‘We are young, empowered and ready to impart change!’

Meet our 20 vibrant Youth Advocacy Change Champions! from Kyegegwa District.
They are a group of dedicated young people from the Kyaka II refugee settlement and the surrounding host communities of Kyegegwa district, who are working closely with the district of Kyegegwa to advocate for a supportive social, legal and policy environment that promotes access to comprehensive SRHR services and protects gender equality and the rights young people and more so girls.
These Youth Advocacy Change Champions will also foster change as role models that can inspire other young people.

In July 2019, the change champions were engaged in an advocacy and leadership camp, where they underwent advocacy training and were equipped with knowledge and skills in the areas of sexual reproductive health and rights, sexual gender-based violence, advocacy, and leadership.
The leadership camp was a fun and participatory one. It involved presentation and participatory sessions delivered by trained facilitators from implementing partners in the settlement, where they will be mainly serving as a center of focus. Additionally, they were trained in research and they will be undertaking youth-led local research to generate evidence for their advocacy. Read more

Engage Youth and adolescents in the Formulation of Policies that Affect their Health Rights

“We need young people to actively participate in process of drafting policies, and be engaged in fighting for their Sexual Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR), Investing more in adolescents is a public health benefit,” says Dr. Moses Muwonge, SRHR consultant on ADH Policy on Wednesday 17^th of July 2019.

He was speaking at a meeting that convened over 30 representatives working to advance Young People's Sexual, Reproductive Health and Rights. The partners were representing Right Here Right Now Uganda Platform (RHRN), Uganda Family Planning Consortium (UFPCA), AfriYAN Uganda and the Uganda CSO Coalition on Ending Unsafe Abortion.

The meeting organised by UYAHF in partnership with RHRN uganda Platform was aimed at updating CSO partners status of the review process of the Adolescent Health Policy –ADH and to enable them to agree on the next key action to exert pressure on the health ministry to finalise the completion of the policy Read more

Linking our Youth Advocacy Change Champions with the 'CHanGE'- Makers

Bill Clinton, one of the renowned philanthropists the world has ever had once said, “The price of doing the same old thing is far higher than the price of change.” Trust UYAHF in doing things differently, and this time, with three Belgian CHanGE-makers from the (campaign for sexual Health and Gender Equality). The trio; Linde Wyns, Johannes Cools and Michelle Geerardyn. Joined the team (UYAHF) for a field trip in Kyaka II refugee settlement camp Kyegwgwa District.

Their main goal was to interact, share, learn, dialogue and witness the work done by the newly recruited 20 Youth advocacy Change Champions who are on the ground advocating and taking action to end teenage pregnancies, child marriages among other sexual and reproductive health issues and concerns that are affecting the quality of life of young people in Kyegegwa. Read more

Our Team Leader was present at the 2019 High-Level Political Forum on SDGs in New York.

Our team leader and founder- Mr. Patrick Mwesigye was part of the 2019 high-level political forum under the auspices of ECOSOC that took place in New York from. This was on 9–18 July 2019 and the event was unified under the theme, “Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality”.

It reviewed: Goal 4: Quality Education, Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth, Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities, Goal 13: Climate Action, Goal 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions, Goal 17: Partnerships for the Goals.

This year, 51 States submitted their Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs), including several countries with indigenous peoples

Patrick was honored to join the Ugandan delegation to the HLPF and he participated in the negotiation even though Uganda was not officially reporting.

Particularly, Patrick advocated for the Ugandan government to increase investments in the education sector and work towards ensuring that schools are safe and violent free for all students including boys and girls and provide quality services. Read more

Boys for Change Campaign excites Buganda King.

It was pomp and color at the “Mbula kalevu campaign” also known as (Boys for a Change Campaign), where UYAHF joined the Buganda Kingdom's Health Ministry, Mama's Club, and The AIDS Support Organization TASO to commemorate Buganda Health Day, which took place on 11^th July 2019 in Busana sub-county, Kayunga district.

The event attracted big names in the region but most importantly, the Kabaka of Buganda His Majesty Ronald Muenda Mutebi who graced the function. Speaking on behalf of the Buganda King, the Katikiro Charles Peter Mayiga, challenged young men and boys to defy the status quo and challenge reckless behaviors and social-cultural practices that are obstructing them from living quality healthy and safe lifestyles.

