HER VOICE FUND PROJECT LAUNCH FOR COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND BUY-IN WITHIN SOME COMMUNITIES IN THE NORTH WEST REGION

Community entry is the process of engaging and integrating a specific local area in order to work collaboratively with its members reasons why Her Voice Fund grantee partners: Sustainable Women Organisation (SWO), Common Action for Gender Development (COMAGEND), and Youth Empowerment And Resilient Network (YEARN) organised a project launch so as to inform, and get the buy-in from different key stakeholders on their project interventions for this implementing period and the role these stakeholders have to play in the realisation of these projects. 

During this event, Sustainable Women Organisation presented a project titled “Voices of Adolescent Young Girls and Women (AGYW)”, aimed at improving knowledge on gender equity and meaningful participation of the AGYW in decision making by reducing the rate of GBV and build leadership skills for AGYW. Prior to this project, SWO has carried out a couple of activities which include:  a baseline survey to assess knowledge on GBV and 300questionaires were administered, documented and shared to key stakeholders. The Identification and mapping out of key stakeholder involve in the implementation of this project will go a long way to push the community intervention. According to Tebi Honorine, Executive Director of SWO, “stakeholders have their own role to play in this project, especially the traditional council like Quarter Heads because they will assist in providing halls within their communities where we will be executing the project in Bamenda II and Batibo to create community clubs”. 

Common Action for Gender Development (COMAGEND) will be implementing the Her voice Fund project, “My Sister My Friend” which seek to provide accurate information and support to 6000AGYW living in the rural communities between the ages of 15-29, including AGYW who are pregnant or young mothers living with HIV/AIDS, malaria and Tuberculosis (TB) in Bali, Mankon and Bambili. To achieve this, they will work with AGYW to produce and disseminate a comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) manual which will serve as a guide to creating awareness about the related health issues, sign partnerships with service providers (adolescent awareness center and health facilities within the three targeted communities; Bali, Mankon, Bambili.). This project stems from a field study carried out by COMAGEND in 2022-2023 where it was discovered that AGYW face challenges assessing comprehensive health services and information. Hence, leading to limited knowledge and decision making power related to their SRH. In a bit to accomplish all these and more, the project will run for a period of 30months where key stakeholders like MINSANTE, MINJEC, MINPROFF health units and the Adolescent awareness center, are called up to act by supporting the project team achieve its objective.  

 As a grantee of Her Voice Fund, Youth Empowerment and Resilient Network (YEARN), revealed her project to be “Supporting AGYW to have a voice through education, empowerment and service linkage” which intends to establish friendly platform for leadership, advocacy and technological skills to 150AGYW by 30% in four rural communities: Bambili, Bambui, Pinyin and Babanki. Just like every other project, there are major roles stakeholders will be performed to guarantee the completion of the project according to the project team “stakeholders will provide inputs, be partners and collaborators so as to increase the rate of community engagement in the project as well as facilitate advocacy”. 

Her Voice Fund is implemented By Global Network of Young People Living with HIV (Y+ Global), with support from the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis And Malaria (the Global Fund) and ViiV healthcare positive action, to strengthen the meaningful engagement and leadership of adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in decision making spaces with the aim of reducing HIV incidence and improving our broader health, wellbeing and rights. Her Voice Fund operates in several African countries like Botswana, Cameroon, Eswatini, Lesotho, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Zambia to facilitate participation globally. It should be noted that all the grantees had a common objective to either reduce GBV or provide access to health services and information for AGYW