Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights - Events
Celebrating International Youth Day through District Dialogue (12th August 2009)Youth for Change celebrated International Youth Day (12th August 2009) by organizing district level dialogues in 9 districts of Uttar Pradesh. Different stakeholders including teachers, health service providers, elected representatives, parents, media, and block level officials attended the event which was everywhere anchored by the youth themselves. The youth presented a summary of the findings from the Need Assessment Study on Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Uttar Pradesh. The stakeholders who were present all agreed to the findings, and acknowledged the urgency of providing health services and information to the youth. Apart from presenting the study, youth also performed street plays, puppet shows and songs on different issues. In a couple of districts, the youth took out a procession. A demand letter was faxed to Hon’ble Chief Minister asking for a Youth Policy in Uttar Pradesh Sharing a study on Youth in Uttar Pradesh (14 July, 2009)On occasion of World Population Day, SAHAYOG and Youth4 Change shared the findings of the needs assessment study on Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights with the media and other stakeholders. The qualitative study showed that all stakeholders interviewed in four study districts such as teachers, health service providers and parents, agreed that the youth need both information and services for their sexual and reproductive health. Parents and health service-providers feel that schools should take responsibility of giving sexuality education, while school teachers feel they really do not know enough, and require support from health staff. The study also included a quantitative baseline assessment of 1003 young people from different districts.
Youth for Change Leaders Study Tour to Uttarakhand (June 2009)
To promote youth leadership a study tour was organized with 44 girls and boys from 23rd -26th June, 09. The group visited two organization based in Uttarakhand, VIMARSH and SUCHETNA. VIMARSH is based in Nainital District, and works on gender issues in the community and schools, by forming Gender Equality Cells in schools. SUCHETNA works in two States Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand and runs 15 centers for youth development. The Youth for Change leaders visited the villages and had group discussions with the local youth about their problems and initiatives taken up. This gave the Y4C leaders an opportunity to analyze and write about the different situation in two states.
Dialogue on health and rights of Youth: World Health Day 2009
A state level policy dialogue was organized at Lucknow by Youth for Change on 6th April 2009, the eve of World Health Day. Representatives from government departments such as the Education Directorate, Health Directorate, District Institute of Education and Training (DIET), Nehru Yuva Kendra, and experts at state and national level gathered together to hear what the youth of Uttar Pradesh had to say.
Youth leaders from ten districts of Uttar Pradesh shared their experiences and demanded immediate action for three main issues -stopping early marriages, providing sexuality education in school curriculum, and availability of sexual and reproductive health services including counseling at Public Health Centers. The youth said "We do need sex education as we are not permitted to discuss it with parents or elders, and our friends know nothing more than us.” The experts acknowledged these demands, saying that since there are around 6.6. million youth aged 15 to 24 years in Uttar Pradesh, it is important for the government to take action on this from a development perspective. Dialogue on Sex Education in the U.P. College Curriculum (5 October 2007) U.P. has no policy on Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) and many members of society have resisted the provision of sexual health information for youth. Neither is there any ‘rights based approach’ in the way youth concerns have been addressed so far. The current policy environment is amenable to only addressing population control and promoting abstinence for youth, whereas youth SRHR needs to extend far beyond that. Unfortunately, there is lack of sufficient data available on youth needs and youth perspectives in Uttar Pradesh. 11 states in India have banned Sex Education from their school curricula. Uttar Pradesh is a state where a debate is still going on. In the summer of 2007, teacher associations burned the books with sex education material. Right-wing party leaders and religious leaders also opposed sex education. Their stance is that these books carry explicit material and by teaching students about sex, it is spoiling Indian culture. According to a wealth of research carried out in U.P., India and abroad, close supervision and messages of abstinence are not effective in preventing premarital partnerships; silence and ignorance do not protect youth from contracting sexually transmitted diseases (STD) or unwanted pregnancy; and shame does not heal the mental or physical damage of sexual abuse. Policy makers and parents alike must be convinced of the need to focus on enhancing informed choice among adolescents rather than imposing strict supervision and controls as a more positive and effective strategy to promote sexual and reproductive well-being. The objective of a dialogue on Sex Education was to bring like-minded people together on the same platform and to devise a state-level advocacy strategy to reintroduce it to school curriculums. Stakeholders like representatives from the Health Directorate and Education Secretariat were invited as Chief Guests, and media representatives, NGO workers and health service providers were invited as participants. In preparation for the dialogue, SAHAYOG collected information about the ongoing debate in 10 states from news clippings, internet and other resources to analyse the opposing positions in the debate. International Women’s Day, 8 March, 2008Through participation in local celebrations, Youth for Change members learned that by celebrating International Women’s Day they were joining women from around the globe to honour women's advancement in society. At the same time, by hearing comments and discussion among members of their own community, they were informed about the action required to ensure that women's equality is gained and maintained in all aspects of life.In some communities, young girls and their mothers attended discussions about important women’s health issues such as: female feticide, safe pregnancy, family planning, violence against women, dowry and female nutrition and puberty. In other communities, boys and girls attended meetings that emphasized gender equality and the importance that both boys and girls participate in education opportunities, games and events. Throughout the state, youth were able to hear key community members such as Panchayat, protection officers and police voice their support for women’s empowerment through speeches, songs and slogans. Some meetings resulted in declarations and demand letters for better services and protection of women, and youth witnessed the formal submission of these letters to district magistrates. |
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