YouAct SRHR Training Programme Brochure
As a youth-led organization, YouAct recognises the need to focus more on young people’s skills and capacities on various Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) topics. It is clear that we are leaving young people behind and as one of the only European youth-led organizations working on this topic, we must be part of this change. Access to safe, inclusive, and adapted information on SRHR has always been a major challenge as we target young people. For this reason, in 2021 YouAct focused its programmes on underrepresented themes in SRHR for young people by creating a unique training programme made by and for young people. The training programme “Pass the Mic! Time to give underrepresented SRHR topics the limelight!” addressed identified underrepresented SRHR issues, such as: consent and rape culture, disabilities and SRHR, decolonizing SRHR and harmful practices, approaching SRHR with an intersectional lens. In June 2021, our training [...]
YouAct SRHR Training Programme: “Pass the mic! Time to give underrepresented SRHR topics the limelight!”
Who are we? YouAct is a youth-led network supporting young people in Europe to advocate for their Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR). YouAct aims for a world where young people have access to accurate information and youth-friendly services enabling them to decide freely and responsibly about all aspects of their sexuality and reproductive lives. We are a network of volunteers under 30 years, from countries member states of the Council of Europe. YouAct is the only European youth-led independent NGO working to support young people in taking an active role in advocating for their SRHR. What did we notice? In 2016 in Europe, one third of the EU-28’s population (around 167 million inhabitants) were under 30. Facing the impact of the baby boom in the 60’s and a growing population, the demographic challenge and the inclusivity of the next generation of European citizens in programmes and political [...]
Access to emergency contraception through community pharmacies in Europe: Findings from a participatory survey
In 2019, YouAct- the European Youth Network on Sexual and Reproductive Rights partnered up with The European Consortium for Emergency Contraception (ECEC) and launched a participatory survey in order to better understand how access to and availability of emergency contraception pills is through community pharmacies in our region. We are now happy to introduce the survey report, which focuses on five countries: Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Malta, Spain and Sweden. Community pharmacies play a very important role in ensuring access to EC pills, with the big majority of pharmacies carrying ECPs (even in countries where they are entitled not to). However, findings point out that individuals are not being systematically offered a choice of postcoital contraception methods in every pharmacy of our sample. Access to the highest standard of care in post-coital contraception remains uneven within and among countries in Europe: Individuals are likely to have different experiences and outcomes [...]
YouAct Annual Report 2019
YouAct is very pleased to publish its 2019 Annual Report. 2019 has been a very successful year for us: our membership has expanded greatly and we have made a number of notable achievements. Find out more about our membership, advocacy highlights, projects, partnerships and publications. To read and download the annual report, click here.
YouAct announces new Network Coordinator
YouAct is proud to introduce our new network Coordinator Isma Benboulerbah! Isma Benboulerbah is a strong and passionate feminist activist and has been working for years on programs focusing on fight sexual and gender-based violence and SRHR. Isma is currently working as programmes officer at the End FGM European Network, where she also coordinates community development and youth programmes to end violence against women and girls. Previously, Isma worked in on the project “Building bridges between Europe and Africa to end FGM” and was also elected board member and acted as Secretary General of the French network against FGM Excision Parlons-en! Isma also collaborated with the World Health Organisation for a research on youth and adolescent sexual health in West Africa. After several years of professional experience in France, West Africa and with women from the Arab-Muslim diaspora and FGM-affected communities in Europe, Isma has built up important knowledge on sexual and reproductive rights, gender-based violence, harmful traditional [...]
YouAct Publishes Position Paper on Abortion
We are proud to share with you the first in a series of position papers we are developing. The first position paper is on abortion as it is one of YouAct’s core areas, and it has a specific focus on youth. We hope that it will be a useful piece of document to ground advocacy work in, not just for our organisation but for others as well. The positions reflect the membership of YouAct and was approved at our latest annual general meeting. Please find the position paper by clicking here, or on the thumbnail.
YouAct Annual Report 2018
We are proud to present YouAct’s Annual Report 2018, in which we continue to strengthen and unify the voices of European youth advocating for the realisation of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). Download the full report by clicking here.
Advocacy Toolkit: The European Parliament our Ally
Our team is very excited to share the advocacy toolkit developed in the frame of the Generation Now small grants project called "The European Parliament - our Ally". In it, we discuss in detail how young people can successfully advocate for comprehensive sexuality education for HIV prevention. Download the full toolkit by clicking here.
The European Parliament, Our Ally
We can’t stress enough the urgency for young people to have access to Comprehensive Sexuality Education. So YouAct members are organizing yet another round of meetings with the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs)! We want to engage in meaningful conversations on how to advance this topic forward and how we can work together more efficiently. “The European Parliament, Our Ally” project aims to facilitate discussions between youth advocates and decision-makers regarding the importance for young people to have access to sexual and reproductive health and rights information, education, and services, including CSE. Why? Because CSE is essential for health and well-being. Evidence shows that CSE interventions have the following outcomes: HIV knowledge increase, condom use increase, increased self-efficacy for HIV protection and improved attitudes related to HIV prevention. And we believe that access to CSE is a prerequisite to ensure that young people’s sexual and reproductive health and rights [...]
Evidence-based Advocacy: Championing SexEd in Europe
YouAct together with CHOICE for Youth and Sexuality is in the concluding stages of the second phase of an advocacy project aiming to advance Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) in Europe. The first phase of the project was implemented in 2017 and involved a research phase in five countries, Cyprus, Georgia, the Netherlands, Poland and Romania (the results are available here), followed by advocacy actions, both at national level. Several infographics were also developed in English, as well as in national languages and have been disseminated on social media as part of an online campaign #Unite4CSE. With the second phase of the project, we aimed to further empower youth to become CSE advocates. Through face-to-face meetings, we planned to influence the European decision-makers to ensure the implementation of qualitative CSE for all young people in Europe, in line with the recently updated UNESCO International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education. Furthermore, youth [...]