“The first time I met Chariette [a peer educator for the Cameroon National Planning Association for Family Welfare] was at Sunday football, around four years ago. She was invited by the organizer to come and talk to us when the match was over. We were all men but she wasn’t intimidated and she handled the stupid jokes well.  We stayed in touch and then one day I realized I had an STI. It’s a little taboo and I didn’t want to talk about it. I bought some drugs at the local market but they didn’t have any effect. I called Chariette and we discussed what had happened. She told me to come to the CAMNAFAW clinic and I did, where I spoke about my problem and they gave me proper drugs to get rid of it. That day, I decided to become a peer educator myself. There are a lot of guys who are suffering but too scared to speak out. Above all, men are scared of talking about STIs.  I now work in schools and youth groups, especially sports teams. They will insist they don’t have anything wrong but every Sunday since then I have gone round the teams and chatted with them.  I speak about pregnancy as well. It’s the guys who push women to have sex without a condom and also to have an abortion afterwards. I help to raise awareness of why we have to protect ourselves. It’s hard to recruit people to become peer educators because we are volunteers. It’s not easy to persuade people to change their ways. The view from a lot of churches is very strict and centers on abstinence. The young men want to be macho.” Hervé Tchuigwa Djiya is a peer educator for the Cameroon National Planning Association for Family Welfare (CAMNAFAW)

“Chariette was my neighbor. We lived next door to each other. She often organized group information sessions in the neighbourhood to talk about sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and early pregnancy, and unintended pregnancies as well.  When I started attending her sessions I was in a bit of unstable relationship. My life was chaotic. My boyfriend didn’t like using protection and we told each other that as we loved each other we weren’t taking any risks. Once I caught something and I was itching a lot. My boyfriend told me that I must have caught it in a public toilet. I trusted him and I didn’t realize I could catch something. When I started listening to Chariette it opened my eyes and I realized I was running big risks. As we aren’t married and we are still studying, we shouldn’t have an unintended pregnancy. What would we do? She told me about sexually transmitted infections as well. I tried to talk to my boyfriend about it but he didn’t want to hear about it, especially about using condoms. I asked for a private session with Chariette for him, and she spoke to us both and he finally understood. Today we have a much more stable sex life and we aren’t running those risks anymore. He learned how to use a condom. After attending her sessions, I was able to save a friend with Chariette’s help. This friend tried to perform an abortion herself and she was bleeding everywhere. I remembered that Chariette told me about the Cameroon National Planning Association for Family Welfare clinic, so I called her and asked how she could be admitted. She was able to receive post-abortion care but if I hadn’t known Chariette I don’t know what would have happened. I have brothers and I have helped them to change too. I’ve helped them to adopt a healthier sex life. There is HIV around and it’s scary.” Gertrude Zouakeu Noutcha, 29, is a student and peer educator for the Cameroon National Planning Association for Family Welfare (CAMNAFAW)

