This guidance document has been prepared as part of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)’s Global Programme to Prevent Son Preference and the Undervaluing of Girls, with funding from the European Union (EU), for the period 2016-2019. The programme is being implemented in Azerbaijan, Armenia, Bangladesh, Georgia, Nepal, and Viet Nam. The programme’s overall objectives include South-South learning among the six programme countries, as well as building on the experiences and lessons learned by China, India, Republic of Korea and other countries that have launched laws, policies and programmes to address son preference and sex-selection. For this reason, many examples are included throughout this guidance document from past and current initiatives. The International Children’s Center (ICC), a non-governmental organization based in Ankara, Turkey, is working with UNFPA to support the Global Programme for the period 2018-2019.

This document was prepared by a team led by Tomris Tumren of the ICC. Team members include Aysegul Esin (ICC), Monica Das Gupta (University of Maryland, USA) and Maia Barmish (communications consultant). Feedback from UNFPA staff during a workshop in Istanbul in March 2019 was very helpful in finalizing the report.

We are deeply grateful to UNFPA staff in country offices who generously shared their materials for this report: Astrid Bant and Anh Ha Thi Quynh of the UNFPA Vietnam office; Wen Hua of the UNFPA China office; Dhanashree Brahme of the UNFPA India office; Aynur Guliyeva, Narmina Melikova, and Bahija Aliyeva of the UNFPA Azerbaijan office; Tsovinar Harutyunyan, Mher Manukyan, and Narine Beglaryan of the UNFPA Armenia office; Lela Bakradze and Marika Kurdadze of the UNFPA Georgia office; and Ingrid Fitzgerald of UNFPA’s Asia and the Pacific Regional Office in Bangkok. Special thanks to Professor Doo-Sub Kim of Hanyang University, Republic of Korea, and Professor Heeran Chun of Jungwon University, Republic of Korea, for generously sharing information on Republic of Korea’s media advocacy efforts to reduce sex-selection.