CENPAD

According to World Health Organization sixteen million girls aged 15-19 give birth each year, which is approximately 11% of all births worldwide. The report also showed that 50% of adolescent birth are in Sub-Sahara Africa with high incidence of mother/child mortality.  Based on these global report CENPAD carried out a study to ascertain the level of adolescent maternal mortality in our communities. Our report showed that young people between 11 and 18 years of age experience higher rates of maternal mortality and unintended pregnancies.

Our research indicated high incidence of unsafe abortion as a major contributory factor to the differentially high rate of maternal morbidity/mortality in South-South Region in Lagos State. Demographically most communities in south-south are densely populated and are among the most deprived in Nigeria, with more than 75% of the population living below the poverty line of 2 US Dollars a day. More than 67% of the population is made up of young people below the age of 35 years and more than 52% of the population is female.

The remote location of these communities, lack of access to information and means of accessing safe abortion care services, lack of access to equipped healthcare facilities, deep cultural rooted stigma and taboos on abortion creates a situation where many young women/girls’ resort to any available and unsafe means to terminate unintended pregnancy just to ensure economic survival.

The deep-rooted stigma on abortion in these communities has in effect exacerbated the prevalence of unsafe abortion as it makes it difficult for especially younger girls to demand for or access information on safe abortion care services from reliable sources, or have viable intra/inter-generational discussions on abortion, which can in effect help them access reliable information on how to access safe abortion care services.

Most girls in these communities are also unable to access safe abortion care services or treatment for incomplete abortion (which is legal in Nigeria, and a means through which women/girls who are aware and have the means, access safe abortion care services from hospitals) because of lack of access to information on means of accessing safe abortion care services from the right personnel because of the pervasive stigma which makes girls unable to demand or discuss abortion care services with local healthcare providers instead prefer any means suggested by close confidants which end up endangering their health.

Judgmental services from the service providers to young people between the ages of 11-18 years were reported to our field team by victims who had visited the health facilities to seek for information on abortion or contraceptives. The ill-treatment gotten from some young persons led to discouragement of others from seeking any SRHR services from any health facilities.

Our team has been running this solution with a community for 3 months and the result has been impressive. Based on the need in our community for the increase awareness and acceptance of SRHR by young people to reduce the high level of unintended pregnancies which leads to   maternal mortality in south-south. Our team came up with a solution that will be young people centered.

Our team selected some group of young people from the ages of 11-24 years of age. Each of the persons were grouped into two groups comprising of ages 11-16 and 17-24. Each selected persons were trained by our team on the right knowledge of SRHR as their health right. Our team grouped these persons as our community change agent to speak to their peers on the right knowledge of SRHR during each weekly community sensitization outrage. After some time, our team saw the passive behavior of some of the young persons. They felt that the message is not for them and that it is not connecting to their generation. With the contribution of our community change agents who are of the same age bracket with the other young person’s we came up with an interesting model that will speak to the young person as they are involved in doing what makes them happy. Our team developed a dance model that relate the information of SRHR to people. The participants in this model are the same age bracket of young person from 11-24.

We produce, fliers, t-shirts, polo and other dancing costumes that when you watch people dance you will understand that, Abortion is your health right, you can seek the right information on abortion, health workers are your friends and you should go to them and seek for help. Stigmas and taboos can only cause more harm to you when you do not speak up for yourself. We started by using the model during outrage and we discovered that it was working in bring more people to come out and participate. When we saw the result, we felt that this model can help some many young persons out there and we converted the message into dance videos that we would upload on the tik-tot. However, because of funding we could not launch live but the involvement of the young person’s makes the work easy. They have understood the message and the want a larger community of young person to be involved and our goal is to reach out to over 20,000 young persons and more monthly using our videos on tik-Tok.

Our team developed this solution to run in episode so as to transmit a particular message at a time. Each episode dance involved a specific message which is been passes on to the viewers per dance. Our episode dance involves, information on health workers, parents, society and the young people.

Our solution serves young people between the ages of 11-24 and women of reproductive age. The impact of these solution in our communities will involve young people been aware of their rights in SRHR, your people been involved in SRHR promotion, young people having autonomy to access SRHR, reduction in maternal mortality, reduction in unsafe abortion and use of quakes, reduction in cultural stigma and barriers on abortion, participation of women in leadership, will evolve entrepreneurs, non-judgmental services achieved, innovative young people develop.

