Her Future Her Choice: Strengthening Young Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights

This project aims to support poor and vulnerable adolescent girls and young women in targeted communities of Ethiopia Malawi Mozambique and Zambia by increasing their knowledge of and access to their sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). Project goals include: (1) empowering adolescent girls and young women to demand access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health (SRH) information and services so they can make reproductive health choices for themselves; (2) improving the quality of SRH information and services; (3) strengthening the capacity of women’s rights organisations and youth-led organisations to advocate for policies and resources that support SRHR; and (4) promoting the engagement and activism of Canadian youth including those based in the Canadian North through knowledge-exchange campaigns on global SRHR issues. Project activities include: (1) engaging communities to understand and transform discriminatory social norms particularly sexual and gender-based violence facing adolescent girls and young women; (2) strengthening health systems to deliver comprehensive SRH services including family planning contraceptives and safe and legal abortion; and (3) building capacity of local and Canadian women’s rights organisations and youth-led organisations to advocate for change in SRHR policy and practice. The project is expected to train 596 health workers (including 367 women) and 1 000 community resource persons in comprehensive SRH information and services and reach 250 000 women and adolescents (80% of whom are adolescents and young women) and 90 000 men (including youth) through improved sexual and reproductive health information and services. It also indirectly affects approximately 800 000 people (51% of whom are women).

The expected outcome of the project include: (1) increased claiming of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and access to quality services by adolescent girls and young women in targeted districts; (2) improved quality of comprehensive sexual and reproductive health (SRH) information and services for adolescent girls and young women in targeted districts; and (3) strengthened engagement of women’s rights organizations and youth-led organizations in advocating for policies and resources to support SRHR