Numerous events and reports on sexual and reproductive health and rights and gender-based violence programming, alongside accountability tracking, raised awareness and stressed theimportance of policy coherence and adequate action to tackle these development challenges in sub-Saharan Africa. However, they often do not result in sustained implementation and resource commitments. The interconnectedness of economic policy and related SDG targets of maternal mortality, GBV and harmful practices such as early marriage and FGM necessitate engagement acrossectors for transparent costing, budgeting, women and youth empowerment, and framework building. This session will bring together a rural women leader, a Minister of higher education, two Francophone young women leaders, a parliamentarian, a judge and several other key African leaders. It will provide a platform for policy dialogue between key multi-sector stakeholders to discuss critical challenges and opportunities to advancing the implementation, financing and monitoring of ICPD Plus 25 normative commitments related to the identified issues. Participants will share broader country-level experiences, provide follow up coordinated actions and highlight the key role of capacity development for young African leaders to empower sustained action and act as a steward for policy coherence, financing needs and universal health coverage, ensuring "no one is left behind.”

Coming Soon!

HIV/AIDS remains the leading cause of death among women of reproductive age and young adolescents. This session will give young people a platform to identify challenges they have faced and solutions that work for them to address the epidemic. First, young panelists of diverse backgrounds will name the specific challenges they encounter in accessing integrated HIV and SRHR services and information. Second, decision-makers and key stakeholders will reflect on the barriers and solutions put forward. This session will be convened by AfriYAN.

Amid growing awareness of how patriarchal control of adolescent girls’ sexuality is a key driver of child marriage, still too few programmes aiming to end child marriage actually address this link in their work. The issue is considered taboo, and thus worked around or completely ignored. Unless we work to address the root causes of child marriage, this harmful practice will persist and prevent us from achieving the aims of the ICPD Programme of Action, reaching the SDGs, and realizing gender equality and women’s and girls’ rights. This session will showcase new research and the work and lessons learned of organizations from regions with high rates of this harmful practice that are working to transformnorms around gender and sexuality to advance girls’ rights and freedom.It will highlight findings from two new reports on child marriage and showcase success stories, challenges, and demands for policy-makers and donors to support adolescent girls’ rights. The event is organized by the CEFM and Sexuality Programs Working Group, comprising 12 organisations: American Jewish World Service (AJWS), CARE, CREA, Global Fund for Women, Girls Not Brides: The Globala Partnership to End Child Marriage, GreeneWorks, International Center for Research, on Women (ICRW), International Women’s Health Coalition (IWHC), Nirantar Trust, Plan International, Population Council and Promundo-US.

As the single most important global social institution to provide comprehensive sexuality education (CSE), schools play a vital role in enabling sexual and reproductive health and rights for all. Education is a catalyst for change, particularly for girls; but if education is to be truly transformative, it has to be of good quality, challenge negative gender norms and stereotypes, empower all people, and provide children and youth access to CSE. This session will highlight relevant experiences with CSE, gender-transformative education and pedagogical methods that support girls’ empowerment. This session is convened by Oxfam IBIS; UNGEI - UNs Girls Education Initiative; Kenya Ministry of Education.