Youth policy advocacy
I have been involved in youth advocacy work around youth reproductive rights and responsibilities. What worked well was the involvement of the young people in the issues especially the girls. What did not go so well is that some of the young people continued engaging in unprotected sex leading to unplanned pregnancies. This compromised the message.
The key messages were: know your body know yourself
I have a future I have a life
My life is my responsibility.
The messages were targeted at young people to take responsibility for their own sexuality by getting to understand themselves and what they needed to do to avoid unwanted pregnancies. Other messages were targeted at older persons who were abusing girls.--Smauye 13:06, 14 April 2011 (UTC)
I had a similar experience in youth advocacy work in connection with youth reproductive rights and responsibilities. Indeed the participation of the youth was very encouraging. But just like your experience, I think the message did not go down well. When the programme was evaluated after six months, the report we got was that condom was the preferred choice for protected sex, but the tip of the condom was cut off because it disturbs during sex. Hmmm! Miscommunication.
