Author: ysdmkschapter

Youth social accountability for health is when youth hold public officials and service providers accountable for meeting their rights and needs. Youth social accountability for health can contribute to adolescent-responsive health systems, quality health services, and positive youth development.

From 2021-2023, MOMENTUM Country and Global Leadership partnered with two youth-led organisations, Youth for Sustainable Development in Kenya and Youth Advocacy on Rights and Opportunities in Ghana, to support implementation of youth-led social accountability mechanisms and to advance learning. Join this webinar to hear directly from youth about how they led social accountability for sexual and reproductive health and rights and what their challenges and achievements were along the way. The webinar will also delve into how their activity impacted their health systems and communities in Ghana and Kenya, as well as the capacity and development of their own organisations and staff.

Speakers: 

• Margaret Wanja, Executive Director, Youth for Sustainable Development (YSD), Kenya​
• Hajei Bennin, Executive Director. Youth Advocacy on Rights and Opportunities (YARO), Ghana
• Cory Wornell, Youth and Reproductive Health Advisor, USAID
• Callie Simon, Adolescent and Youth Health Health Lead, MOMENTUM Country and Global Leadership

Katie Meyer, Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Senior Advisor, MOMENTUM Country and Global Leadership   

We are pleased to share the recording and full presentation from the webinar. An interactive report about this work and links to all the tools used will be coming soon. In the meantime, you can find more information about youth-led social accountability in MOMENTUM’s landscape analysis.

On September 21, 2023, MOMENTUM hosted a dynamic live discussion featuring passionate youth speakers and moderators driving positive changes in the fight for sustainability. In an era of global challenges and uncertainty, we believe that today’s youth are a beacon of hope, possessing the power to become transformative agents of change.
Participants heard from youth partners from India, Kenya, and South Sudan, including:

• Margaret Wanja, Business Development Director and Project Manager- Youth for Sustainable Development, MOMENTUM Country and Global Leadership, Kenya (moderator)
• Ragini Bordoloi, Fellow, MOMENTUM Country and Global Leadership: India-Yash, India
• Viola Keji Victor Laku,  Youth Leader, MOMENTUM Integrated Health Resilience, South Sudan
• Bojo Anthony Monosuk, Youth Leader, MOMENTUM Integrated Health Resilience,South Sudan

Watch the moderated session by our very own Executive Director: Margaret Wanja

The YSD Youth Resilience and Belonging project funded by Firelight Foundation is implemented using the Community-driven systems change is an approach: this is an approcah to development and social transformation that emphasizes local communities’ insight, leadership, and ownership to create lasting change. Last year, Imaginable Futures (IF) partnered with Firelight Foundation (Firelight) to launch an initiative that supports community-based organizations (CBOs) and community-driven systems change to foster holistic development, a sense of belonging and youth resiliency in three counties in Kenya; Kajiado, Machakos and Makueni. 

Imaginable Futures and Firelight Foundation have partnered to reimagine partnerships with CBOs and funders. You can read more about their partnership here and  meet the partners including YSD here.

Meet Firelight Foundation’s CBO Partners – Imaginable Futures