Fostering youth engagement to promote sexual and reproductive health
THE NEEDS FOR INFORMATION
Whether they are sexually active or not, young people have the rights to be educated about sexual and reproductive health (SRH). There are many sound reasons as to why this is important. Having access to such information can help youth make informed decisions for better health, including how best to protect themselves from an unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
According to the “Youth Situation Analysis in Cambodia” report, understanding of sexual or reproductive health is still limited among young people. Parents and schools were the main sources of information for people aged 15-24 about sexual and reproductive health.
By talking to 45 young people, the team at the USAID-funded Promoting Healthy Behaviors (PHB) Activity also learned that there are many myths and misconceptions surrounding SRH.
A CAMPAIGN FOR YOUTH, BY YOUTH
Hosting a live Q&A on social media with Ms. Sotheary YIM, a psychologist, as a guest speaker
PHB project conducted two idea generation workshops with young people to collect input in designing a campaign that to target youth and addresses the SRH misconception challenges.
Based on the youth feedback, an online campaign called “Just the Two of Us” was launched in January 2022. The project partnered with a local youth-led content creation agency Dosslarb to implement the campaign in which young people can privately learn about sex, relationships and their bodies by anonymously asking questions and getting answers from trusted experts.
Implemented primarily online, the campaign allows youth to get access to sexual and reproductive health information whenever and wherever they want on a platform that they familiar with: Facebook.
Giving youth the opportunity as a partner in making decisions and implementing programs that target people of similar age who who talk like them and look like them can generate genuine participation. Dosslarb is a multi-media platform founded by young women who strive to promote youth well-being. They collates the questions to form the contents of the campaign, which ranges from Q&A style videos with national experts to informative infographics and engaging quizzes.
135
PHB has engaged with over 135 young people to help bring the campaign to life.
3,000,000
There were over 3 million views in the first 3 months of the campaign.
“Just the Two of Us” is the campaign that I am most proud of. My hope for this campaign is to get more young people to be more comfortable to talking about this important topic (reproductive health) in the future.
Saosopheakneath BUN, Co-founder of Dosslarb
* The Promoting Healthy Behaviors (PHB) Activity is a USAID-funded Social and Behavior Change project that commenced in 2018. The goal of PHB is to improve health behaviors among Cambodians and ensure they seek and receive quality healthcare with decreased financial hardship. PHB initially targeted 6 key health areas: Maternal & Child Health; Nutrition; Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH); Tuberculosis; Family Planning; and Malaria. In 2020-2021, PHB also implemented COVID-related activities in response to the global pandemic. Towards the end of 2021, noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) were added to PHB’s health portfolio, and the project was extended until June 2025.
