Holidays free of unwanted pregnancy and abortion campaign

As one of the pre-International Day of the African Child activities in Bali Subdivision, Common Action for Gender Development team train Sexual Health Educators (peer educators) who, in turn would hold sessions with young people in communities (quarters) and equip them with skills that help them to overcome sexual health challenges especially unwanted pregnancy and abortion. The training was held from May 23rd and 24th 2016 at COMAGEND head office, Bali Subdivision.

The objectives of the training were:

• To provide an opportunity for sharing and interacting with the club girls and trainers as a way of sharing experiences and learning from the COMAGEND model of Sexual Health Education


• To equip the girls with knowledge and skills on how to effectively communicate to young people in the community in order to address the issue of unwanted pregnancy and abortion.


• To provide girls with basic information/facts about human sexuality: human reproduction, anatomy, psychology, sexual orientation, STIs/unwanted pregnancy and abortion..

Forty three girls attended the training. They were from the three schools we have been working with: G.B.H.S Bali, G.B.H.S Bawock and D.C.H.S Bali. These participants came from different quarters within the Subdivision. The participants were children between the ages of 11 to 18 years.

The training was facilitated by a COMAGEND team made up of; Ms. Budji Kefen Ivoline, Ms Helvecia Takwe (coordinator of WVED), Ms Maishu Doris, Ms Sally Mboumien Ms. Marie-clare Ojong and Ms. Ngum Raissa facilitated at the training.

The 2 days training covered a number of topics including:

Overview and objectives Youth and sexuality Gender and sex Unwanted pregnancy and abortion Use of contraceptives Entrepreneurship: Venture creation NICT and sexual health education Decision making among adolescents Self-esteem and confidence building Life skills Child abuse, protection and safeguarding

The training was interactive and participants were taught how to give useful information to young people in their communities without conflicting with the people’s beliefs. During the training, participants were guided on how to come up with activities as they would be required to conduct sessions in selected quarters. Challenges of healthy sexual life were identified and these included the following;

The community was largely affected by poverty and parental neglect Many parents were being compromised by lack of knowledge on SRH and customs Gradual poverty was a big contributory factor of; high school drop-outs, parental neglect, and unwanted pregnancies.

Participants agreed on the following way forward and recommendations.

1. After the training, the 43 peer educators were going to carry out sensitizations within the quarters where they would conduct sessions.


2. COMAGEND was going to facilitate the peer educators with some modest transport depending on the distance to enable them conduct sessions. This would be in addition to some materials needed for training like posters, markers, paper, COMAGEND staff etc.


3. COMAGEND was going to make consent forms for parents to sign so that the girls can be given time to conduct sessions during the holidays.


4. There is need for more time for the training. This is because some of the topics need more time to exhaust all the questions which are likely to be asked.


5. There is need for more people to be brought on board i.e. parents, local leaders, communities, religious leaders, etc especially on the use of NICT to manage young people’s sexuality


6. The COMAGEND team should consider holding such trainings more often since there are always emerging issues which they might not know about.

CONCLUSION

The peer educators were allocated quarters where they would conduct sessions during the two weeks (30th May to 12th June) outreach progam to intensify the holiday free of unwanted pregnancy and abortion campaign. These were allocated according to the distances from where the peer educators live. The closing ceremony was marked by the distribution of gifts to the participants.