Indri, Youth Volunteer IPPA, Indonesia Inspiring young people like 20-year-old Indri play a crucial role in our crisis response with the Indonesian Planned Parenthood Association in Palu.“When the earthquake struck, I was one of the victims. I saw a lot of people in distress, and even a corpse. So, I immediately thought, what kind of person am I? I still have hands, have legs, I still have everything, why not help others?I realized that I have given the chance to live to help others. I know what HIV/AIDS is like. I have seen what happens regarding HIV/AIDS, I know its process. I am the same human as you. You and me, are the same. That’s why I’m a youth volunteer.” Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share via WhatsApp Share via Email Adjo, Student Togo “In the youth club, we learn how to protect ourselves. They also ask our parents to talk to us so that they can help protect us too.  When you are older and you have a  boyfriend,  you should use contraception. I want to finish my studies and have a boyfriend later.”  Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share via WhatsApp Share via Email Áine, Activist IFPA, Ireland “It was exciting to be part of a big campaign. Young people are often seen as politically apathetic, but it’s important my generation are involved in the reproductive rights movement. For me abortion is about motherhood at the end of the day. It’s about allowing us the right to be the best mothers we can be, if and only when we decide it’s right for us to be.”The 25 May 2018 brought a legislative victory for the Yes Campaign to repeal the 8th amendment legalizing abortion care. Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share via WhatsApp Share via Email Joseph, University student Botswana Joseph, 19, first came to BOFWA in 2017 when he and his boyfriend decided to start practicing safe sex. “I had put myself in risky situations so thought I should get tested for HIV,” he says. After learning he was HIV positive, Joseph tried out a few clinics to receive his treatment but found BOFWA to be the most confidential and friendly.Sitting in the clinic behind the doctor’s desk, he says, “I never have any problems coming here. I feel comfortable here. At [the government clinic] there is no privacy; most of my friends are there. Sometimes if you go there you find them suspecting something, and everyone will be knowing your status. That’s why I prefer BOFWA.” Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share via WhatsApp Share via Email Artemisa ,   Youth  activist   Albania Artemisa is in her first year as an activist at the Aulona Centre. “The Aulona Centre has high standards of friendly services for teenagers and youngsters, so you can feel safe and not prejudiced against. Confidentiality is very high here and the doctors are very qualified. In the young groups you feel like a community you can speak openly about your concerns.”   Artemisa hopes that by distributing information to women and girls, it is empowering them as well giving them an opportunity to fight for their own rights. “My greatest satisfaction as an activist is seeing them coming to the centre  for a [health] visit or for counselling, because this means that my work has paid off. Every girl and woman’s life counts.”  Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share via WhatsApp Share via Email Kader, Youth champion ABPF, Benin 26-year-old ABPF youth champion, Kader, says his first youth meeting at ABPF was a positive experience.   “They told me that there was a jam session at the event. What I liked is that it was run by young people. Everything that I know about reproductive health I learnt at the centre. A lot of young women I know got pregnant very early. I know people who have died because of unsafe abortion. We can avoid so much of it if people have the right information.”  Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share via WhatsApp Share via Email Sexual health clinic for students Amodefa, Mozambique At the Armando Emilio Guebuza secondary school in Maputo Amodefa has set up a sexual and reproductive health clinic to provide access to services including contraception. Known locally as the 'Tua Cena' project, the clinic aims to increase access to quality services and information on safe abortion, STIs and HIV, relationships. “This is better than a hospital – it’s close, it’s private, I feel comfortable,” says Aida, a student. Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share via WhatsApp Share via Email Hélène  , Youth champion ABPF, Benin 27-year-old Hélène is a youth champion with the Young People’s Action Movement. She  acts as a link between young people’s activities and the ABPF board. Hélène  has advocated for abortion rights at conferences locally and internationally.   “In my school there were a fair  number of pregnant girls so I was already looking for a way to help. Every week I went to different classes to educate them about abortion and stigma. When my mother found out, she told me this was a movement of depravity! But after a while my mum became a member of the association and came with me, and even my dad. Now they say they are proud of what I’ve achieved.” Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share via WhatsApp Share via Email Milan, Student & volunteer FPAN, Nepal “After I was diagnosed as HIV positive, slowly all the people in the area found out about my status and there was so much discrimination. My friends at school didn’t want to sit with me and they humiliated and bullied me,” says Milan. Today, twenty-one-year-old Milan lives a busy and fulfilling life, juggling his university studies, his work as a community home-based care mobilizer for FPAN and a burgeoning music career. Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share via WhatsApp Share via Email Youth volunteers FHOK, Kenya Family Health Options Kenya’s youth volunteers run storytelling sessions within their local community. These open and informative sessions provide a safe space where young people are free to share their experiences and ask questions related to their sexual health and wellbeing. Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share via WhatsApp Share via Email Rachel, Student & volunteer UK Rachel, 21, a student, has seen the consequences of this at university: “I’ve been struck by the number of friends who knew nothing about contraception or consent. Some of my friends had been sexually assaulted at university but didn’t report it as they didn’t think they would be believed. People just don’t understand the concept of consent. It’s not just about saying ‘no’, consent is an enthusiastic ‘yes’.” Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share via WhatsApp Share via Email Activists Argentina Youth activists attending part in the rallies outside the Argentine Senate on August 8, 2018, when they debated then voted on a bill to legalize abortion.Across the globe thousands of youth activists continue to fight for the right to a free reproductive life so that women, couples and families can lead safe and dignified lives. Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share via WhatsApp Share via Email

“I saw this challenge when children are having children and they're having a number of children at a very young age,” says 37-year-old Matiisetso Sefako, after emerging from the Lesotho Planned Parenthood Association (LPPA) tent in Mokhethoaneng village, an hour drive from the capital Maseru. “For them to be engaged in family planning, it would really help them.” The mother of two lives just outside the village and says she’s become something of a community activist on the issue of early child marriage and the need for family planning. After she receives services, she lingers for an hour, speaking with young women and teenage girls who are looking over at the LPPA mobile clinic with interest.    She herself was a 19-year-old mother and has been using contraceptives for nearly 20 years. Then, it was harder to come by and she would often have to travel at her own cost. Now, she comes regularly when LPPA makes the monthly visit to her village.  And she’s done quite a lot on this to advise people to try and convince them to come and access such services, she says.  “The only problem I encounter is that the biggest challenge within the village is that there is a high rate of teenage pregnancy. I try to convince them this tent will help.”  This is her fourth visit to the LPPA outreach to receive services herself. Her only wish? “That these services be here every day,” she says, explaining that there is a deeply-felt need in her community and her hope is that she can refer more young women to follow up and receive the same monthly services she benefits from.  

