Her Voice
Her Voice
Project Aims
1] To contribute significantly to quality access of SRH services and products by AGYW in Chikanga, Zimbabwe by 2020
2] To sensitize AGYW and the Chikanga community on the National SRHR policy and provision adaptation to local context.
3] Advocate for tailor made SRH tailor made services for young adolescent girls and young women living with disabilities.
4] To assess, include and implement local health departments and committees to fully address SRH challenges faced by AGYW in Chikanga by end of September 2018.
5] Increase level of stakeholders in advocating for SRHR services in and outside the immediate community.
Sensitization And Translation Of The National SRHR Policy Through Campaign
The main objective of the sensitization meeting was to bring the youths, especially from the religion sector as they are side lined on the SRH information because of limiting religious factors that hinder them from accessing such information.
This was achieved as most of the participants were from the Baptist Church of Mutare. The facilitator was able to bring out the most important topics around Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights. He talked about peer pressure as one of the issues affecting the youths leading to sexual and reproductive health complications. The facilitator showcased informative videos on choices made by youths and these short videos brought out the themes on how bad choices can affect a person’s life and it was a real day opener as the participants were given time to reflect and they drew some lessons from these videos. The youths were very excited as they were able to identify the lessons from the videos and relate to reality. Lastly, the facilitator brought up the topic on Sexually Transmitted Infections and this brought up reality on some of the consequences of sexual and reproductive health if the youths are not informed or if they do not handle the decisions properly. At the end of the day we had a good number of informed youths who were willing to go and speed the word about sexual and reproductive health and its consequences to others.
The event was also attended by youths living with disabilities. The event was attended by 1 female whom had a limp and 2 males whom were deaf. The deaf managed to get the message of the activity through their fellow youth church mate whom had the ability to translate everything to them.
A substantial number of youths approached the YDIT team and asked if it was going to work with them in other similar activities. They all in sighted that they wanted more of such programs as they have been sidelined from such informative activities. Another youth member from the Apostolic Faith Mission Church of Zimbabwe who was also invited to attend the sensitization meeting requested that Youth Development Initiative Trust should also bring such activities to his fellow church youths. He in sighted that the activity was very informative and that he believed that such an activity can benefit youths to a large extend.
Youths enjoyed refreshments and entertainment after the activity.
Edutainment
The objective of this activity was promoting young peoples’ sexual and reproductive health rights through informative plays.
Coming in as Part 2 of the endeavor to encourage the advancement of young people’s rights towards their sexual rights, this activity was held in two segments. First was the showcasing of short video clips that promote the sexual and reproductive health rights of the young people. Second was an edutainment soccer match which was played between the two informed young people’s churches. This time another Church was included because during the first activity we had noticed a gap in that religious institutes are being sidelined from main stream srhr information awareness. Hence we had to increase the awareness to more religious institutes.
In the first segment, the facilitator enlightened the participants through showcasing informative video clips that empowered the young people with correct and accurate srhr information. This segment was carried out in an interactive manner so as to increase young people’s participation.
The soccer match was a friendly match which was played between Baptist Church and United Methodist Church soccer teams. This was done to strengthen the relationship that had been forged between the two denominations during the first segment. The match was an intriguing experience as this was evidenced by a one sided match were The United Methodist Church was thrashed five goals to nil.
Participants enjoyed mouthwatering refreshments after the activity.
Engagement Meeting With Local Health Departments And Committees
Engagement meeting with local health departments and committees on lobbying and advocating for the provision of friendly SRHR information and services centers to the community.
This platform was organized so as to present the activities that had been done so far towards the project objectives and tailor make recommendations towards the gaps that had been found when implementing the previous activities. The activity was graced by influential health organization, in the bid to suggest recommendations that should be adopted by organizations to advance the sexual rights of young people. Recommendations to SRHR for the young people included (i) Increasing access to youth and disability appropriate information and services (ii) Urgent need to assess scale of sexual violence and ensure support mechanisms in place to respond accordingly (iii) Removing financial barriers to SRH services (iv) Increasing data and research on people with disabilities to inform policy change and interventions. Youth Development Initiative Trust was urged to carry out more SRHR empowerment activities within the religious sector which is often sidelined from major SRHR streamlines. Youth Development Initiative Trust also forged a relationship with Elevate Zimbabwe which also made a presentation on its current SRHR efforts. Tapiwa Dzepasi, whom represented Zimbabwe Youth for Impaired Persons Trust gave a presentation on disability & sexual reproductive health where he pointed out that involving persons with disabilities in planning can help and that they know better the challenges they experience and can often suggest modifications required to overcome the barrier.
<
Participants enjoyed refreshments after the activity.
