Dear Friend of DKT,
With the American midterm elections approaching, reproductive rights once again become part of the conversation here in the USA. In a new book, Not Going Back: Public Opinion on Abortion in Post-Dobbs America, three political scientists find that the Supreme Court’s decision did not weaken public support for abortion access. On the contrary, it strengthened it. In the authors’ words, “Today, more Americans identify as pro-choice than they did before Dobbs.”
That matters here at home, where DKT’s carafem keeps safe abortion care within reach. But it matters just as much beyond our borders. The vast majority of unsafe abortions happen in low- and middle-income countries, which is where DKT works every day to make contraception and safe abortion products available, affordable and accessible. The values so many Americans hold don’t stop at the water’s edge, and neither does our work.
This month’s stories show what that looks like in practice. Across our programs, teams are finding new ways to bring men into family planning as partners in the decision. In DKT FWACA (Francophone West and Central Africa), our team is marking ten years of growth, from five countries to more than fifteen.
If the work of DKT matters to you, please consider a planned gift to DKT. You won’t find a more cost-effective way to make a difference; our overheads are less than 2% and our fundraising cost is less than .2% of our total budget. You’ll find more on that below.
Cheers,
Christopher Purdy
Men as partners in family planning
Men often have a big say in whether a couple uses family planning, yet many services are designed with only women in mind. Across Africa, DKT teams are working to change that by bringing men into the conversation as informed, supportive partners, while keeping each woman’s choice her own.
DKT AWA recently brought more than 70 men together in Ghana to talk about the benefits of family planning, clear up common misconceptions, and encourage men to support their partners. The team plans to take these conversations to more regions across Ghana. In Sierra Leone, the team is holding community dialogues with male-focused organizations, including the YMCA and the Men’s Association for Gender Equality.
In DKT Mozambique, DKT’s Intimo and Prudence ads now feature both men and women, showing family planning as something couples decide on together. In Francophone West and Central Africa, DKT FWACA is building a dedicated male engagement ads strategy. It starts in Senegal, with plans to expand to Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroon, and the team’s current gender-positive TV ad has received more than 90% positive feedback.
Ten years of thinking regionally in Francophone West and Central Africa
When DKT began working in Francophone West and Central Africa in 2016, it operated in five countries and provided enough contraception to protect 35,000 couples for a year. By 2025, DKT FWACA was working in more than 15 countries, and that figure had grown to 1.7 million.
The key has been to think of the program as a region rather than a collection of separate countries. Four hubs in Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, and Cameroon act as operational bases for their neighbors. By pooling product orders across markets, DKT buys in larger volumes at lower prices, so smaller and newer markets benefit from the purchasing power of the whole region. The same network builds resilience. When instability disrupted supply in Mali and Burkina Faso, teams brought in stock by air from neighboring DKT markets to keep essential products on shelves.
Marketing follows the same logic: campaigns are built once for the whole region and then adapted to each country’s languages. This year, Kiss condoms and Lydia contraceptive radio spots have aired on 28 stations in 11 countries, in French and 17 local languages. A Kiss 10th-anniversary campaign now spans 235 billboards across eight countries, many in local languages such as Wolof, Nouchi, and Mooré. In Niger, after long engagement with regulators, the first billboards went up in August this year. Where traditional advertising faces restrictions, social media influencers help reach young people.
On the 10th anniversary, DKT FWACA is also bringing care directly to communities through an approach called Special Access Days. The idea is simple: DKT partners with a local clinic, often in a rural area or near a university, and trains its providers in counseling and in inserting IUDs and implants. The team then invites the surrounding community for a dedicated day of family planning services at that clinic. In the first three months of the rollout, 27 Special Access Days reached more than 6,400 people.
Your support for reproductive freedom can carry forward for generations
When DKT’s founder, Phil Harvey, passed away, he named DKT as a beneficiary of his estate. In 2025, that gift allowed DKT to put $50,000 into the hands of every country program with one simple instruction: do something that would make Phil proud. The funds are still at work today, training providers in Vietnam and opening an emergency clinic after Turkey’s earthquakes.
A gift in your will or estate plan can create the same kind of lasting impact. It costs nothing today, you can change it at any time, and it often goes much further than annual giving. At DKT, it goes further still. We cover roughly 80% of our operating costs through product sales, and our administrative overhead is below 2%. A $25,000 bequest can protect more than 28,000 couples from unintended pregnancy for a full year.
There are several ways to include DKT in your plans, many with tax advantages for you and your estate:
- Bequests: name DKT in your will or living trust, as a specific amount, a percentage, or a residual gift.
- Beneficiary designations: name DKT on a retirement account, life insurance policy, or donor-advised fund.
- Appreciated stock: transfer securities directly and avoid capital gains tax.
- Charitable trusts: provide income for you or your family while ultimately benefiting DKT.
We encourage you to talk with your advisor about what fits your goals. Our team is glad to work with you and your advisors to make the process simple.
Good ideas are worth a second read. Here are a couple of past stories still shaping how we think about our work:
