PROGRAMMING FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

DOT YOUTH ZIMBABWE

Background
• Young people aged 10-24 are a specific target group
of the Combination Prevention Approach, especially
young women
• Unmet need for FP by women aged 15-19 years is
relatively high (16.9%)
• contraceptive prevalence rate (36.2%)
• 92% of the 15-19 year old women who had had
recent sex were in a union,
• 1 in 5 young women aged 20-24, had their first child
by age 18
Background
• Young people aged 15-24 years accounted for almost half of new HIV
infections in 2009
• and most of these were young females.
• Disparities between males and females
• 15 -19 years, males 3.8% and females 4.2%
• By age 29, males 15.8% and females 20.1%
• The male partner in an intergenerational relationship often holds the
decision making power.
A few things to think about
• Over 60% of the population is female
• Over 70% of young people are unemployed
• Over 60% of all qualified young people are unemployed
• Over 40% of the qualified unemployed young people are un
employable
Rationale
• Increased education and wealth are related to an increase
in the use of modern methods of contraception.
• Young people who receive comprehensive education on
their sexuality and have the financial means are empowered
to make healthy reproductive health choices and to act on
them.
• Literature has noted that where reproductive health
services exist, these need to be delivered in a youth friendly
manner in order to be more acceptable and less
traumatizing to young people.
• Youth-friendly services are available in less than 3% of the
1,500 public health facilities
YFS Guiding Principles,
• Contextualisation and acknowledgement that adolescents and youth are not homogenous and
that their health needs vary according to such factors as: gender, religion, traditional beliefs,
socialisation, ethnicity, age, life experiences, sexual orientation, social economic situation,
disability status, HIV status, level of education and physical or mental disability. In addition,
gender-sensitivity and gender-responsive approaches are required in order to meet the needs
of both males and females
• Service provision for adolescents and youth should be based on the understanding that sexual
and reproductive health and rights are basic human rights and that every young person
deserves to have a full range of sexual reproductive health services and to have their rights
upheld.
• Youth friendly health service delivery should be evidence based and adhere to a rights based
approach which regards adolescents and youth as important actors/decision makers and not
just mere recipients of services.
• Meaningful adolescents and youth participation in the planning, development,
implementation, monitoring and evaluation of services and programmes will ensure that their
needs are addressed in an appropriate manner and also ensure sustainability of interventions.
Guiding principles
• Services should provide mechanisms for multi-sectoral implementation
with clear referral, tracking and feedback strategies.
• Service provision should take cognisance of the critical role of community
support for effective and sustainable youth health services and
programmes.
• Service delivery points should provide the indicated package of health
services and conducive environment that adolescents and youth need, at
any given time and in all designated facilities, to access services.
• Adolescents and youth should be well informed about the availability of
good quality health services from the designated service delivery points.
• Administrative and management systems and adequate resources are in
place to improve and sustain the quality of youth friendly health services.
Defining YFS
• WHO describes youth friendly services as: “Services that are accessible, acceptable
and appropriate for adolescents. They are in the right place at the right price (free
where necessary) and delivered in the right style to be acceptable to adolescents and
youth. They are effective, safe and affordable. They meet the individual needs of
adolescents and youth who return when they need to and recommend these services
to friends.”

• Youth-friendly services are based on broad understanding of what adolescents and

youth need and want (rather than being based only on what providers believe youth
need).
Proposed YP Specific Interventions
• Empower adolescent girls to make healthy reproductive health choices and to act
on them
• Strengthening youth-friendly services
• Enhance accountability of health providers to young women for provision of
youth friendly services
• Strong health systems
• Keep children healthy – survival rate
• Immunisation
• Nutrition
• Adolescents live health lifestyles
• Access to reproductive health and family planning
 Empower Adolescent Girls to Make Healthy Reproductive
Health Choices and to Act on Them

• Identify girls at risk of poor RH outcomes

• Design and implement programs that promote adult
youth partnership. (mentorship programs)
• Create safe spaces for young people to meet and
discuss issues affecting them
• Design comprehensive programs that offer a diverse
package meeting the individual needs of young
people.
Strengthening Availability and Demand for Youth-friendly
Services

• Identify health facilities at which to establish youth-

friendly service provision meeting the minimum
standards of YFSP
• Increase support for youth friendly corners
• Support community level activities of peer educators
including demand generation edutainment activities
• Strengthen community level partnerships to ensure
sustainability of programs
Enhance Accountability of Health Providers to Young
People for Provision of Youth-friendly Services

• Meaningful youth participation at all levels of

programing
• Create effective accountability measures to ensure
service providers adhere to policy guidelines
• Accountability mechanisms for feedback by young
people accessing SRH services
A few things to consider
• WE need to design programs that are able to
• REACH THE RIGHT young people (deliberate targeting)
• with the RIGHT THINGS (specific program design)
• at the RIGHT PLACES (find out where the young people are and go
there
• at the RIGHT TIME (Timely and Coordinated Interventions)
 Innovation in programing – Business as usual will not ensure that we
reach our targets and achieve impact
Inclusivity in program design.
Meaningful Youth Participation
 WHAT is MYP according
to you?
WHAT IS MEANINGFUL YOUTH
PARTICIPATION TO YOU
 MYP definition DotYouth

“MYP means that young people can participate on

equal terms with adults, or work independently, in all
stages of programming, policy-making as well as in
organizations: design, implementation, monitoring
and evaluation.”
 Important to
remember:
• MYP requires shifting power, commonly enjoyed by adults, into the
hands of young people, to work in youth-adult partnerships.

• Even when there is MYP, there can still be discrimination (e.g. when
participation opportunities are limited to ‘older youth’ or ‘highly
educated youth’).
Why is MYP important?
 MYP is a key to achieve
programme objectives!
• Increase the reach, attractiveness,
relevance and effectiveness of the program
• Enchange the fit between interventions and
needs of target group
• Young people create safe and enabling
environments for other young people
 MYP is an
empowering process
for adults
• Enhanced commitment, energy and confidence
• More attuned to the needs and concerns of young
people
• Develop a better understanding of youth programming
issues
• Gain stronger connections with the community
 MYP strenghtens
organisational capacity

• Increases positive structures to provide youth sensitive

SRHR interventions
• Tends to strenghten organisational commitment to
young people’s rights
• Greater insight on and alignment with needs and
realities of young people
 MYP is an empowering
process for young
people
• Increase in knowledge, skills, confidence,
autonomy, networks and opportunities
• Increase in social capital, stronger social
networks, more social status and more
opportunities to influence
• Increased motivation and capacity to be
activists and agents of change in their
community & country
 WHY should we engage young
people in meaningful ways?

• Achieve SRHR program objectives

• Empowerment of adults
• Organizational capacity to provide youth- sensitive
SRHR interventions
• Empowerment of young people and social change
The Roots: Core elements
of MYP
Commitment

Action

Results