Some youths drawn from districts of Dowa, Mzimba and Mwanza have been trained to take a lead in demanding change on matters of Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) and to be able to track funds that go towards health budget.
A consortium of three youth led organisations namely Phalombe Youth Arms Organisation, Youth for All and Youth Initiative for Community Development organized the two-day training held at Thope Hotel in Mponela.
In her remarks, Dowa district youth officer Monica Newa Banda said she is expecting those trained to mentor their friends so that they should help in promoting good service delivery of SRH.
“This is very important training, many youths in Dowa do not know their SRH rights, I know after this the gap will be filled, and on the health budget tracking, this is very commendable, I urge these youths to utilise these skills,” she said.
On his part, one of the team leaders, Andrew Bwanali, said there is need for the youths to be vibrant and vocal if their concerns are to be heard by local authorities hence the training was organised.
“We would like to build capacity in the youths so that they should be able to track how resources are used or make an influence that certain resources be allocated towards SRH,” said Bwanali.
Speaking in an interview after the training, Rehema Patricks, a youth leader from Mzuzu said they now have good skills on how to approach certain areas when lobbying for a change on matters of SRH in their respective districts.
“As young persons in our communities it gives us impact and knowledge on how to approach areas of advocacy. For instance, we will be able to track allocations in the national budget to do with health services for the youths.
“We will also be able to track how funds are being utilized in our different local district councils so that every tambala do its work,” she said.
The consortium is implementing a one year project entitled Advancing SRHR services among young people in Malawi with funding from PAI at the tune about Mk25 million.
