Most adults tend to think that not much has changed since they became sexually active. Believe us, it has! This is why we believe youth should be involved in the development of national and international policies on sexual and reproductive health and rights. In this way young people help policies becoming more effective.
Our International Capacity Building program aims at supporting youth-led organizations in the field of SRHR to become sustainable and independent, particularly in Africa and Asia. We started the program in 2006. So far, we have worked together with youth organizations in Malawi, Nepal, Pakistan, South Africa, Indonesia, Kenya, and Vietnam.
The program roughly consists of four steps that we jointly implement with a partner organization:
Basic training on advocacy and youth participation in the field of SRHR;
Follow-up training: organizational development and more in-depth knowledge on SRHR issues, depending on the need of the participants;
High level event (HLE), organized by the participants themselves, supported by CHOICE;
The trained group submits a project proposal on SRHR to CHOICE for a maximum amount of €10.000.
After finishing the program, we keep providing the partner with technical support and we join together in activities, such as advocating on United Nations events.
In 2011, we have renewed our program. Our new program is more flexible and there is more communication with partners between steps of the program.
In 2013 and 2014, two youth organizations from Ethiopia and India will be selected as new CHOICE partners. We trust that our strategy of building up new youth led organizations and, after some years, releasing ties as the organizations are established and are functioning independently will continue in the following years.
The new program also calls for more collaboration with Dutch and other local NGOs. In this program we work together with four organizations from the Netherlands: AMREF, Dance4life, Rutgers WPF and Simavi. Together we are able to provide our partners access to a combination of education, services, training and advocacy, research and management support.
The International Capacity Building program will primarily be supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs until 2015. CHOICE is the only youth-led organization that receives MFS funding from the ministry.
