Youth and mothers especially from the marginalized rural communities remain underserved in SRHR services despite the many programs tailored towards them. They are not empowered and supported enough to have a voice and the skills to shape their SRHR futures in a positive way. They in turn suffer catastrophic challenges which includes: sexual coercion and intimate partner violence; lack of education and information; high rates of early and unwanted pregnancy; lack of access to health services, especially for contraception and safe abortion; gender inequalities and harmful traditional practices, such as (FGM) and child, early and forced marriage; and STI risks.

Disconnection is what keeps young people and young mothers especially from rural settings from realizing their potential. Over the past generation or two there has been a deterioration among youth and mothers(especially young) of their sense of agency to the extent that many no longer realize the power and influence they have. Rather than having partnerships, professionals, adults and elites develop youth programs without the engagement of the people for whom they are designed. We are going to use youth and women from the communities to implement the initiative.. They will be taken through SRHR advocacy and communication training. They will be empowered to attend all health public participation, raise their voices, take part in SRHR policy making and reviewing, follow-up with finance departments to advocate allocation of money for their services. We will conduct SRHR awareness outreaches in schools, both high schools and higher learning institutions, in the communities where there are SRHR knowledge gaps. We will engage key people in the communities, county and national levels to help in advocacy. We will dispatch members to the project counties to help in training the youth to take up the initiatives and own them for sustainability. We will work with the county government and also advocate for the construction of youth friendly centres where youth and young mothers can access SRHR information and services freely and without fear, in all the sub-counties. We will partner with youth led and youth serving organizations within the counties to help in implementing the project, for easy follow up and for sustainability. We will also partner with DSW-KENYA, to allow us to use “Lifeyangu” platform and link youth to SRHR information and services through social media advocacy. We will have both weekly and monthly evaluations.

Our innovation is going to use youth and women in the communities to implement the activities after the trainings. This will enable them own the projects and hence making them sustainable in the long run. Over the years we have had projects being implemented by outsiders with little or no community participation, rendering the projects shot lived after their closure. We are going to work with the local and county administrators to ensure continuity of the project long after it has been completed. Social media campaigns, advocacy and activities will enable us reach out to a larger number of youths who uses social media platforms. Collaboration between ENUCA-KENYA and other youth led organizations including interfaith organizations will help especially when it comes to advocacy and communications within the communities.

There will be Increased awareness level among women and youths in SRHR. This will lower SRHR information gaps among women, youth and young people in general, allowing them to make informed decisions about their health. There will also be mproved coordination and partnerships among youth led/ youth focused organizations in SRHR advocacy, who will work together to address SRHR needs within the areas they serve even after the project. Communities will be mparted with the relevant SRHR information, underlying SRHR myths and misconception will be addressed and the practices that predispose young people to violence will also be addressed. Through the community outreaches and the public participation sessions, the community will get to know the risks of some practices such as FGM, GBV, and early child marriage among other SRHR related practices. There will be a high level of engagement of all young people including the marginalized for the project will ensure that all young people are empowered enough to step up and fight for their SRHR rights through awareness creation and advocacy. There will be a sustainable social media campaign. The project can be scaled up through opening it up to other counties.

The project will kick off during mid December when most of the people can be found during large Christmas celebration gatherings. Activities will be implemented on a weekly basis. Activities will be implemented according to the objectives (as stated on the attached document) with specific objectives being implemented at specific times. For every activity conducted, there will be weekly reporting from every area covered and monthly reporting for every county. There will be a monthly review and evaluations based on the reports to allow the evaluation committee to re-strategize on how best to surpass the target objectives. The report will contain the total number of youths reached out to, messages delivered, outreach area, advocacy conducted, key people reached out to, challenges, etc. Financial resources will be needed to support in training expenses, purchasing of teaching and demonstration materials, facilitation into and out of the communities, food allowances, purchasing of health commodities to be used during the sessions like the sanitary towels among other needs. Training halls will also be needed during the training sessions. We will need members from organizations within the communities and local leaders to help in the implementation. Opposition from community members and leaders who embrace culture is foreseen( for the governor once opposed) but we will work with the health and other relevant ministries, leaders, interfaith and community members to meet our set targets.

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