Meaningful Adolescent and Youth Engagement and Partnership in Sexual and Reproductive Health Programming: A Strategic Planning Guide

"Youth can best share what is needed for them."

It has been argued that meaningful adolescent and youth engagement and partnership is a right for adolescents and youth and can improve the quality and responsiveness of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) programmes and policies, in turn leading to improved development outcomes. This guide is intended to lead programme managers, planners, and decision makers through a strategic process to meaningfully and effectively engage and partner with adolescents, youth, and/or youth-led organisations on SRH programmes and initiatives.

Guided by the High-Impact Practices in Family Planning (HIPs) Partnership, the resource was co-developed by a youth-led organisation and is informed by five regional consultations (in different languages) with adolescents and youth as well as donors and non-youth who work in the field of SRH. The guide also draws on an evidence review of meaningful adolescent and youth engagement strategies.

The guide's contents are organised according to these steps:

1. Prepare your institution, project, or initiative to meaningfully engage and partner with youth.
2. Determine which youth to engage and the mechanisms of engagement and partnership.
3. Implement the engagement and partnership with youth.
4. Monitor, measure, and be accountable.
5. Sustain youth engagement and partnership.

The guide features various tips and examples, as well as the following list of practices and policies that may facilitate meaningful adolescent and youth engagement and partnership:

• Update institutional and individual values to recognise diverse youth as experts rather than beneficiaries for services and interventions.
• Implement safeguarding policies, particularly for vulnerable youth, to protect young peole from harassment, exploitation, and abuse and to enable a safe engagement and partnership.
• Recruit and support youth in management and leadership positions - e.g., by offering paid internships and fellowships or ensuring youth representation on boards.
• Cultivate a safe environment to allow for youth to express themselves comfortably and openly by, for example, limiting use of technical language and jargon.
• Implement policies, systems, and processes that facilitate youth engagement, such as payment systems that allow frequent disbursements to ensure that youth are compensated for their contribution, provision of equipment needed for engagement (e.g., laptops, cellphones, airtime), and flexible working hours.
• Develop or revise government requirements and processes for youth-led organisations, especially those that have financial implications.
• Develop and use fast and flexible funding mechanisms for youth-led organizations, and minimise reporting requirements.

The guide concludes with links to additional resources.

Editor's note: On September 15 2022, the HIP team held a webinar in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)'s MOMENTUM Country and Global Leadership that provides an in-depth overview of the guide and a view from one country context: Ghana. Click on the video below to watch the webinar and/or click here for a PDF document of the webinar slides.