January 28, 2020 at 9:00 am EST

(2:00 pm Dakar; 3:00 pm Abuja; 5:00 pm Nairobi; 7:30 pm Delhi)

The Challenge Initiative (TCI) aims to increase use of modern contraceptive methods among all women 15-49 years of age in urban poor areas. This includes a special focus on empowering young people by improving their knowledge and attitudes about contraceptives, improving their self-efficacy to use and access to contraceptives and creating an enabling environment that allows them to freely obtain informed-choice contraceptive services. Today’s generation of 1.8 billion young people are the leaders of tomorrow and as such should be engaged and provided the tools to create sustainable change. Institutionalizing and measuring meaningful and structural youth engagement is key to sustainable development, but we often struggle to know how to do this.

This webinar invites insights on the institutionalization and measurement of meaningful youth engagement from Rutgers, an international center of expertise on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) based in the Netherlands. Through programs, advocacy and research, Rutgers works with more than 100 partners in Europe, Africa and Asia to improve sexual and reproductive health and the acceptance of sexual rights and gender equality. Meaningful Youth Participation is a key component of Rutgers’ work. The organization has a strong track record on youth engagement, which has resulted a range of publicly-available resources to support youth engagement including toolkits, guides and research reports.

In this webinar, you will:

• Hear about how and why organizations can institutionalize meaningful youth engagement
• Learn about frameworks and methods for measuring meaningful youth engagement and considerations for adapting measures cross-culturally
• Hear from a Rutgers youth country coordinator about how they lead structural youth engagement in their countries, and through M&E and research, hold country partners accountable to the MYE targets

Speakers: 

Judy Amina 
Judy Amina is the Youth Country Coordinator for the Kenya Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Alliance. She works to ensure that young people are meaningfully engaged and involved at all levels and in different areas. Previously Judy worked at the National Empowerment Network of people infected and affected by HIV in Kenya where she coordinated the youth activities acting as liaison between the organization and networks of young people working with them.

Rosalijn Both
Rosalijn Both is the Operational Research Coordinator for the ‘Get Up Speak Out’ programme at Rutgers. Her PhD research focused on young people’s use of sexual and reproductive health technologies (including emergency contraceptives) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Rosalijn has also worked on Livelihood and HIV-related research and intervention designs in Ethiopia, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Zambia. Her current work includes working together with young researchers on several SRHR-related research projects. This includes research on meaningful youth engagement.

Anna Page
Anna Page is a Research, Monitoring and Evaluation Adviser at Rutgers. Throughout her career, Anna has focused on the meaningful engagement of young people and excluded adults in research, advocacy and programmes. Anna’s current work includes supporting youth researchers in Youth Voices, a participatory, qualitative study in Indonesia exploring young people’s sexual and reproductive health. Anna’s previous experience includes leading participatory youth research in Kenya and supporting young people to advocate for better mental health services in the UK.

REGISTER HERE.