Almost two years after ministers of health and education from 20 countries in East and Southern Africa (ESA) committed to scaling up comprehensive sexuality education and related health information and services for adolescents and youth, remarkable progress has been achieved in the region.
The 2013 ESA Commitment brought together the education and health sectors, as well as policy makers and young people, to review specific targets to be achieved by 2015 and 2020. The Technical Coordinating Group (TCG) held its yearly expanded meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa from 1-3 July 2015 and brought together TCG partners and over 40 participants from invited ESA Commitment countries.
Core TCG partners represented included UNFPA, UNESCO, UNAIDS, UNICEF, GIZ, SIDA, SADC, EAC, SAfAIDS at regional and national levels, and government representatives from the ESA Commitment countries.
The main objectives were to review progress towards the 2015 targets, share good practices emerging from country level, and discuss regional accountability frameworks to track progress, as well as to review partnership agreements and discuss mechanisms for better engagement of partners.
Dire need to invest in adolescents and youth
UNFPA ESARO Director Dr. Julitta Onabanjo reflected on the dire need to invest strategically in adolescents and young people in the ESA region to harness the demographic dividend. She stressed the significance of the ESA Commitment.
Prof. Sheila Tlou, UNAIDS East and Southern Africa Regional Director, said there was a need for better integration and provision of Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) in and out of school, which will in turn benefit the education sector and enable countries to achieve their 2015 and post-2015 sustainable development goals. She also emphasized the need to ensure that the delivery of CSE links explicitly with Youth-Friendly Health Services (YFHS).
Prof. Hubert Gijzen, UNESCO Regional Director for Southern Africa, said education must be linked to services that young people are confident to access.
The country experiences of Namibia, South Africa, Rwanda and Tanzania shed light on the achievements made in coordinating and implementing the commitment, but also highlighted issues and challenges faced for scaling up delivery of CSE and related health services for young people in these countries.
Progress in East and Southern Africa
At the regional level, progress made includes ongoing work on CSE, implementation of online teacher training and harmonization of laws and policies, especially relating to the issue of child marriage. Despite existing challenges at the regional and country levels, most countries are progressing towards integrating and institutionalizing CSE in the formal education sector. Efforts are ongoing to complement in-school CSE with engaging out-of-school young people.
Simultaneously, accessible, quality sexual and reproductive health services that are youth friendly are being strengthened. The linkages between CSE and YFS are essential to address holistically the sexual and reproductive needs of the region’s young people – to provide information, skills building and health-promoting attitudes through CSE and its demand creation on the one hand, and the supply of a broad range of youth-friendly sexual and reproductive services on the other.
UNFPA continues to provide technical and financial support for CSE in school and out of school as well as YFHS, and strives to build linkages between them. Amongst the key lessons learned, one is the need for strong communication and collaboration among all stakeholders.
By Selamawit Mamo
