Maarifa Consult team was contracted in 2018 by Reproductive Health Uganda, to train the Selected Youth Advisory Committee members participating in Get Up Speak Out (GUSO) supported by Rutgers, Simavi, and CHOICE for Youth, dance4life, the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), and Stop AIDS.
Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU) as a member of the SRHR alliance a voluntary not for profit non-government organization has been and still the leading provider of Sexual and Reproductive Health Services in Uganda. This is conducted through its SRHR programs across the 18 branches across the country.
In eastern Uganda, RHU is implementing a 5-year program (2016 to 2020) titled “Get Up Speak Out (GUSO)” with funding from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It aims at ensuring that all young people, especially girls and young women, are empowered to realize their SRHR in societies that are positive towards young people’s sexuality. The programme is a joint effort of six (6) organizations comprising of Rutgers, Simavi, and CHOICE for Youth, dance4life, the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), and Stop AIDS Now! Will be implemented in 7 countries namely Kenya, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Uganda, Indonesia and Pakistan.
Other partners with whom RHU is implementing the project are; Straight Talk Foundation (STF), Family Life Education Program (FLEP), Restless Development (RD), Uganda Network of Young People Living with HIV/AIDS (UNYPA), and Reach a Hand Uganda (RAHU). The GUSO programme builds upon the best practices and current interventions of the implementing partners as well as successes and experiences from the SRHR Alliance UFBR and ASK programs that aimed at overcoming the barriers to access quality sexual and reproductive health services that young people face as a result of lack of quality services, distance to services and fees, lack of a sense of empowerment and knowledge, social stigma and discrimination.
The programme targets young people (10-24 years) regardless of their health status, social, economic and political backgrounds. RHU is implementing the programme in the districts of Bugiri and Iganga targeting in and out of school communities. Meaningful youth participation forms the pivot of the GUSO program and its reflected in key RHU program activities including establishment and fictionalization of Youth Advisory Committees, peer education and mentorship as well as young people overseeing planning and monitoring of program activities.
As part of the process of strengthening youth participation, RHU will lead a process working with other alliance partners to strengthen young people’s capacity to define, measure and report on quality as seen in their lenses for key partner activities in a process dubbed “Youth Led quality Monitoring”
This hands-on workshop aimed at creating an empowered team of young people who can effectively assess project activities and give feedback on quality improvements to make the GUSO programme achieve its overall purpose.