Empowering Young girls and women to decide over their own bodies and ensure universal access to Adolescent and youth friendly SRHR information and services (EYE universal SRHR)
Naguru Teenage Center (NTC) received funding from Government of Norway through UNFPA to implement the EYE-SRHR project in Kamuli and Mayuge districts. The Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights project implementation is in a consortium with UNFPA, CARE Uganda and Marie Stopes Uganda with project duration being 2023 to 2025.
The project, titled: My Body, My Life, My World: Empowering Young girls and women to decide over their own bodies and ensure universal access to Adolescent and youth friendly SRHR information and services (EYE universal SRHR) is in response to the high and stagnant teenage pregnancy rates in Busoga region. The project is being implemented in Kamuli and Mayuge districts and is ensuring that those furthest behind have access to integrated SRHR information and services and exercise their reproductive rights, free of coercion, discrimination, and violence. The project is intended to contribute to reduction in unintended pregnancies, teenage pregnancies, and maternal deaths.
The primary targets of the project include Adolescents and young people 10-24 years old.
Secondary targets include women of reproductive age (WRA) 25-49 years, Parents and guardians of adolescents and youth, Adult sexual partners of adolescent girls and young women and Political, religious, cultural and community leaders, health care providers, teachers, district teams, policy makers.
Our Delivery model on the project:
NTC is using the youth led social accountability to drive demand and service utilization on for SRH/GBV services. Young people are holding leaders and duty bearers accountable and collectively drawing actions are changing the status quo for SRH services within the districts of Kamuli and Mayuge.
Key Achievements to date:
- By laws have been developed by sub counties and approved by district councils to tackle child labour, teenage pregnancies and school drop out in some of the communities.
- We have observed improved linkages between the various service delivery structures – a case in point is community and health where young mothers are now strongly being linked to benefit from government programs as prime beneficiaries. Programs like PDM are now easily accessed by the young people.
Key learnings
- Addressing SRH/GBV challenges among young people is only effective through a multi-sectoral approach. Through social accountability we have appreciated the role of other district, community structures and departments in addressing these challenges.
- Youth-led advocacy is more impactful when it is backed by structured mentorshipof the young people, technical support, and community-level visibility.
- Tackling SRHR challenges requires addressing root causes within families and communities, not only health facilities.
