Adolescent

Problem Analysis:

Lack of access and awareness of Adolescent and Youth to information and services regarding Reproductive Health at national level.[57%of the population is under 18 years of age.]
Low literacy rate among young people due to more than two decades of war.[Among young people,15-24 years of age.34%are literate and of this only 18%are women.]
High prevalence of Youth addicted to drugs (opium) due to lack of information and awareness on side effects of addiction.
Poor participation of Youth in policy making and implementing of youth related programs at national level.
High rate of early marriage [Nearly 16% of the Afghan girls are married before the age of 15, and 52%before their eighteenth birthday.]
Sociall and religious resistance to providing adolescents access to Reproductive Health information and services.
Absence of youth-friendly reproductive health services at national level.
Lack of strong coordination mechanism on programs for Youth and Adolescents at national level.
Normalized perception of Family Based Violence.
High level of Unemployment rate.

Strategic Direction:

AFGA intends to empower Afghan Youth by increasing their awareness and capacity to access reproductive Health-related services and enable them to take active part in the reconstruction of Afghanistan.

Goal:

All adolescents and Youth are aware of Reproductive Health and Right and have access to Reproductive Health services, education and information.

Objectives:

Objective 1:

To strengthen commitment and support of community gatekeepers and policy makers for Reproductive Health-related initiatives for Youth and Adolescents at national level.

Objective 2:

To increase the knowledge and access of Adolescents and Youth to Reproductive Health services, education and information.

Activities:

Activities for objective 1:

Prepare a detailed list of the institutions and organizations working with young people in Afghanistan.
Categorize them in terms of their focus of work in the area of Reproductive Health and Rights.
Do an assessment of their strengths and build guidelines for linking up with these partners for a strong programme on Reproductive Health and Rights in Afghanistan.
Undertake mapping of partners for improving access of young people /Adolescents to reproductive health information, education, counseling and services
Improve coordination with line ministries (MOPH, Education Ministry, Ministry of Women Affairs, Ministry of Haj and Ministry of Culture and Information) for youth related programs.
Build effective partnership with youth affairs ministry and other related organization and youth associations to work jointly for implementation of youth’s programs.
Organize meetings/ workshops and conferences with responsible government officials and youth associations to get their support on the need for reproductive health information, education and services for youth in Afghanistan.
Build capacity of AFGA youth group members on Reproductive Health-related issues through different orientation training and workshops.
Publish fact sheets and IEC Materials on Reproductive Health and Rights for Adolescents and Young people.
Distribute the youth-related IEC and BCC materials to Youth and youth associations.
Disseminate messages on reproductive health-related entitlements of Youth through local newspapers and TV programs for awareness rising.
Observance of important days on youth and adolescent related issues at national level.
Encourage youth participation in the planning, implementation and evaluation of youth related programs.
Brain storming meetings for developing family life education module for young people (10-24years) within a broad framework of life skills education.
Initiate dialogue with community leaders and religious leaders, parents and teachers on reproductive health-related entitlements of young people for the creation of an enabling environment.
Parent-teacher network for life-skill education in schools.

Activities for objective 2:

Conduct an indicative research on risk perception, attitude of service providers and creation of an improved enabling environment with young people in the age groups of 10-14, 15-19 and 19-24.This research would provide the base line information and create a platform for building for future action.
Organize Monitoring and evaluation workshops for building the capacities of the staff and service providers.
Organize and conduct orientation training for Youth on AFGA constitution and youth programs. The focus of these would be youth participation in governance, programming and inclusion of youth friendly services.
Organize and conduct workshops/seminars on reproductive health-related entitlements and rights issue for youth and adolescents.
Experience sharing visits to other countries in the region to gain experience on innovative youth programmes including youth-friendly services.
Establish youth -friendly centers which provides safe spaces for counseling, sharing information and updating knowledge on reproductive health-related issues.
Provide an opportunity for skill development linked to reproductive health-related issues.
Publish fact sheets and reading materials containing reproductive health and rights information and make it available for Youth. These fact sheets should build on the socio-cultural issues that prevent young people from accessing information and services related to reproductive health and rights for e.g. early marriage, is an important issue on which debates and dialogues could be held especially in the context of it’s impact on women’s lives.
Provide opportunities for youth to attend workshops and other events conducted by IPPF/SARO at the regional level.
Establish a Resource Center in the HQs and ensure availability of books and other reading materials on reproductive health-related issues for Youth.
Develop capacity building module on Family Life Education for young people.

Outcomes:

Improved coordination with line ministries on youth-related program.
Enhanced understanding within partner agencies both government and non-government on reproductive health and rights programs for youth.
Increased commitment and support of the partners and related organizations for reproductive health-related entitlements of young people.
Increased participation of youth in planning, implementation and evaluation of youth in related program in the country.
Increased access for youth to comprehensive, youth friendly reproductive health services.
Improved capacity of Youth, including AFGA Youth group on reproductive health-related entitlements.

Indicators:

Indicators for objective 1:

Number of MoUs signed with other agencies for working jointly on youth-related programs.
MoU signed with Ministry of Culture and Youth for partnership on youth-focused programs.
Number of Orientation Training and Workshops conducted for Youth and adolescent on AFGA constitution and youth focused programs.
Number of meeting/ workshops conducted for Youth and Adolescent on reproductive health-related issues.
Number of TV programs broadcasting reproductive health and rights related issue for Youth at national level.
Number of fact sheets and reading materials on reproductive health-relates issues concerning young people that is distributed to Youth and youth associations.
Number of special days on youth-related issues celebrated with active involvement of AFGA at national level.
Number of youth members involved in the planning, implementation and evaluation of youth related programs.
Completed draft module for Family Life Education.

Indicators for objective 2:

Number of orientation trainings conducted for Youth on AFGA constitution and youth’s programs.
Number of workshops/seminars on reproductive health-related entitlements conducted for Youth and Adolescents.
Number of Youth attending study tours to other countries in the region to gain experience on youth-friendly services.
Number of fact sheets and reading materials containing reproductive health-related information distributed to youth.
Number of youth participants in the regional workshops and events.
Number of Youth accessing AFGA main office Resource Center.
Number of young people given training in skill development in the provision of reproductive health services