Foundation for Children Rights

1. Foundation for Children Rights SRHR Policy Salima 30th June 2011

2. FCR in Brief • A local NGO established in 2001, based in Mzuzu in the Northern Region of Malawi • Its vision is “hope for the Malawian child that is economically, culturally and socially marginalized” • Objectives include; • to promote active community participation in child rights development programmes • to prevent and control trafficking and abduction of children and young girls for purposes of sexual exploitation and labor • promote networking and collaboration among CSO and other like minded institutions that focus on children issues • to build capacity of service providers with children’s rights and other fundamental issues that impact on children

3. Policy Background • This policy emanates from the Needs Assessment outcomes (NA) FCR conducted in Nkhata-bay district between February and March 2011

4. Policy outline • Needs assessment out comes • Policy vision • Mission • Objectives • Target group • Strategic directions • Monitoring & evaluation

5. Needs Assessment outcomes • SRH &R usage for young people; • Few female young people do visit clinics for assistance as compared to male. • Lack of assertiveness for girls on condom use. • 71 % of the 150 young people interviewed indicated that they do not use due to perceptions and attitudes of themselves and of their parents • Young people prefer to get SRHR information from health workers and peers than parents. • Young people are willing to visit a clinic once they have STIs (71% of the 150 young people interviewed).

6. NA Outcomes cont>> 2. SRHR services accessibility; • Limited access due to long distances to health facilities, shortage of supplies, attitudes of health personnel, language used. 3.SRHR needs for young people; • Information i.e. in community/school libraries, counselling centres and clinics; health facilities; and Teachers trained in SRHR, involvement of youths in SRHR programmes and motivation for Teachers and health workers.

7. Vision Improved knowledge and access to SRH services and rights among the young people

8. Mission • To empower the young people with knowledge and skills in SRH(R) in order for them to demand /claim and defend their rights to SRH through rights based programming in Northern Malawi

9. Objectives • To increase the level of knowledge on SRHR issues through awareness raising for the young people in our catchment area by 30% by the year 2015 • To advocate for the provision of 40% of the young people’s SRH needs through lobbying by the year 2015 • To improve the attitudes of both girls and boys on condom use by 30% through awareness raising by 2015 • To facilitate the establishment of youth/school clubs in the catchment area by 25% in the next 2 years

10. Target Group • Adolescents (10 to 19) including youths in primary and secondary schools. • Out of school youths in rural and urban areas • Teachers, Parents, Mother Groups, HSAs, HTC counsellors, and Youth Groups

11. Strategic directions • Youth participation and involvement; • FCR shall involve youths in all SRHR interventions.ie planning, implementation as well as monitoring and evaluation. • Inclusion of youth representatives in school management structures. • Gender balance shall also be encouraged. • Shall monitor the projects being under taken by councils at a district level

12. Strategic directions cont>>> • Approach to sexuality issues • FCR shall promote the use of positive approach because it helps in creating an interactive environment among the youths. • Shall also use the positive cultural practices to advance SRHR issues. i.e. the use of Aunties and uncles in counseling boys and girls when they reach puberty

13. Strategic directions cont>>>> 3. Usage of SRHR messages; • FCR shall harmonize the consistency of messages given at home, school and use of peers through different activities. • FCR shall continue to use the ABCD message and be quick to adapt to new approaches, but after proper consultations with stakeholders in SRH. • Shall offer choices to young people to choose which SRH way to use basing on their understanding and their sexual behaviors

14. Strategic directions 4. Sensitive issues; • FCR shall allow a positive discussions on some of the sensitive issues (those considered as Taboos, i.e. masturbation, premarital sex and marriage between same sex).through consultations and consent with local leaders so that it assists young people to understand them and later make informed decisions on their own that are inline with their values.

15. Strategic direction cont>>> 5. Social norms in the community- • The organization shall choose to discourage child and teenage marriages, • Shall intensify sex education for young people, • Shall encourage support for the HIV/AIDS infected ands affected young people, • Shall fight against stigma and discrimination for the HIV and AIDS infected young people.

16. Strategic direction • Access to counseling; • FCR shall advocate for increased SRH supplies, facilities and number of counselors in rural communities. • FCR shall advocate for the construction of confidential counseling rooms for peers and teachers in schools

17. Strategic direction 7. Monitoring and Evaluation: • FCR will use its existing monitoring systems in order to track the implementation of this policy. • Activity reports, community visits and comments from participants during meetings assist in evaluating and monitoring of lessons learned from the activities done

18. Conclusion • FCR hopes that this policy will assist in influencing changes in promoting SRHR for young people. It also believes that all stakeholders will abide by the terms of this policy to fully support SRHR for young people.

19. Yewo Thank You