EMPOWERING LOCAL ACTION THROUGH SMART ADVOCACY TRAINING IN BUTALEJA DISTRICT
In September 2024, UYAHF under the CEHURD-funded Youth Champions Challenging SRH stigma project conducted a two-day transformative capacity-building session for youth champions, health workers, CBOs, and district officials in Butaleja District aimed at strengthening advocacy power to build local movements and initiatives at the community level to address the persistent SRH challenges facing young people in the district. This intensive training equipped the participants with skills in SMART Advocacy, Gender Transformative Approaches (GTA), and Meaningful and Inclusive Youth Participation (MIYP). The impact of the training has been profound, not just for the CBO, but also for the young people in the community.
According to Grace, before the training, the team at ALBO struggled with work plans and a limited strategic direction. “As CBOs especially in upcountry and many can attest to this we struggle so much in strategic programming. Speaking for ALBO, we didn’t know how to break down our big goals into actionable steps. But through the SMART advocacy training, the team learned how to set actionable and measurable goals. Grace affirmed, adding “Now, we create
detailed work plans with clear timelines and achievable objectives. This has made our outreach programs more impactful,”
She noted that the MIYP component of the training also helped the organization highly recognize the importance of actively involving young people and volunteers in its activities and programming.
“When we were taken through the power walk in one of the sessions on MIYP, I realised that there is much we have been leaving out in terms of young people’s involvement including for our volunteers in our programming” Grace mentions that “In the field, we used to see young people as beneficiaries, but now the lens is different. We pick their voices and think through solutions together. Their minds have brought new solutions and relevance to our programs,”
According to Kisaakye Rachael, a volunteer at ALBO, the technical staff have benefited significantly from the training, gaining new skills in advocacy and facilitation. “I used to think advocacy was for big organizations, but now I see how we can influence local decision-makers and community leaders to support SRH initiatives,” Rachael noted.
Additionally, Grace affirmed that the GTA training encouraged her team to rethink its outreach strategies. The team now tailors their activities like community dialogues to address specific gender norms one example being the most common one in the community that looks at women as mere domestic workers in which men force them to work in the rice fields and only wait to sell the products and take charge of the proceeds.
“We now integrate gender-sensitive approaches in everything we do. For example, during our SRH sessions, we ensure both boys and girls, men and women feel equally valued and heard. We also have started mobilizing local and cultural leaders through structural community engagements to understand and challenge harmful cultural norms that encourage SGBV and undermine women’s rights” She added.
For Grace and her team, despite being a one-time training, the consistent follow-up and monitoring from UYAHF have made her team more technical, confident, and capable of significant change as seen within the community. Through its thoughtful training approach, UYAHF has not only strengthened the capacity of CBOs but also sparked a movement toward a more inclusive and stigma-free community in Butaleja.