All young people have the right to a healthy sexual life. To make this happen, it is vital that young people stand up for their rights. CHOICE not only practices youth-led advocacy itself but also seeks to strengthen and support the capacities of young people worldwide in order to engage successfully in advocacy on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR). In addition to young people, CHOICE also provides capacity strengthening for our adult partners and stakeholders on how to stimulate and ensure meaningful youth participation, youth-led advocacy, young people’s SRHR, and productive youth-adult partnerships.

Capacity is defined here as having the knowledge, skills, and ability to effectively and sustainably (1) meaningfully and inclusively participate in decision-making processes in regards to the design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation of relevant programs, policies and legislation, (2) conduct advocacy for SRHR on the local, national, regional, and international level, and (3) successfully share this capacity with other youth people across the world. Importantly, capacity strengthening for CHOICE is a two-way street – we aim to learn as much from our young peers and partners as they do from us! Mutual capacity strengthening is also used as a term to illustrate this vision. 

CHOICE employs several capacity strengthening strategies: developing and facilitating trainings on key topics, developing youth-friendly resources and tools, learning-by-doing, mentoring, linking and learning, and the take-two principle.