#LetThemKnow: Youth Speak Out
Adolescents (ages 10-19 years) and youth (15- 24 years) are a diverse social group and have diverse sexual and reproductive health, rights -and justice (SRHR-J) needs that are critical to their physical and mental development and wellbeing. Despite progress in recent years, adolescents and youth still face disproportionate barriers to accessing sexual education, contraception, and comprehensive healthcare services.
It is for this reason, IYAFP and 120 Under 40: The New Generation of Family Planning Leaders, with the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health and Bayer AG, have assembled a group of youth-led initiatives thought-leaders for the co-creation first-ever Youth-Led AYSRHR Global Roadmap for Action (GRA). The AYSRHR GRA will bring youth voices together to outline a new vision for AYSRHR-J and set out a 2030 vision, priorities, and recommended actions, showing unity in the expression of young people’s SRHR-J needs and values across the world.
Finally, it is time for governments, donors, the private sector, iNGOs, and youth-led organizations to come together and commit to a common AYSRHR-J vision and priorities. It is time we Let Them Know what we want, what we need, and what we expect!
Let Them KNOW what we want:
Overall, as youth, we want the opportunity and access for all youth to fully achieve their fundamental rights to SRHR-J. To achieve this, youth and adolescents require information on and access to modern contraception, emergency contraception, menstruation hygiene, HIV/AIDS and STI prevention, testing and treatment, obstetrics and gynecology services, pregnancy testing and services, safe (and legal) abortion services, gender-based violence prevention, and treatment services, harmful practices counseling and referrals among other topics. For these services to be adolescent and youth-friendly, they are expected to respect privacy, prioritize confidentiality, and obtain informed consent; they also must be tailored to the specific needs of young women and girls, especially LGBTQIA+ young people, young people living with disabilities, as well as young people living in humanitarian emergencies.
Let Them KNOW what we need:
AYSRHR-J GRA presents a comprehensive plan for governments, donors, iNGOs, and youth-led organizations to prioritize the sexual and reproductive health and rights of young people.
To achieve our overall vision, we are prioritizing the following needs:
Acknowledgment of the diverse youth identities and needs: A just, equitable, and sustainable AYSRHR-J field in which every youth, including LGBTIQ+ youth and youth with disabilities, enjoy the right to a life of dignity worldwide.
Meaningful youth partnerships and engagement: A world in which equitable, mutually respectful, and beneficial youth partnerships are the norm and the SRHR field is transformed from one that exists for youth to one that exists in partnership with youth for achieving a shared AYSRHR-J vision
A world where young people participate fully in decision-making for AYSRHR-J and are integrated in all stages of SRHR-J policy-making to catalyze the social and political changes necessary to ensure their reproductive health needs are met. Young people are willfully engaged and are also able to hold decision-makers accountable for the commitments made toward sustainable development, through increased capacity, access, and agency.
Progressive AYSRHR-J policies: A world in which AYSRHR-J policies address and are responsive to the diverse set of youth needs and identities to catalyze the social and political changes necessary to ensure their reproductive health needs are met
Transparent AYSRHR-J data and reporting: A world in which comprehensive and transparent data on adolescents and youth, including disaggregation by age and gender and inclusion of diverse youth identities is available for decision making.
Equitable AYSRHR-J financing: A world where all unmet needs for AYSRHR-J services and commodities are equally funded and resourced addressed through increased financial resources and technical support supplied both by the donor community, the private sector, and governments.
Let Them KNOW what we expect:
Finally, it is time for governments, donors, the private sector, iNGOs, and youth-led organizations to come together and commit to implementing the GRA at the local, national, and global levels. The health, rights, and lives of adolescents and young people depend on it.
This GRA provides a vision of what we want and need, the how is determined by the young people and local contexts.
Bring youth to the table in decision-making & funding. Invest in youth voices and youth-led organizations. The GRA recommendations provide a range of input and resources on how to effectively do this.
Implement recommendations outlined in the GRA to ensure youth-led and youth-said priorities and actions are implemented.
Donors and policymakers can submit their GRA commitments here.
Invest in the structure and partnerships of the GRA: As the GRA evolves and grows, we expect that donors and decision-makers invest in the structure of the GRA, including the creation and support of accountability and evaluation mechanisms and resources, the maintenance of advisory group and the coalition of youth led-organizations, and funding mechanisms for GRA activities globally and locally.
Donors and policymakers can indicate their interest in partnering with the GRA here.
Youth & Youth-Led Organizations: Join us
We invite youth and youth-led organizations to join us in the creation of a coalition of youth-led organizations charged with the maintenance, implementation, and evaluation of the GRA. Youth-led initiatives joining this initiative have the unique opportunity to utilize the GRA as an advocacy tool in their campaigns and hold your governments accountable for their commitments to AYSRHR-J. Together, we can create a world where all young people have access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive healthcare and are able to exercise their rights fully.
Youth-led initiatives joining this initiative have the unique opportunity to utilize the Global Roadmap for Action as an advocacy tool in your campaigns and hold your governments accountable for their commitments to AYSRHR-J. Together, we can create a world where all young people have access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive healthcare and are able to exercise their rights fully.
Youth and Youth-Led organizations can join us here.