Madeline (00:01): Hello and welcome to SHE SOARS. Her Voice. Her Rights.

Amal (00:05): We are CARE Canada’s Youth Champions, a group of young people across Canada who are passionate advocates for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR).

Lauren (00:13): We’re excited to discuss and raise awareness about young women’s rights and choices in Kenya, Uganda and Zambia.

Amal (00:20): Together, we will explore how these global issues connect to our lives as Canadian youth and discover ways in which we can all take action.

Lauren (00:27): We will also talk about the SHE SOARS* project, which improves access to health and education, which are areas we want to see change in.

Everyone (00:34): Join us!

Lauren (00:41): Welcome back. We are continuing our conversation with Sithembile today. She is currently a Senior Program coordinator at Restless Development, which is a global partner organization at the SHE SOARS project. She’s joining us from Zambia. In our last conversation, just a brief recap, we talked about the different sexual education policies and practices within Zambia as well as Sithembile’s background.

Madeline (01:07): Yeah. So to start us off, can you tell us a bit about what the SHE SOARS project has been doing with regards to sex education in Zambia, as well as if you can speak a little bit to Kenya and Uganda as well?

Sithembile (01:22): So the SHE SOARS project, to start with, SHE SOARS stands for Sexual and reproductive Health and Economic empowerment, Supporting Out-of-school Adolescent girls’ Rights and Skills. That’s SHE SOARS. SHE SOARS is being implemented in Zambia, Uganda and Kenya. We are working with communities, targeting out-of-school adolescent girls, but not forgetting the boys. The SHE SOARS project was designed to ensure that no one is left behind. We are working with young people that are out of school from different communities, and these are rural communities in Chadiza, Mambwe and Kasenengwa for Zambia. But then you find that young people in these particular areas, especially those that are young mothers and those that are married, do not associate themselves with adolescent programs that are designed at the health facility level, at the school level. So they miss out on a lot of things and some of them got pregnant or they got married due to pressure such as child marriages around the areas where they stay.

Sithembile (02:26): They didn’t have access to services and some of them may have been abused. Speaking for Zambia, every year Eastern Province records the highest numbers of teenage pregnancies and you find that these are high in rural communities compared to urban communities. So at the SHE SOARS project, we’ve formed girls’ groups and then we’ve also formed what we call role model boys’ groups. So these groups are being facilitated by young people that we’ve trained and capacity built to deliver Sexual and Reproductive Health programming, economic component, and also issues around rights. We call them Young Connectors in Zambia. Then our colleagues in Kenya and Uganda, they call them Peer Educators. These are the young people that have gone into the communities and identified young people that are out of school. So we have groups specifically for young mothers just to make them feel comfortable among their fellow peers.

Sithembile (03:30): We have also formed groups specifically for other young girls that have dropped out of school due to various reasons. And then the parents are also key in ensuring that these young people attend these particular sessions that we have on a daily basis. So in the communities where the girls groups are running, we get consent from the parents. We actually inform the traditional leaders in the communities to ensure that there is acceptability of this particular project. Then also we make sure that the girls themselves have the ability to choose when and how they want the meetings to run. So they choose the area where the meetings should be held and most of them choose within their communities. They don’t have to walk long distances to access this information or for them to participate in the girls’ groups. One of the interesting groups that we have in Mambwe, for example, we have about 25 adolescent mothers.

Sithembile (04:24): So they meet once every week. Some of them have missed out on that stage of childhood. So what we’ve done at SHE SOARS is we’ve made it fun. Before any sessions start, they start by playing. So we have different local games that young people play. After that particular game, they go into a session and our sessions, using the girls’ curriculum for the girls and the role model boys curriculum, are designed in such a way that they’re participatory. Girls, we want to ensure that they have spaces where they can meet and talk about Sexual and Reproductive Health. They can also challenge the gender and social norms. And then we also have the groups of boys who we want to build capacity for them to be role models in their communities. So what is so interesting is that these particular groups are actually formed and facilitated by young people.

Sithembile (05:23): Restless Development and the partners under SHE SOARS, we want to see youth-led change, youth-led development, and this is why the fellow young people are leading this change at the community level. So in terms of how does the curriculum look? So this curriculum has a number of modules which talk about different issues. So for example, we are looking at being assertive is one of the modules that is in the girls’ curriculum. How do they learn how to communicate? If they’re saying it’s a no, it should be a no. So we also have a topic called ‘Power to Change My Future.’ Sometimes the community members or the young people, especially male or male adults, would take advantage of the girls because they’re perceived as people with low power in their societies. The project wants to ensure that young people have the appropriate information. So it kind of asks them to reflect, okay, how do I view power as a young person?

Sithembile (06:29): How as a female? How do I exercise power as a male? And then they have these conversations. So we also have a topic called ‘Knowing My Body.’ They’ll talk about puberty, the menstrual cycle and the reproductive system. We’ll talk about teenage pregnancies and contraception, prevention of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), cervical cancer and prevention. Then there’s a component which looks at rights, understanding sexual rights, sexuality, and then talking about issues of consent. How does consent look like? We’ve actually been informed by some of the young people to say that sometimes other young people fell prey or victims or survivors because they did not consent to certain actions that other people did to them. But they could not take a step further to seek justice because they were not aware of how to start seeking justice. Then we’re teaching them to say, if you have not consented, then this is an injustice on you.

