Project profile — Reaching and Empowering Adolescents to Make Informed Choices on Sexual and Reproductive Health

• Nigeria (100.00%)

• Population policy and administrative management:
Population policy and administrative management (13010) (55.00%)
Family planning (13030) (15.00%)
Personnel development for population and reproductive health (13081) (30.00%)

• Gender equality (significant objective)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (not targeted)
• Participatory development and good governance (not targeted)
• Trade development (not targeted)
• Biodiversity (not targeted)
• Climate change mitigation (not targeted)
• Climate Change Adaptation (not targeted)
• Urban issues (not targeted)
• Desertification (not targeted)
• Children's issues (not targeted)
• Youth Issues (significant objective)
• Indigenous Issues (not targeted)
• Disability (not targeted)
• ICT as a tool for development (not targeted)

The project enables adolescents to better exercise their reproductive rights, as well as make informed choices on their sexual and reproductive health. An innovative community-based model is used to promote positive gender norms among adolescents and their families. Project activities include: (1) training public health workers and private sector providers on gender-sensitive and adolescent-friendly sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) services delivery, including family planning, contraceptives, post-abortion care, and sexual and gender-based violence; and establishing and operating gender-sensitive, adolescent-friendly safe spaces in health facilities to deliver SRHR services to adolescent boys and girls; (2) training community change agents (including religious and traditional leaders) to raise awareness in a gender-sensitive manner on SRHR, and promote safe space activities for adolescent girls and boys, partners, parents and community members; and (3) supporting advocacy and coalition building between youth advocacy forums and like-minded organizations, including women’s rights organizations, to advocate for improved SRHR services within their communities. The project is expected to reach approximately 100,000 married and unmarried adolescents, including 55,000 very young adolescents aged 10 to 14 directly, and an additional 400,000 community members indirectly.

The project’s expected results include: (1) improved access to quality gender-sensitive and adolescent-friendly public and private sector sexual and reproductive health and rights services for unmarried and married adolescent girls and boys; (2) increased capacity of married and unmarried adolescent girls to make decisions about their own sexual and reproductive health and rights; and (3) increased capacity of youth-focused civil society groups, including women’s rights organizations, to advocate and integrate evidenced-based best practices in adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights services in state policies and programmes.

Results achieved as of the end of the project (August 2021) include :(1) reached 182,246 beneficiaries (of whom 53% are women) and indirectly reached 556,655 beneficiaries (of whom 49% are women). This contributed to improving the sexual and reproductive health of adolescents in Nigeria; (2) improved access of 100,000 married and unmarried adolescents to high-quality, gender-responsive and adolescent-friendly sexual and reproductive health services; (3) improved the quality of sexual and reproductive health services by training 293 health workers (292 women and one man) on delivering gender-sensitive adolescent sexual and reproductive health services. This includes family planning, post-abortion care, and long-acting reversible contraception; and (4) strengthened health systems in all three states (Gombe, Katsina, and Zamfara) by contributing to the development and dissemination of health policies such as the National Adolescent Health and Development Policy (2021-2025) and the Gender in Health Policy (2021-2025).

• Proactive disclosure