When Raphel Marafan Kori’s husband died in 2001, she was left to fend for herself, in a largely patriarchal society. Now 45-years-old, she keeps busy and earns an income as a peer educator in Tsenekeng village in Lesotho’s Semonkong region.  She goes door to door to counsel her neighbors and residents of the village in family planning options available. She’s been doing it for nine months and visibly brightens when she starts talking about the work. "I introduce myself, after that I explain to the people the services that we provide, the importance of the choices that we can make about contraceptives."  She was appointed by the village chief, Makholu Mahao, to participate in a training provided by LPPA in the capital, Maseru and soon after, dove into her fieldwork. Some people immediately understand and welcome the offerings, she says, while others take some time.  Protection & permission  Now nine months into the work, she says the biggest issue facing her community is “that adolescents still need consent from the parents. And the parents seem to have a problem with that because in a way, [they think] it is allowing them, giving them the freedom to indulge in sex.”  “Another way I can explain [is to] mention  HIV testing here and to remind [parents] it's not only they're getting protection but also for them to help them plan for future."   Going door to door Occasionally she’ll hold community gatherings, but mostly she has these conversations door to door. “I’m working very hard to make sure the children also engage in this for the future. It’s a challenge,” she admits. She herself comes to the mobile outreach post for family planning services, something she says helps break the ice when she is out in the community talking about family planning. She tells them she uses the pill because she is allergic to the injectable option offered here.  “I get to talk to people because I can counsel them on HIV and AIDS daily to make them understand that just because you have HIV it's not the end of the world but you need to take your medication properly and life continues,” she explains proudly, sitting a few meters away from the She Decides tent with a line of women outside. Overall, she says she has benefitted as much from her work as the beneficiaries. “I engage with people. I also learned a lot, it educated me especially on the protection side because even myself before I was not aware of such information but now I've learned and I can give other people this information.” 

“I was 18 when I married. But back then that was old!” 76-year-old Makholu Mahao laughs as she goes on to list her nine children – 4 boys, 5 girls including twins.  “At the time that I was married, if I knew about contraceptives, I wouldn’t have had so many children,” she insists.  Her tone becomes forceful and serious when she shifts to subjects like teenage pregnancy and childhood marriage, both ills that are prevalent in her village in the Semonkong region, known as Tsenekeng Hamojalefa.  The village sits atop a rocky hillside, most easily accessible by horse or donkey, and 114 kilometres from the capital, Maseru. She is the village chief now, a post she took up when her husband, the former chief, died.  And to her, “the big challenges are teenage pregnancy and early marriage. We’re seeing the difficulty in labor, children dying in labor, and young mothers dying in early labor. Those are the main things I need assistance with,” she explains to staff from Lesotho Planned Parenthood Association (LLPA), on a field visit to LPPA’s mobile clinic down the hill from Makholu’s home.  More than family planning “How can we stop this problem,” she asks her visitors.  Underage girls “marry at a young age, they don’t know what marriage is. They bear children and bear children and have problems, like death or infant death,” she reiterates. And it’s not just family planning that benefits the residents of her village. 16 villages ring the hillsides around the mobile outreach post, set up today to offer family planning, counseling, and HIV testing.  Before the arrival of LPPA on a monthly basis, “we were not receiving any other services other than the two clinics,” she explains, describing clinics approximately 40 km from her village. She adds, “We would leave early in the morning to get there at 9 or 10 to get the services. It was very congested so we would leave and get back here without getting any services.” Encouraging young people When it comes to combatting stigma in a patriarchal society, this great grandmother says some couples do go together for services or at least are in agreement about pursuing services. Still, “men cannot go with the women,” she explains. Throughout the day, men and women gather in separate groups outside the LPPA tents to receive consultations separately.  She sends a strong message by giving her OK for underage single women to seek family planning services. “It is acceptable that [minors] can get it [services], single or not,” she says. “At the end of the day, it’s protection for early pregnancy. The elderly – like me – don’t usually agree with that. But the [minors] will go on their own, however they can. I support that.”