The Society for Family Health (SFH) in partnership with UNESCO and the UNFPA convened a national consultation with young people on the Eastern Southern Africa (ESA) Ministerial Commitment. The objectives of the consultation were:
- Discuss the engagement and experiences of young people in the implementation of the ESA Commitment 2013-2020.
- Discuss lessons learned and best practices documented by young people
- To review unfinished business for young people’s SRHR;
- To meaningfully involve young people in determining the future of the ESA Commitment; and
- To make recommendations and highlight issues for the proposed future ESA Commitment beyond 2020.
Deputy Minister of ICT, Honourable Emma Theofelus, during her address at the National Consultation with young people on the ESA Ministerial commitment said that, the cycle of GBV should not be passed to the next generation. She further added that prevention is better than cure and young people should be the catalyst of change.
Young people called for more energy, vigorous and concerted efforts by all stakeholders to address the unfinished business. These include: increasing investments to averting further unintended pregnancies among the school going population; ensuring that young mothers return and complete school and beyond; determine the magnitude of unsafe abortion among young people; health profiling of young people with disability; saturate life skills based education in schools; expand mentorship and employment opportunities; reach out to rural schools with Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) and Gender Based Violence (GBV) programs; among others.
The meeting was attended by over 30 young people including young people living with disabilities from all the 14 regions of Namibia. The meeting took place on the 27th May 2021 at Safari Hotel in Windhoek.