DSW trained 20 youth from Bungoma, Nandi, West Pokot and Trans Nzoia Counties in Kenya on family planning and budget advocacy during a two-day workshop convened on 2nd and 3rd of May 2017 in Eldoret, Uasin Gishu County.
The training workshop was conducted to convey to the youth knowledge on identifying and engaging stakeholders, communication / facilitation skills, understanding and engaging with the Kenyan budget making process as well as use of family planning data for advocacy.
Speaking about the training workshop, DSW Kenya’s Advocacy Officer Ms. Tashrifa Silayi, said that DSW organized the training workshop to build the capacity of young people to engage with decision makers and advocate for increased funding and prioritization of family planning.
“We hope that knowledge transmitted during the training workshop will help the youths to engage more constructively with key policy makers,” said Ms. Silayi
DSW planned and executed the workshop in partnership with the National Council for Population and Development (NCPD), the public agency in charge of population issues in Kenya.
Better and more funds for family planning
Successful advocacy, from DSW’s point of view, will in the long run result to improved contraception prevalence rates, human resource for family planning together with advocacy community mobilization and capacity development of staff providing family planning services in the counties.
The newly trained 20 youth join an existing network of 364 other youth family planning champions trained in 2016 and working in 11 counties in Kenya. Out of these, 64 champions are fully engaged in family planning and budget advocacy.
Budget advocacy using family planning youth champions is an important part of DSW’s work in Kenya. Together with these family planning youth champions, DSW has been working to contribute to increased and improved funding by county governments in eight Kenyan counties (West Pokot, Kilifi, Laikipia, Meru, Mombasa, Nakuru, Nyandarua and Uasin Gishu).
Starting 2017, DSW expanded the reach of its family planning budget advocacy work to include Nandi, Bungoma and Trans Nzoia.
In doing so, DSW aims to mobilise more and better funds from key European donors, as well as from East African governments where we work, to support family planning.
