By: Dollarman Fatinato

Government and Adolescents Co-Create SRH Curriculum in Lagos

During the afternoon side events of day 2, Boladale presented an interesting model of advancing access to sexual and reproductive health information for adolescents and young people by bringing decision-makers and young people together to co-develop content that equips adolescents to make informed SRH decisions independently.

In what seems to be a game changer in May 2022, young participants were invited to a workshop to help create relevant curriculum content that responds to the realities faced by Nigerian adolescents. Working alongside the adolescents were representatives of Lagos state ministries, departments, agencies, and program partners, who ensured that the priorities of the Nigerian government were also addressed.

This was necessitated through a Youth-Powered Ecosystem to Advance Urban Adolescent Health(YPE4AH) project, which empowers adolescents to think differently about their future, and supports them to access the skills, social capital, and resources to realize their full potential. Towards the end of the workshop which spurred collaboration and visualization of scenarios among the diverse stakeholder brought together viewpoints and opinions on difficult issues such as gender inclusion, mental health, and sexual and reproductive health and rights. This saw the near-final journey of an SRH curriculum that is based on games and play. Visit YPE4H to learn more.

The Unisex Condom

More innovations continue to emerge in the field of sexual and reproductive health the International Conference on Family Planning provides a platform for learning and sharing the same in the spirit of universal health coverage; leaving no one behind. The Wonder Leaf Team at ICFP2022 has innovated a unique unisex condom that provides barrier protection for the entire groin region. The default configuration of the unisex condom is an internal (female) condom, which can cover not only the vagina, but also the vulva, anus, and its surrounding perineal areas; it can also be inverted to become an external (male) condom, which can completely cover the male penis and its base, making it more effective in preventing contact sexually transmitted diseases. Visit the Unisex Condom to learn more

Meet the Phil Harvey Winner – Innocent Grant

Young and Alive Initiative (YAI) has been leading community-based dialogues on pleasure-based sex education through a partnership with the Pleasure Project. The program director at YAI Innocent Grant, the winner of the Phil Harvey Award at ICFP2022 is proposing to advance efforts of providing sexuality information by bringing sex-positive approaches in the same education through digital platforms. Innocent indicates that they’re seeking to integrate a forum between sexual health practitioners and young people in Tanzania in a forum (website within the contraceptive conversations) and use funny ways such as memes, Instagram reels, and comics to spark discussion around pleasure and sexual health in Tanzania and East Africa. “We already have a following of about 10,000 through Facebook. To us, pleasure-based sex education and discussions have proved to bring opportunities to spark dialogues around contraceptives, HIV/STIS’ presentation and sexuality without losing the fact that sex is healthy and pleasurable” ~ Grant. Visit YAI to learn more.