Our dynamic change champions led by Ian Kikomeko, held sessions with school-going young people on defying toxic masculinity and patriarchy and understanding the roles boys can play to advance gender equality and enhance demand access and uptake of available SRHR services and information. The Buganda Health day is a day that was set aside to offer health information and services to the people of Buganda and Uganda at large, mainly the young people.
The day’s major areas of focus include but not limited to; gender equality, sexual and reproductive health and rights, HIV/Aids, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, and stigma. Read more

Adjumani Youths Embrace the BookB4Babies Campaign during the World Population Day Celebrations

"Evidence has revealed to us that young people are sexually active and some start sexual debuts as early as 16 years. While in Adjumani for the July 11 World Population Day Celebrations, our team led the unapologetic Leticia engaged a group of young-stars from various on the hard talk, powered by the #Bookb4Babies. The hard talk conversations engaged students on understanding sexuality education issues like; negotiating safe sex, puberty and body changes, using family planning, building respectful relationship, gender norms among others.

Additionally, the conversation went further to discuss issues of HIV/AIDs prevention measures, teenage pregnancies and child marriages among other SRHR issues deemed relevant to the area.

We remain committed to addressing the current negative social norms and challenges that stand in the way of girls and young people to realize their full potential.

With BookB4Babies, we believe we shall win the fight. Read more

1000 more young people around Kampala and Kyegegwa benefit from BooksB4Babies Campaign.

Since the year's begun, we committed to promoting the culture of keeping more girls and boys in schools until the right age to marry or to conserve. We are glad to announce monthly, accelerated progress, and July was just as spectacular.

We stretched to touch over 100 more young people under this campaign where 730 were girls. Messages of focus included; Menstruation Health and Hygiene, HIV/Aids prevention and Stigma, Puberty and associated challenges, family planning as a key - Sexual and Reproductive Health element, teenage pregnancies and drug abuse among other age-appropriate themes.
Some of the schools were reached included; Bugubuli SS Wandegeya Muslim Primary School, Kololo high school, Makerere University primary school, Kitante hill school, Kasubi church of God high school. Read More

What!! Ann is confirmed pregnant!

It has been confirmed and perhaps, not shocking that Ann has been found pregnant after missing periods for months now following a series of unprotected sex with Fek who has since denied the responsibility of her pregnancy.
All this time, Ann has been lied to that using coke, and or having sex while standing protects one from unintended pregnancies. Now she has to deal with reality. To catch all the 10 episodes of Ann's story, follow the Link here

Farewell to our lovely Interns

‘Tell me and I will forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I will learn’
UYAHF boasts of a highly participatory and team-built internship program that allows young people the opportunity to get hands-on skills and knowledge on how the organization runs and how they can use the knowledge earned in their future careers. Over the past month, UYAHF has hosted interns from Belgium and Uganda who have been active in supporting the team carries out its organizational tasks.

They were involved in planning meetings, school outreaches, report writing, research and much more as they got a feel of the day to day runnings of the organization. This month, we were sad to see two of our Belgian interns leave but we trust that the experience they gained will go a long way towards seeing them achieve their dreams. You may wish to know what it means to do an internship or being an advocacy and change champion at UYAHF We captured their experiences on this video. Rita Ndizaaniand Lillian Nayebare also shared their experiences. Read more.

BIG SHOUTS TO OUR CHANGE-MAKERS

Meet our ChanGE-makers: L-R: Michelle Geerardyn- Veterinarian Graduate University of Ghent, Johanne Cools- University of Brussels (VUB), and Linde Wyns-Gender and Diversity- Interuniversity master’s program (UGent, VUB, KULeuven, UAntwerpen, UHasselt)

They visited Uganda and majorly, UYAHF as part of the project CHanGE (campaign for sexual Health and Gender Equality), organized by the University Center for Development Cooperation (UCOS). Together with partners and a team of twelve students, they aspire to strengthen public support in Belgium for the global struggle for gender equality and access to SRHR, ultimately contributing to a powerful international movement.

Find Out More