.png?sfvrsn=6d0e27cd_1 "Partnership for Change - v7 (1)")
This month, in honour of International Youth Day on 12 August and World Humanitarian Day on 19 August, I’m proud to spotlight DESERVE, a member of the PMNCH Adolescents & Youth Constituency and a youth-led Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) advocacy organization operating in Cameroon, including in crisis settings.
As PMNCH mobilizes to protect SRHR in the wake of the Roe v Wade ruling, one thing is clear: The importance of guaranteeing women’s and girls’ health and rights cannot be taken for granted nor overstated. DESERVE is committed to bridging the gap between policy formulation and the implementation of sexuality education in Cameroon, a sub-Saharan country with about 33% of its population constituting young people between 10 and 24 years (WHO, 2019). Moreover, sexuality education in Cameroon, where according to UNFPA, 42% of the population is less than 15 years old, remains a major shame-based topic, which deprives adolescents of the much-needed knowledge to support their health and well-being.
I applaud DESERVE’s comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) program which focuses on raising awareness and facilitating the teaching of sound, age-appropriate sexuality education to adolescents in both in-school and out-of-school settings. DESERVE, a 15-member network founded in 2015, works with grassroots partners on the development of resources and collaborates with partners to effectively link global commitments and local actions.
Cameroon is faced with a terrorist insurgency and a socio-political crisis, compounding problems affecting the youth, including increased gender-based violence. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated these challenges. In fragile and conflict settings, DESERVE reaches adolescents and young people by leveraging digital technologies and radio to engage the under-served communities and provide an age-appropriate, sexuality education manual for teaching CSE.
Years of serving communities have taught DESERVE that meaningful adolescent and youth engagement is essential to address young people’s and adolescents’ health and well-being – the core principle of the Global Statement on Meaningful Adolescent and Youth Engagement (MAYE), initiated in 2019 by PMNCH and partners.
I am proud to recognize the important contributions of DESERVE to PMNCH including in the roll-out of the Advocating for Change for Adolescents Toolkit in Cameroon. Founder Desmond Nji has played a leading role in the development of the PMNCH Adolescent and Youth Constituency, and now as a member of our NGO constituency. He is the current Secretary of the PMNCH Strategic Advocacy committee, and a former co-chair of the Advocacy Working Group (AWG) of PMNCH, contributing to co-designing and co-leading the PMNCH Call to Action on COVID-19, launched in 2020.