The Partners in Population and Development (PPD), a global Inter-Governmental Organization (IGO) comprising 27 developing countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East, represents more than 60% of the world population, including a large share of youth population. In collaboration with the UNFPA, the PPD seeks to promote population and reproductive health agenda for sustainable development through youth-led South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC).
As the health systems around the world, particularly in low-income countries, have been unprecedentedly thrown into disarray by the COVID-19 pandemic, resources for sexual and reproductive health services have significantly dwindled, with long-term consequences for reproductive health agenda. Due to barriers to reliable reproductive health information and adequate health care, the youth presently face a higher risk of unwanted pregnancy, unsafe abortion, sexually transmitted infections and diseases, including HIV/AIDS, and sexual coercion. Additionally, the pandemic has exacerbated the trends around domestic abuse and child marriage, increased the burden of unpaid household work, and disrupted the educational and health systems worldwide — all of which are adversely affecting today’s youth.
Given that the young people have effectively played the diverse roles of service providers, educators and change makers over the course of the pandemic among their peers, communities and countries, it is of vital importance that they are integrated into the formal decision-making processes, political mechanisms, and global development agendas in order to achieve more inclusive and equitable policy outcomes.
The webinar will thus address effective ways to create a new generation of human resources, who would not only commit to the responsibility of promoting and protecting Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) around the globe, but also strengthen the development agenda through their activism, creativity, innovation, technology, research and collective action.
Tentative Speakers:
Welcome remarks from PPD & UNFPA
Moderator:
- Mr. Junjian Gaoshan, Youth Leader, China
Panelists:
- Ms. Alice Michira, Youth Leader, Kenya
- Ms. Nthabiseng Mogashoa, Youth Leader from South Africa
- Ms. Loza Admassu, youth RH focal person, St. Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical College, Ethiopia
- Mr. Mohammad Mamun Mia, Former president of United Nations Youth and Students Association of Bangladesh, (UNYSAB).
Objectives:
The webinar aims to achieve the following:
- Facilitate a discussion on the importance of utilizing effective youth engagement to prioritize sexual and reproductive health agenda in the post-COVID era.
- Offer a platform to share the first-hand experiences and insights of youth leaders from various corners of the world, and utilize the best practices to inform and guide the future youth-oriented strategies and programs of PPD and UNFPA.
- Promote, accelerate and raise awareness about South-South and Triangular Cooperation and its utility in advancing youth advocacy in areas of reproductive health, population and development, and delivering on the promises of ICPD25 and the SDGs.
- Unveil a new platform for young people to engage in SSTC, sponsored by the PPD and the UNFPA, called “South-South Youth Platform” (SSYP).
LINK TO JOIN THE WEBINAR
URL: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89489352655?pwd=WWdiNVUzMmFmSWp0SVBLdVFmQzIyZz09
ID: 894 8935 2655
Passcode: 0000