Uganda Youth and Adolescent Health Forum organized three days of training from 27th to 29th August 2020 training at Sweswe youth center in Kyakka II, Kyegegwa district. The objectives of the training were; to provide a platform for the refugee youths to identify, discuss and share common SRHR and SGBV related challenges, their impacts on their health and well-being, and how these urgently need to be addressed, discuss and reflect on strategies and key messages that can be employed to address these challenges using music dance and theatre as an approach among others. The training was attended by 20 participants (F12, M8). Mr. Natuhweera Benson as a focal person for the youths in the camp gave opening remarks, emphasizing that UYAHF is the only organization targeting the youths in the camp. He asked UYAHF to train more change champions to enable the information to reach the adolescents faster since there is a lot of adolescents in the camp.
Nakyegera Norah facilitated understanding the SRHR challenges faced by young people in Uganda, this was to help the youth advocate champions identify the issues that young people face in Kyakka II, Kyegegwa district. During the discussion, more emphasis was on knowing the different SRHR challenges the young people face in the camp. The youth advocacy champions brainstormed on the various SRHR challenges they face in the camp. These included; teenage pregnancies, child marriages, SGBV, incest, lack of information about SRHR, unmet need for family planning, GBV, HIV and Aids, maternal deaths, poor menstruation hygiene, STIs, rape, defilement among others. After identifying the SRHR challenges faced in Kyakka II, causes and solutions were also identified by the participants. The youth advocacy champions shared that child marriage is caused by poverty, teenage pregnancy, lack of SRHR information among others and the possible solutions were economic empowerment, sensitization through the different media platforms among others, teenage pregnancy is caused by parental neglect, cultural taboos, myths and misconceptions about family planning, poverty, lack of youth-friendly corners and the possible solutions are sensitization of the public about the dangers of teenage pregnancy, setting up and putting in place youth-friendly corners, empowering young girls with vocational skills, sensitization of the health workers about the provision of youth-friendly services among others, rape which is caused by drug abuse, desire to control, the existence of rape myths and the possible solutions are the provision of psycho-social support services to survivors of rape, capacity building about the referral pathways among others.
Valentino Kabenge Richard one of UYAHF’s cultural icon facilitated the composition, recording, and production of poems, skits, and songs sessions where the youth advocacy champions were divided into groups and tasked to act out these scenarios in form of a role play and the challenges that guided the MDD session were teenage pregnancy, rape, child marriage, domestic violence, lack of SRHR information and menstruation hygiene. During the training, the youth advocacy champions ensured that the SRHR challenge, cause, and solution came out clearly through the poems, dance, play, and songs that they composed. The composed materials were all geared towards promoting positive social behaviors within Kyakka II, Kyegegwa district. He went ahead and called upon the youth advocacy champions and the community to be supportive to the adolescents who face SRHR challenges by setting up cooperative systems within the community, following the proper procedures of reporting, and not discriminating against survivors.