Our target population are young persons of reproductive age who have lack Knowledge of their sexual and reproductive health and right. Young person’s who are from economically marginalized homes and cannot afford basic health care. Young person’s who cannot discuss their sexual health with their parents or guidance because of the cultural beliefs and age gap. Young person’s who are restricted on access to safe abortion because the cultural taboos and social stigma possess as a barrier. Young person who has experienced judgmental attitude from health works during the delivery of their health services. Young persons who have resulted into quack and fake drugs in discontinuing unintended pregnancy. Your persons who have lost their self-esteem as a result of sexual assault of their bodies. Young persons who do not have a voice because of the stigmatization of their community due to early pregnancy and abortion.

Most of these young persons are still in primary and secondary schools and we discovered that their school curriculum is not rich on topics about their sexuality because of the cultural and religion belief of the communities and because of this, these young person’s lack basic knowledge of their sexuality because their society thinks making them to know much will spoil them.  Parents and society have used feelings and misconceptions to hide the right knowledge from them which has cause more harm. Health worker attitudes also have significantly hindered young person’s utilisation of Reproductive Health Service (RHS). Services need to be provided in a youth-friendly environment with health workers that are welcoming and supportive and not environment filled with judgmental persons.   Most of these young persons are from economically disadvantaged homes and they cannot afford medications for abortion or a good health care service. Our solution is in episodes and each episode will address one problem at a time. Our dance will demonstrate each of the problems that has hindered young person from accessing SRHR and the progression will also demonstrate the ways to break out from the barriers. Based on the medium we are using to convey the information; it will be available for different age bracket and it will bring a closure to different misconceptions, modify behaviors  and improve knowledge. Our solution when streamed live, will provide income to our target groups and it will help to improve the socioeconomic level of our target groups who are disadvantaged

Our team is well positioned to deliver this solution to our communities because our organization has a good working structure that consists of qualified team members that is well trained in their job and are passionate in doing their jobs.  Firstly, our team is made up of a well-defined structure starting from the board members to the executive members and the team members. We are group of experienced and trained personnel’s that are cable of delivering any task. Our organization is task-oriented organization and we have group of women who are passionate and goal driven to ensure the reduction of unintended pregnancy among young people which has led to high rate of maternal mortality. Our team is innovative and we can design solution based on any given problem. Our solution design is always impactful because we carry along the beneficiaries in our design and implementation. We are the right team for this task because our members are people living with experiences from the negative effects of cultural stigma and taboos which caused them great harm. These experienced has made them an agent of change to young person who are still struggling with the mindset that puts their lives in danger.

Our communities we work for are close to us as an organization because our offices are situated in the communities that will work and our representatives from our organization operates from the community all through the duration of the project. Our organization involves the community we are working from the design and implementation of every project. Selected members of the communities are part of our stakeholders and they are involved in decision that concerns their community. they serve as representatives for their communities in our meetings.

The Team Lead is from the organization and the team representative of these communities are from the communities. The team representatives are mostly young persons of leadership position or women/men in leadership position in the community. We choose such person because they understand the laws of their lands and they are also are the decision level of their community. Their influence as respected person in the communities helps in the acceptances of our project by their communities. 

For every project, our group of team members carries out a survey in that community to help us understand the causes and degree of the problem that we want to solve and how people feel about it. Also, they community we are serving are part of our team and their involvement in the project design helps us to understand their needs and also how to solve it. In our selection of the community representatives, we consider different age bracket involvement especially the target age bracket. These helps us to close the generational gap in reaching people of such age. Also, their involvements help us in selecting solution that will in cooperate their age needs.  As a community based organization we work with the community to meet the need of their members   because our project is community centered. 

2000 PEOPLE

Our solution is a soul-oriented solution. It is so because it speaks to the mind of the viewer at the same time entertaining. Our solution is a youth friendly approach because dance is a thing young people love doing. It is also speaking to all generation majority of people love watching dancers perform. Our solution is unique because it is using the work of art to convey a science-based information. Its approach is different because the viewers look forward to the next episode and the message passed on with dance sticks to the minds of people.

Our solution will sprout out more creative approach to promoting SRHR because people will understand the motive and knowledge in a unique and simple manner that it will be easy for others to leverage on its positivity to reach out to a larger community of people.

Our solution is easy to reach a wider community because of the awareness on TIK-TOK dance. With majority of young people having an android phone, our solution can be sent directly to people’s phone through any connective means and for wider outrage, our solution reaches many viewers with the help of the internet. Thousands of people get clued to their phones daily and offering them a service that is entertaining at the comfort of tier homes is more convincing to them than coming out for community gatherings that they see as boring.

