On February 14, 2005, YouthNet in collaboration with other organizations hosted a workshop in Accra, Ghana, "Repositioning Family Planning for Youth: Advocacy to Action." It complemented the Repositioning Family Planning in West Africa Conference, held February 15-18, 2005. The conference aimed to increase commitment to repositioning family planning as a strategic objective of a country's health and development goals.
The YouthNet workshop highlighted family planning and reproductive health issues faced by youth and prepared participants to serve as youth advocates during the conference and follow-up activities.
Strong and consistent advocacy by youth champions and their supporters successfully gave the issue of youth prominent attention at the Conference, which acknowledged youth family planning (FP) as a critical element of repositioning within the West Africa sub-region. As a result, eight of the 15 country teams identified the FP needs of youth as a priority activity in their follow-up plans. YouthNet will continue to work with the country teams and other organizations to provide technical assistance in implementing these country follow-up plans.
The workshop highlights are shown below with links to presentations. A workshop report will be available soon.
Welcome
Dr. Tonya Nyagiro, YouthNet, Family Health International
Workshop Objectives:
- To make the case for repositioning family planning/reproductive health (FP/RH) for youth in West Africa by providing data, information, evidence-based approaches, and tools on FP/RH for youth and raising awareness about youth FP/RH as a critical element of repositioning family planning.
- To analyze the nature, causes, and dimensions of FP/RH unmet need among youth and the implications for achieving national health and development goals in order to strengthen the analysis and discussions during the Repositioning Family Planning in West Africa Conference.
- To develop a plan to ensure that FP/RH needs of youth are fully taken into account during discussions at the Repositioning Family Planning in West Africa Conference regarding unmet needs, advocacy, and strategy development, as well as in follow-up plans.
Session 1: Making the Case for Youth
- Overview of the Youth FP/RH situation in West Africa – Dr. Nagbandja Kampatibe, WHO/AFRO (presentation in French) (PPT, 140K or PDF, 187K)
- Youth unmet FP/RH needs and implication for achieving health and development goals - Dr. Akinyele Dairo, UNFPA (PPT, 135 or PDF, 369)
- Youth as a critical element of repositioning family planning – Ishrat Hussain, USAID Africa Bureau (PPT, 527 or PDF, 201)
- Youth-Adult partnership and team building – Kwabena Nketia Addae, YMCA
(Presentation not available)
Session 2: Analysis of Unmet Need for Youth
Introduction to break-out groups, Tonya Nyagiro, YouthNet
Group 1: Program-related barriers; Moderator: Djingri Ouoba, Mwangaza Action
Group 2: Socio-cultural factors; Moderator: Dr. Nafisatou Diop, Population Council (PPT, 37 or PDF, 13)
Group 3: Leadership gap; Moderator: Moustapha Ka, Former Deputy Speaker (Senegal) (PPT, 56 or PDF, 31)
Session 3: Formulation of a Plan for the Week and Beyond
Overview to the Repositioning Family Planning conference – Danielle Grant, The POLICY Project (PPT, 168 or PDF, 349)
- What can this group do to promote attention to meeting the family planning needs of youth during the Conference? – Sharifah Tahir, YouthNet
- Followed by brainstorming activity "Brainstorming with your feet"
- Post conference: Identifying feasible activities and opportunities
Workshop Evaluation
- Written evaluation: 44 participants completed the evaluation form after the workshop. Participants stated that the workshop prepared them to advocate effectively for youth FP/RH issues during the Conference.
- Verbal evaluation after the conference: 30 workshop participants attended the meeting hosted by YouthNet immediately after the conference. This allowed the participants to give feedback on their experiences during the conference and how advocacy for youth FP/RH was carried out. The group discussed the strong illustrations of youth advocacy during the conference, for example, that the youth were able to present at the closing ceremony of the conference.
For more information on the "Repositioning Family Planning in West Africa Conference," please go to the Advance Africa Web site.
