Strengthening Youth Participation in the National Reproductive Health/HIV/AIDS

Responses

Issues: Involving young people in strategic prioritization and decision-making processes

have been challenging, as many adults in positions of power do not see the value-added
of seeking youth participation. “Strengthening Youth Participation in National
RH/HIV/AIDS Responses” project agreed by Family Health International/ YouthNet
Program and the United Nations Population Fund, is an effort to ensure that young people
are meaningfully involved in the design and evaluation of programs that affect them; and
engaged in UN and national reproductive health (RH)/HIV-related assessments, strategic
plans, responses and evaluations. The UN Common County Assessment (CCA) /
Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) is used as an entry point.

Description: In each pilot country (Thailand, Botswana, and Papua New Guinea), a
diverse team of young people works with an adult mentor to research existing policies
and strategies on RH/HIV for youth, interviews NGOs and government agencies, and
conducts a field assessment with young people involved in RH/HIV programs. Each
team develops a report outlining the recommendations, findings, and priorities of young
people and presents them to the “adult” teams for prospective enclosure into the final
documents.

Lessons learned: Through building key analytic skills and technical capacities, and by
pairing with adult mentors, teams of young people were able to significantly contribute to
national and UN level planning processes, thereby strengthening the youth component of
many strategic documents. As a result, it is hoped that the CCA processes will make
greater efforts to involve young people, as the contributions of youth in these processes
have now been established. In addition, a case study comparing CCA processes that
involved youth members and those that did not - which includes an analysis of how youth
issues were addressed in each situation - is being prepared.
Recommendations: Greater efforts to meaningfully involve young people in national
processes and strategic planning should be made as young people’s involvement
improves the relevance and technical approach to planning processes.