Improving Adolescents and Youth’s Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (RESPECT)

This project aims to improve access to sexual and reproductive health care for marginalized and vulnerable people particularly adolescent girls and young women between the ages of 10 and 24 in Benin Burkina Faso and Haiti. Project activities include: (1) providing training to teachers and educators on comprehensive sexual education; (2) providing training to health care providers on high-quality gender-sensitive and adolescent-friendly sexual and reproductive health services particularly for adolescent girls and young women; (3) organizing awareness-raising campaigns targeted at parents and community members on improving their general knowledge about the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) of adolescent girls and young women to dispel stigma and to encourage productive communication around sexual and reproductive topics; (4) working with youth and women’s rights groups to advocate for better SRHR policies in all three countries; and (5) leading an educational campaign across Canada particularly targeting young Canadians to raise awareness around SRHR and sexual and gender-based violence. The project expects to benefit 850 000 people across all three countries. Doctors of the World is implementing this project in partnership with Lawyers without Borders Canada and several local partners including women’s groups and government agencies across all three countries.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) increased equitable use of sexual and reproductive health services especially by vulnerable and marginalized adolescent girls and young women aged 10 to 24 years in the targeted countries’ regions; (2) improved provision of gender sensitive inclusive and accountable health services by health care providers particularly to adolescent girls and young women aged 10 to 24 years in the targeted countries’ regions; and (3) improved effectiveness of women’s and girls’ rights organizations and health authorities in advocating for evidence based accountable and equitable SRHR policies and legal frameworks.