority of these young people live in the developing world where
access to reproductive health education and services is limited or
nonexistent.
   One Packard grantee, "Family Health International" (FHI), working in
coordination with the World Association of Girl Guides and Boy Scouts, will
educate up to 900 Boy Scouts and Girl Guides in India on adolescent and
reproductive health.  According to FHI, trained Boy Scouts and Girl Guides who
earn the new Healthy Adolescent Project Badge will become peer educators and
reach, in turn, at least 22,500 adolescents and young adults in the Health
Adolescent Refugees Program (HARP).  Recently recognized by UNAIDS as an
"International Best Practice," HARP has also been implemented in Egypt,
Uganda, and Zambia.
    "The idea for this project originated with the Scout and Guide leadership
in Calcutta.  They recognized that the vast existing network of Scouts and
Guides throughout India, including the poorest states in the north, could
serve as an ideal vehicle for providing young people with reproductive health
information," said Dr. Sarah Clark, Director of Packard's Population Program.
    Another Packard grantee, the Foundation for Adolescent Development (FAD),
will use the foundation's gift to expand its Teen Healthquarters in the
Philippines.  Through Teen Healthquarters, FAD provides Filipino adolescents
with counseling services, education, and primary healthcare including a full
range of reproductive health services. "When we visited Teen Healthquarters,
the teens told us that they appreciated the availability of counselors and the
dedication of the volunteers who mentored them through adolescence," said
Dr. Clark.
    These grants are part Packard's five-year, $375 million effort to provide
access to voluntary family planning, programs for youth, protection of
reproductive rights, and training for future leaders.  The Population Program
is focused in eight developing countries:  Ethiopia, Myanmar, Sudan, Mexico,
Pakistan, Philippines, India, and Nigeria.
    Organizations receiving a portion of the $13 million in new grants
include:

    Pathfinder International:  Support comprehensive reproductive health
     training through private sector practitioners in Ethiopia.
    Family Health International (FHI) in coordination with the World
     Association of Girl Guides and Boy Scouts:  Train peer educators in
     reproductive health outreach/India.
    Foundation for Adolescent Development (FAD):  Expand existing teen
     healthcare and education program/Philippines.
    Amhara Development Association:  Enhance community-based
     services/Ethiopia.
    Oromia Development Association:  Enhance community-based
     services/Ethiopia.
    Equidad de Genero:  Train women in advocacy and public policy/Mexico.
    Population Services International:  Strengthen reproductive health
     clinics/Pakistan.
    Columbia University:  Improve access to health services in forced
     migration settings.
    Planned Parenthood Federation of America:  Support proactive measures to
     prevent unintended pregnancy.
    University of Washington:  Provide academic training to future leaders in
     the fields of population, family planning, and reproductive health.

    The Packard Foundation has dedicated nearly $400 million to innovative
programs that provide family planning services and educate women and girls.
Statistics show when women are educated and given equal opportunities and
choice, their families, communities and countries flourish.
    The David and Lucile Packard Foundation is a private family foundation
created in 1964 by David Packard (1912-1996), co-founder of the
Hewlett-Packard Company and Lucile Salter Packard (1914-1987).  The Foundation
provides grants to nonprofit organizations in the following broad program
areas:  conservation; population; science; children, families, and
communities; arts; organizational effectiveness; and philanthropy.  The
Foundation makes grants at the national and international level.  The
Foundation's assets were approximately $13 billion as of December 31, 1999.
Grant awards totaled approximately $411 million in 1999, and the Foundation
expects to make grants of approximately $500 million in 2000.

    CONTACT:  Paula Marmion, 206-344-2496, or Susan Ward, 206-223-6457, both
of DDB Seattle, for The David and Lucile Packard Foundation.

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