The LI president added: “Caritas and other DREAMS collaborators confirmed our concern that girls were being sent to contraceptive sellers such as Population Services International (PSI) during ‘community service days’ as an integral part of the project.”
“Through KB’s ‘community service days,’ during which open demonstrations were held and condoms were distributed, CRS was responsible for coordinating ‘service linkages’ among the various DREAMS partners,” Hichborn said.
He added: “CRS continues to actively participate as an ‘implementing partner’ in the successor project to DREAMS, which is called Life’s Answer (KB). One of KB’s main goals, which we confirmed repeatedly in interviews and direct source materials, was to increase the prevalence of contraceptive use among young people in Lesotho. “In other words, it is an anti-natalist population control program.”
“During meetings at KB headquarters involving CRS representatives, our investigator saw large boxes of condoms being unloaded from a van by KB staff, and a box of condoms in the bathroom, illustrating graphically the purpose of the projects,” he added.
During the March 6 virtual conference, Hichborn also noted that the joint report had stated that “a contraception promotion curriculum called Stepping Stonescurrently in use by KB in Lesotho, has previously been used by CRS in other countries.”
Translated and adapted by the ACI Prensa team. Originally published in ICA Africa.