By Beatrice Nguo Empowering a young girl is empowering the world. This is because women are the pillars of society, and today’s young girls are tomorrow’s mothers. It is therefore prudent to invest in girls and young women, as this is a key determinant to the development of any society. From July 2015 – March 2016, IPPF Africa Region successfully implemented a young girls’ empowerment project known as the 3E project: Empowerment + Engagement = Equality. Implemented in the three countries of Malawi, Uganda and Kenya, the project identified, trained and supported 25 and young women aged between 10 – 24 years from each country on issues surrounding HIV/AIDS advocacy. The 3E project was aimed at building the capacity of young girls to speak for themselves and advocate for their own reproductive health issues. The project enhanced their information-sharing skills among peers, and how to effectively champion their rights in wider circles. Following the initial training –conducted at the start of the project, the girls then formed small groups of peers, numbering about 20 girls each. It is in these groups that they would on a regular basis discuss issues affecting them most. The main issues that the girls explored included: HIV/AIDS, safe sex, early marriages, teen pregnancies, school dropouts, lack of safe spaces for young HIV positive girls to voice their issues, and lack of access to adequate SRHR and HIV/AIDS information and services. HIV treatment adherence, taking their peers back to school, running clubs in schools for the young adolescents, and boy-girl relationships also featured prominently in their discussions undertaken by the young ladies. To enhance their group communication, the girls formed WhatsApp groups, where they would consult each other frequently on related issues. We were able to witness such big changes in the ‘3E girls’. At the end of the engagement, some of the girls were selected to join county/district development committees in their countries –which was largely as a result of their advocacy activities following the initial training we gave them. In these platforms, they continue to campaign for the inclusion of issues affecting young girls in the development agenda. It is with such great pride that we have seen some of these girls go on to become motivational speakers to their peers –including those in schools. Their advocacy prowess has even seen some of the 3E advocates receive invitations to speak in regional and international conferences, such as the 18th International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA) in Harare, Zimbabwe (November 2015), the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), Women Deliver in Copenhagen, Denmark (May 2016), and the 21st International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa (July 2016). The girls have indeed become role models to many girls –not only in their communities, but in their countries and across the borders. Further, the 3E project was able to demonstrate a gap in spaces for young girls to represent themselves and articulate their issues. The project affirmed that when such spaces are created, it empowers the girls, and an empowered girl will be able to stand up for herself in whichever circumstance she finds herself in. An empowered girl is one who will not easily succumb to peer pressure. She will be less likely to be cheated into having sex, as she is aware of her rights and is empowered to make healthy choices regarding her sexuality. Empowered girls are those who are able to envision a bright future ahead of them, and not rest until they achieve their dreams. If we want to change the world today, girls’ empowerment is the way to go, and the 3E project was one such successful platform towards this. Ms. Beatrice Nguo is Programme Officer at IPPF Africa Region, and was centrally involved in the implementation of the 3E Project.

Gender Based Violence (GBV) must be recognised and addressed if we are to end HIV and AIDS urged the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) at a panel during the ongoing International AIDS Conference. The impact of HIV among women and girls in all their diversity is significant and alarming. Women’s greater physical vulnerability to HIV is compounded by social norms, gender inequalities, poverty and violence. Women living with HIV are also more likely to face stigmatisation, infertility, and even abuse and abandonment, contributing to their disempowerment. In East and Southern Africa, the risk of HIV among women who have experienced violence may be three times higher In Uganda and South Africa. Studies found women who experienced intimate partner violence were 50 per cent more likely to have HIV than women who had not experienced violence. In many countries in Africa, getting married is among the ‘riskiest’ behaviour for women, where they may be exposed to unprotected sex with a husband who has multiple sexual partners, and to underlying power dynamics between men and women that prevent women from accessing condoms and then insisting on their use. Julia Omondi, a 24 year old advocate from Family Health Options Kenya (FHOK) highlighted the most common root causes of gender based violence and HIV. "I work with a group of 50 young girls like myself, called the 3E advocates to prevent girls from child marriage; support girls who are living with HIV to understand their rights, make parents and communities aware of the laws that protect girls from child marriage. We need to raise our voices to stop child marriage and turn the tide against HIV’," she said. “Empowerment + Engagement = Equality” is a joint project supported by UN Women and IPPF implemented in Kenya, Malawi and Uganda to address HIV vulnerability among adolescent girls and young women by engaging and empowering them. Traditional leaders like the senior chief Theresa Kachindamoto from Malawi spoke of her role to change harmful gender related practices. "Chiefs as custodians of culture should be  at the forefront to end cultural practices that negatively affect people’s health like sexual cleansing (Fisi), chief blanket. My village is now a model for others and my fellow chiefs come to learn about the change I have brought to Dedtza district in Malawi," she said.     Nazneen Damji, Policy Advisor- gender equality, health and HIV/AIDS at UN Women, highlighted the recognition by global leaders on the importance of addressing GBV and HIV. “Violence, and the fear of violence, can play a major role in women’s reluctance to know her HIV status and seek care. Fortunately, the Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS adopted in June at the UN General Assembly and the Resolution on women, the girl child and HIV adopted at the 60th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women both call on governments to intensify efforts to end all forms of violence against women and girls, including harmful practices that contribute to the spread of HIV amongst women and girls,” she said. ‘Civil society organisations like IPPF play an important part in holding governments accountable.  We shouldn’t underestimate our role as advocates to inform national, regional and global policies. If we are to address the dual epidemics of GBV and HIV we need to have progressive polices where perpetrators can be brought to justice and laws and policies uphold gender equality’  said  Zelda Nhlabatsi, the executive director of Family Life Association of Swaziland (FLAS). The session was sponsored by IPPF Africa Region, UN Women and the Ford Foundation.