Central Province, Zambia - In a classroom filled with eager young learners, a teacher dutifully writes on the chalkboard in preparation for her lesson on pregnancy as part of the science curriculum which is taught at Kapiri Mposhia primary school in Central Province.
“If you look at this,” the teacher prompts as she points at the term ‘pregnancy’ which is scrawled on the chalkboard. “Which subject are we talking about here?”
“Science!” The students chorus excitedly.
During a two-day field visit to Zambia, the UNFPA Safeguard Young People programme (SYP), alongside our partners the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands (EKN), had the opportunity to engage with the dedicated teachers, principals, healthcare workers, peer educators and district officials who have implemented SYP in their districts.
“The SYP programme has provided a conducive environment for young people to access information and youth friendly health services through a combination of education and health care. This is one of the unique strengths of the programme,” Dr. Alexander Kawimbe, the Central Province Acting Provincial Health Director expressed with enthusiasm about the integrated intervention from both the health and education sector to ensure that young people are effectively reached with information and services.
At the heart of this visit were the teenage girls and boys who participate in the age appropriate comprehensive sexuality education classes and after school clubs and who access the youth friendly sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) services at the local health facilities. They are equipped with timely information and skills to make knowledgeable choices about their body and their future. The schools and the health facilities work hand in hand to ensure the health and well-being of the adolescents and young people. A referral system between the schools and the health facilities has been established, making sure that all the SRHR related needs of the young people are met.
“The field visit provided an overall positive impression of the SYP programme implementation in Zambia. There is evidence of increase in knowledge and skills such as assertiveness among the young people.” – Lawrence Lewis, Senior Regional Programme Officer HIV/AIDS & Gender Focal Point, SDC.
In 2021, through SYP, the CONDOMIZE! and YoungSmartFree campaigns distributed 582,350 condoms and reached 228,795 young people with SRHR information in Zambia. Over the last 9 years, with committed funding from SDC and EKN, the SYP programme has made enormous strides to empower adolescents and youth in Zambia and across 7 other countries Southern Africa. With the recent expansion to Angola, Mozambique, Tanzania and Rwanda, UNFPA is able to fulfill the vision of an East and Southern Africa free from STIs including HIV, teen pregnancies, child marriages and sexual violence.