In the next year my team goal is to promote awareness of SRHR among young people in Ago and Okota community in Lagos. Our goal is also to have a team of peer educators who are informed in the knowledge of SRHR and can carry other peer groups along with the right knowledge of SRHR. Our goal is also to promote the agency of young people in access SRHR services from the service delivery outlet. With our solution we look forward in the closing of inter-generation discuss that has inhibited young people from access the right abortion services and knowledge.  

In the next five years our goals are to see to the reduction in maternal mortality, reduction in unsafe abortion and use of quakes, reduction in cultural stigma and barriers on abortion, participation of women in leadership, young entrepreneurs arising, non-judgmental services achieved, innovative young people develop.

Our team intends to achieve this through our planned activities such as…

The selection of young people as our peer educators who with the help of the team will engage in community wide sensitization outrage to create an awareness on the right knowledge on SRHR. Their involvement will help us to reach our short-term goal on the involvement of young people in the promotion of right SRHR knowledge. Also, as peer educators they will help in the closure of inter-generational discuss on abortion by young people because they will hear the message from their peers and it will boost their confidence. Through our sensitization outrage, many young persons will build the agency to access SRHR services from the service delivery outlet.

Through our solution, we intend to achieve reduction in maternal mortality among young persons because our solution will convey the right information on how to access SRHR care. Our solution will covey information that will help to eradicate the cultural, and judgmental attitude of people and service providers. Our solution with the involvement of young people will promote a new generation young people that will innovative and business orientated. With our trainings on the young people, in the next one to five years, we will have people who are not afraid of any gender inequality and we look forward to a generation of women who will be active in leadership position in south-south.  

ACTIVITIES---IMMEDIATE OUTPUT---LONGER-TERM OUTCOMES

Selection of peer educators—youth involvement in the promotion of SRHR—South-south young people fully informed on the right knowledge of SRHR.

Community wide sensitization outrage—community awareness on the right knowledge on SRHR- reduction in cultural and social stigma on abortion.

Community wide sensitization outrage—reduction in gender violence and disparity—women involvement in leadership.

Re-Training of service delivery personnel’s—reduction in judgmental service delivery to clients- more client access SRHR services from the service delivery outlet.

Use of dance as a medium for the promotion of SRHR services among young people-increase interest of young people in access SRHR services- increase statistics on safe abortion, reduction of maternal mortality among young people.

Use of TIK-TOK to promote SRHR knowledge- improved knowledge of SRHR among young people- improved access of SRHR among young people in south-south.  

Our organization a total number of 10 staff as a full-time staff. We have total number of 10 as volunteers and total number of 20 as part-time workers. We have a total number of 40 persons working on this solution team.

Our organization has been working on our solution for one year. We have carried out a test on the solution in Okota and Ago community all in ISOLO LGA area of Lagos state. Our team started this work with Ago community and after 6months, we incorporated the okota community and the result has been encouraging on its acceptance by the young people.

CENPAD  as a team is committed in promoting access to social justice and sexual reproductive health and rights for vulnerable and socio-economically marginalized women and girls through dismantling the social systemic barriers denying women and girls access to these rights in SRHR.   

CENPAD is an organization who do not segregate on any color or race. we employ any individual who has the necessary qualification to work with our team irrespective of background or status.

Through cenpad core values of unity, partnership,  innovation, team-spirit , and community centered, we strive to uphold the principles of diversity, equity, and involvement our community in our project designs and implementation.

OUR TEAM USES SERVICE DELIVERY IN REACHING OUT TO OUR COMMUNITY ON SRHR AND WE HAVE BEING ABLE TO SEE ANY IMPACT CHANGE IN THE TRAINING OF PEER EDUCATORS AND HEALTH PERSONELS IN DELIVERYING NON-JUDGEMENTAL SERVICES TO CLIENTS AND THE RESULT HAS LED TO MORE CLIENT FRIENDLY OUTLET AND MORE PEOPLE ACCEPTING SRHR.

Our solution involves the use of dance to promote the access of SRHR among young persons. Our solution is an innovative approach because it involves the use of the social media to promote access. In our present age, monetization of internet product is a means of income generation for people. Our team intends to sustain our solution after the duration of this project by seeking for the monetization of our u-tube channels through viewers subscription and the verification of our Tik-Tok channels. 

Our project team will also partner with the ministry of women affairs in our state to adopt programs that will include the needs of young people in their agenda. Our team will meet with the commissioner to use our peer educators and our dance team as pilot to reach other communities of the state during their community programs on the sexual rights of young people and women. Our aim is to promote the continuation of our solution even after the project duration.