Sithembile (07:32): So SHE SOARS is addressing all these issues under the curriculum that we’ve developed. Then we also talk about Gender-Based Violence. That is very common in most communities and people do not want to speak about it. So we are addressing this to ensure that young people can identify to say, this is Gender-Based Violence and it’s not supposed to be tolerated, and where do I go to seek help?  We are also addressing these issues at different levels that are found in the girls’ curriculum. We also have a boys’ curriculum, ages 10 to 14, and then we have a curriculum for boys aged 15 to 19. We also have a curriculum for girls aged 10 to 14 and 15 to 19. So these were separated because as the young people got to a different age, the information has to also increase because you find that the needs are different.

Sithembile (08:26): And then we’ve noticed that young people want to actually have sessions together. So there are certain topics that we say, okay, boys and girls can have these sessions together jointly. But then we also have specific sessions just for girls and specific sessions just for boys. So for boys, their curriculum also addresses issues of how do they take responsibility for pregnancies that they made, that the boys and girls agreed to meet. And then there are times where parents have also just said, okay, we’re interested. We want to participate in one or two sessions. So there are certain facilitators who would allow the parents to participate in the sessions just for them to get an understanding of what their children are learning. And this is kind of working for us because we’re getting support as a project from different stakeholders and the parents have been encouraging them to attend the regular sessions. This is what the SHE SOARS project is doing when it comes to Sexual and Reproductive Health information, which encompasses sex education.

Amal (09:25): Thank you so much for explaining about the project and specifically comparing the curriculums between teaching girls and teaching boys. Beyond the boys’ and girls’ groups, could you maybe explain the role of social norms and how parents and communities are involved in sex education?

Sithembile (09:41): So apart from the girls’ and boys’ groups, we are using also social norm transformative activities. How do they reflect on their lives and transform some of the norms that put young people, young girls, at risk of Sexual and Reproductive Health issues and risks that make them vulnerable to a point that they cannot make their own decisions? So, we are actually addressing those social norms through the activities that the SHE SOARS project has designed. We are also having what we call Youth Savings and Loans Associations. So we’ve realized that a number of young people have fallen prey to sexual abuse because of their vulnerability economic wise. So at SHE SOARS, they form a group where they save money and then they loan each other. So we have community facilitators and then we also have what we call Social Analysis and Action.

Sithembile (10:36): This is one of the approaches the SHE SOARS project will use to ensure that there’s community reflection on different gender and social norms. So these are interactive activities and it involves the whole community. We are using participatory tools for learning. For example, there are statements that are read in relation to the social norms and gender norms that the community has. And then the community votes; they choose where they feel this is right. There are all these myths or maybe some misconceptions to say when a girl has certain behavior, they’re labeled as prostitutes or sex workers, something like that. And these are some of the gender and social norms that we as a project are trying to address through some of these approaches. So this is community-led; they reflect and they decide to say, okay, I think this is something that we can address in such a way.

Sithembile (11:30): And then we do an action plan. So at SHE SOARS, we are also working with the parents and we’re ensuring that we hold intergenerational dialogues where we have young people, parents and guardians come together and discuss Sexual and Reproductive Health issues. In the Zambian setting, it’s not something that is acceptable for a parent to have conversations with their child about sex. It’s something that is labeled as a taboo. And this particular activity, the intergenerational dialogues that we’ll be having under SHE SOARS, are going to challenge that and ensure that parents understand that it’s also their role to guide their children or to communicate with their children in relation to sex education. Because if the parents are not going to give them information, if they’re not going to get this information at the health facility or at school, they’ll get from their friends. And most of the information their friends have is not correct, or maybe some of it is not correct. It’s not appropriate for their age. So they also get information from the media, which may not be accurate, and it may put them at risk.

Amal (12:38): I really liked the component you talked about, the intergenerational conversations that you guys are having through the project. We wanted to ask, what do you think is the most important part of this curriculum?

Sithembile (12:55): The most important part of this curriculum is that it does not just talk about don’t do this, don’t do that. It’s a curriculum that uses participatory learning approaches where the young people themselves participate in an activity for them to understand the particular topic. I’ll give an example of a session in the boys’ curriculum where the boys are learning about gender. So this particular session asks the boys to be doing household chores. So we kind of provoke them to think, okay, this is what girls go through, or what can we do? How did you feel when you were doing these chore on your own? And then they start talking about it. It provokes the young people to kind of briefly leave some of the issues that they face in their communities for them to get to understand how they need to be, how they can change, and how they can look at things differently and understand the Sexual and Reproductive Health issues that are affecting them.

Sithembile (13:58): And how do they take an action? How do they take a step further? So the boys’ and girls’ curriculums that we have under SHE SOARS, they’re unique because they’re designed in such a way that the activities are participatory. So we would use games to facilitate a session to help the young people understand. Young people also come to participate because they’re excited to say, okay, today we’re going to do a game. Today, we’re going to do this. So this keeps them coming regularly to attend the sessions. And what is so interesting also, especially for the young mothers, you find that when we’re talking about the power to change my future, we emphasize to say, okay, you are a young girl. You’re a young mother but still you have the power to change your future. There’s certain things that you can do.

