OVERVIEW

Young people enjoy a moment at a youth mobilization event for World AIDS Day.

AYA works in 20 districts, each selected by need and strategic importance. District entry begins with a highly participatory process, designed to foster linkages and create partnerships between NGOs, private and public sector at the national and district level. The districts take responsibility for setting priorities and selecting activities. In the first year, the project focused on 12 districts and has now expanded to additional areas.


Building coalitions with faith-based organizations

In a nation characterized by widespread religious affiliation — 44% Roman Catholic, 40% Anglican, 12% Muslim — AYA Uganda has sought to link with different religious institutions in order to advance advocacy for adolescent sexual and reproductive health.  Contrary to the general assumption that religious institutions are opposed to ASRH programs, AYA Uganda has found that providing support to faith-based organizations enables the program to address diverse and sensitive issues with increased credibility, and creates a climate to enable mutual accountability within and among faith communities.

Funded by a sub-grant from AYA, leaders from Uganda’s largest religious groups, including the Orthodox church, are working together within the Inter-Religious Council (IRC) to create an enabling and supportive environment for ASRH programming and to increase resource mobilization for ASRH activities and initiatives.  Functioning within the IRC infrastructure, AYA has succeeded in promoting ASRH policy and advocacy among the Council’s members and increasing knowledge, life skills and positive attitudes among young people in the respective communities of faith.

Because a number of health facilities in Uganda are supported by faith groups, AYA has also integrated and expanded youth-friendly services in the existing health service delivery structures of religious institutions, through its involvement with the IRC.  AYA also supports institutional capacity
building within faith-based institutions to plan and manage ASRH programs, and to mobilize greater resources for sustained service.

Within a short time, the partnership between AYA and the IRC has marked a number of significant achievements —

• Religious laws — canon law, shariah and hadith — have been reviewed with an eye to addressing and enhancing support for ASRH
• The canon law of the Church of Uganda has been harmonized with Ugandan constitutional national law, raising the age of marriage and consent from 16 to 18 years
• The provisional assemblies of Muslim religious leaders and the Church of Uganda have issued statements in support of ASRH, and called upon their respective leaders and followers to advocate for and address issues relevant to ASRH
  

Building coalitions with the influential leaders of society — political, cultural and religious —  helps to ensure that advocacy and action on behalf of adolescents will continue creating the potential for a healthier future for generations of African youth.