Young leaders will create communications campaigns and advocacy initiatives in Africa and Asia to create awareness of girls’ and womens’ health needs.
Why we care: Youth have a tremendous potential for leadership, and yet they often lack the opportunities to engage on a meaningful level.
How we’re solving this: Helping youth leaders develop and implement advocacy projects to improve the health of girls and women with training and seed grants for funding.
Today’s generation of young people is the largest in history. Half of the world’s population, approximately some 3 billion people, is under the age of 25. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that almost all adolescent births – about 95% – occur in low- and middle-income countries. Complications from pregnancy and childbirth are a leading cause of death among girls aged 15-19 years in these regions. According to the WHO, in these areas almost 10% of girls become mothers by age 16 years, with the highest rates in sub-Saharan Africa and south-central and southeastern Asia.
This generation of young people is also the most well-educated in history and increasingly more educated young leaders in the global south are trying to enhance the status of girls and women. While these young entrepreneurs are developing the skills to create change, they need support in the form of training and seed money.
The Women Deliver 2013 Conference provided an opportunity for young people to learn more about the health needs of women and girls. The pre-Conference Youth Forum for 100 Young Leaders and the eCourses and workshop strengthened young people’s ability and commitment to do something to improve the health of women and girls.
Women Deliver’s C-Exchange program is intensifying this training on how to develop projects in the field and working with youth to implement effective projects. We are going one step further to provide the most promising youth leaders with money to actually implement the projects they developed in their home countries.
Young entrepreneurial leaders are developing projects to create awareness and/ or advocate with policy-makers across several important areas:
- Elimination of violence against women and girls.
- Accurate sex education in schools
- Provision of contraception to young people
- Female genital mutilation