Sithembile (14:47): You can make certain decisions to make sure that your future is tailored in a way that you feel will be okay for you. You can still dream big. And we’ve seen a number of young people that are showing interest to go back to school. There’s this fund under the ministry of local government in Zambia and this fund provides scholarships for girls who want to return back to school. So as a project, we are collaborating with the local government to come and educate the girls and the boys to say, if you want to go back to school, you can access this fund and this is the procedure. So we want the ministry of local government to also come in and educate the young people to say, there’s this service, you can access this for you to actually improve your livelihood. So this is a collaboration that we’re doing across the three districts.

Sithembile (15:35): This is something that is happening in Zambia. So we are also linking the groups to other service providers that can not only just provide health services, but they can provide services that young people need economically for them to actually be able to invest in bigger things. So we’re going beyond just providing information, we’re creating linkages. Then we’re also talking about how do the young people actually participate in leadership structures. They’re participating in different sectors at the community level. So the project is working also with the service providers, ensuring that the programs or the services that are provided are youth-friendly, they’re inclusive, and they’re non-discriminatory against young people. We want to ensure that everyone else is able to respond effectively in a way that is accommodating the young people. So these are some of the things that we are doing as a project.

Sithembile (16:32): Then we also have a component where advocacy issues are being taken into account. We did the youth-led research. So the young people in the three countries led this research. They actually did this research. Some of the findings were that when a young person goes to seek a service, for example, they want contraceptives, the healthcare providers would ask for consent because that’s the system. When a child goes to access certain services, they need to seek consent from a parent. We’re trying to say, how can they work together to ensure that young people are free to go to a health facility without seeking consent from their parent to seek certain basic services around Sexual and Reproductive Health? And they’re scared to say, okay, maybe when I go to the health facility with an STI or with a pregnancy, they’re going to tell my parents, maybe because the service providers are people that they live with and some of them know their relatives and so on. So the project is trying to ensure that we have activities that ensure that they respond to the needs of young people in the communities.

Madeline (17:33): Thank you so much for all that insight. It’s really interesting to get a clearer picture of the actual activities that are going on with regards to sex education as part of the SHE SOARS project. Just before we wrap up, are there any final messages you’d like to share about the general importance of sex ed for young people in those countries, in Kenya, Uganda and Zambia?

Sithembile (17:59): Yes. One thing you should understand is that Zambia and these other countries, we have very strong cultures. And sometimes because of how rooted we are in terms of culture and traditions, sometimes young people are disadvantaged. Sometimes young people do not come out in the open to be able to speak out, to be able to access services, to be able to dream outside their village, outside their households. It also would hinder them to access different services that young people need for them to live a happy and healthy life. So in terms of sex education, for me, I feel this is important at all levels of a child’s life. It is important that young people get sex education at a tender age. They need to understand their bodies. They need to understand that they still can give consent and say, I don’t want this.

Sithembile (18:58): And then if it’s something that persists, they should know to say they can seek help when need be. And where do they seek help? So we are trying by all means as a project to ensure that young people know that, okay, I’m sexually active. I can protect myself. I can access services at a health facility without being discriminated. So I feel sex education is very important in a child’s life at all stages because they face different issues as young people grow. So it is important for them to understand that they have rights. Young people can make decisions. Young people can actually communicate effectively. Young people can have aspirations. Young people can live happy and healthy lives and they can dream big as they grow.

Amal (19:47): Thank you so much for joining us today, Sithembile, and explaining a bit about the curriculum in Zambia and all the work that the SHE SOARS project is working on.

Sithembile (19:59): Thank you.

Lauren (20:00): And as a follow up to this conversation, in our next segment, we’ll be having a discussion with a Canadian sex ed provider/advocate to discuss the Canadian youth sex ed experience and what our curriculums look like.

Madeline (20:13): Yeah. So make sure to tune in for that. And thanks so much everyone for listening. We’ll see you next time. Bye.

Sithembile (20:19): Bye and thank you for having me here.

Amal (20:22): Bye. Thank you.

Amal (20:24): Thanks for listening to SHE SOARS. If you liked this episode, please share it on social media, connect with us in the comments or give us a like.

Lauren (20:32): Make sure to catch our next episode by subscribing to our channel and following us wherever you get your podcasts.

Madeline (20:38): Follow @carecanada on Instagram for updates on our show and the project.

Lauren (20:44): SHE SOARS stands for Sexual and reproductive Health and Economic empowerment supporting Out-of-school Adolescent girls’ Rights and Skills in Kenya, Uganda and Zambia.

Madeline (20:54): The project is funded by Global Affairs Canada. Check out our global partner organizations:

Amal (21:00): Youth Coalition for Sexual and Reproductive Rights, the Center for Reproductive Rights and Restless Development for even more project updates.

Lauren (21:07): Thanks again for listening. Until next time!