- The strategy seeks to improve access to sexual and reproductive health information and youth-friendly services.
- Young people will also receive entrepreneurship support as the organisation targets unemployment and limited livelihood opportunities.
- Schools, parents, communities and county governments are expected to participate in implementing the five-year programme.
Young people in Migori face barriers to sexual and reproductive health information and youth-friendly services, exposing them to teenage pregnancies, HIV infections and sexual and gender-based violence.
This is according to Youth for a Sustainable World (YSW), which is responding to the challenges through a five-year strategic plan aimed at improving access to sexual and reproductive health information, promoting gender equality and empowering young people.
YSW Executive Director Evelyn Samba said the organisation had identified lack of accurate information and limited access to appropriate health services as major challenges affecting young people in the county.
Speaking during the launch of the strategic plan in Rongo Sub-County, Samba said social discomfort around discussing sexual and reproductive health was also preventing young people from seeking information and services.
“Young people have a right to sexual and reproductive health information,” she said.
Samba said young people needed accurate information to make informed choices and avoid situations that could expose them to health and social risks.
Expanding access to information
The organisation plans to strengthen life-skills education in schools and extend it to communities through youth empowerment centres. It will also engage parents and community structures in promoting open discussions on sexual and reproductive health rights.
Samba said YSW would link young people with youth-friendly health facilities where they can receive appropriate care from trained health workers.
The programme is already being implemented in Rongo, where YSW says it identified high teenage pregnancy rates and concerns about HIV infections among young people.
YSW Board Chairperson Eda Mwangola said the strategic plan would use an intersectional feminist approach to ensure that vulnerable groups benefit from development programmes.
“We want to ensure that young women, girls, men and young men are all part of development processes,” Mwangola said, adding that the organisation would also address social structures that shape young people’s lives.
She said young people would be supported to participate in advocacy and influence policies affecting their lives and communities.
Economic empowerment
Beyond health rights, the plan focuses on women’s economic and social empowerment, youth entrepreneurship and livelihoods, policy advocacy and organisational strengthening.
Samba said entrepreneurship was particularly important because many young people faced unemployment and limited employment opportunities.
She said YSW would equip young people with skills and help connect them to resources needed to establish enterprises.
The organisation also intends to work closely with county governments and communities to ensure its programmes remain sustainable.
Mary Odek, a youth participant from Rongo, said the programmes had enabled young people to learn how to prevent HIV, teenage pregnancies and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV).
She said the initiatives had also boosted her confidence and ability to advocate for her rights, while youth groups had benefited from poultry and agriculture projects.
Odek added that the programmes had promoted the inclusion of young people living with disabilities in community development.
Rongo Sub-County Director of Education David Onyango said YSW’s interventions complemented government programmes and had been integrated into the ministry’s curriculum.
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He said research by YSW had placed school dropout at seven per cent and that stakeholders were working to lower the figure to five per cent.
By Kimutai Langat
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Photo caption: Youth for a Sustainable World officials and young people attend the launch of the organisation’s five-year strategic plan in Rongo Sub-County, Migori County.
